Rumor: NiGHTS Sequel Was Originally An Xbox 360, PS3 Game

Sega’s NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for the Wii was once planned for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but shifted platforms against the wishes of Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka.

Sonic the Hedgehog-centric site TSSZ News cites a now-deleted personal blog “Boss Rush” written by former Sega Europe employee Ben Andac as its source for the revelation. Andac, posting under the more anonymous title “jpeg,” wrote of then in-development games like Sonic Unleashed and the then still to be announced NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.

On the blog, he lamented the fate of Sonic Team, venting that the internal Sega development studio had “lost their quality touch” calling them “bored, weary, closed-minded and out of touch with any sense of what makes games good anymore; not to mention what consumers want (and in the long-term what the company itself so desperately needs).”

The change in platforms from the high-definition PS3 and Xbox 360 wouldn’t be that out of the ordinary, nor notable, if the game weren’t so highly anticipated by fans of the original NiGHTS for the Sega Saturn.

Andac’s version of the Wii game’s development history purports that Sega brass switched platforms at a late point in the game’s production. He writes that, due to the change, Sonic Team had little more than a year of actual development time to finish the title.

What ultimately resulted was a Wii title that was coolly received by fans and critics. Whether Andac’s assessment of the situation at Sega is accurate is unconfirmed, but his post, archived here, is fascinating to read.

The Blog Sega Doesn’t Want You to Read [TSSZ News]