While it’s a little surprising that Sonic Frontiers is releasing in the middle of such a busy time for great games, the latest and boldest Sonic game yet is almost here.
Technically, Sonic Frontiers is scheduled to be released on November 8. However, due to a very strange release time schedule, some will actually be able to play the new Sonic title a little earlier than that. Here are the currently scheduled Sonic Frontiers release times by region and platform.
Sonic Frontiers: PC Release Time
NA: November 8th at 8 am PT/11 am ET
EU: November 8th at 3 pm UTC/4 pm BST/5 pm CEST
Sonic Frontiers: PS4/PS5 Release Time
NA: November 7th at 9 pm PT and November 8th at 12 am ET
EU: November 8 at 4 am UTC/5 am BST/6 am CEST
Sonic Frontiers: Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S Release Time
NA: November 7th at 10 pm PT or November 8 at 12 am ET
EU: November 8 at 5 am UTC/6 am BST/7 am CEST
Sonic Frontiers: Nintendo Switch Release Time
Unconfirmed, but new Switch titles are generally released at 9 am PT/12 pm ET in the NA on the title’s release date (November 7/8) and all other regions at the corresponding time.
Why the strangely staggered release? Well, some of the time differences are obviously due to natural time zone differences all global releases have to work around. Rather than make West Coast gamers wait three extra hours, for instance, the Sonic Frontiers team wants to make sure that all NA gamers get to access the new game at roughly the same time. That’s pretty standard.
Sonic Frontiers‘ PC release time is a little more unusual, but we’re starting to see more games with day-one PC ports “enjoy” a slightly later release time. That’s largely due to Steam policies and other PC port requirements that typically prevent those versions from dropping at the exact same time. In other cases…well, it’s a bit more of a mystery.
In any case, the good news is that Sonic Frontiers is a pretty small game in terms of install size. Most versions of the game or at (or just below) 30 GB in file size, which is pretty reasonable for a major new release. That being said, you’ll still want to make sure that you’ve got the free space available before you try to actually download the game.
For those who don’t know, Sonic Frontiers is essentially Sega’s biggest attempt at a proper Sonic open-world game yet. It’s also a very “modern” Sonic game in many ways, which is part of the reason it’s so intriguing and…worrisome. Whether anyone asked for a Sonic game with skill trees is irrelevant. We’re about to get one, and we’ll all need to live with the consequences of those design decisions.
For what it’s worth, early Sonic Frontiers reviews have been mostly mixed. Quite a few reverers are incredibly high or notably low on the game, but most seem to feel that it’s a worthwhile shot at a new direction for the franchise that probably just needs some time to grow. Whether or not the Frontiers‘ ideas get that chance to grow really depends on whether or not people buy (or buy into) Frontiers when it is released in just a handful of hours.