Sonic Mania, the new 2D Sonic adventure, launched earlier this year but it was strictly a digital-only title. Even those who purchased a physical collector’s edition received a download code for the game with all of their physical goodies.
While the Sonic Team and Sega haven’t announced anything about a physical version, the ESRB Twitter page actually spilled the beans. The ESRB tweeted yesterday that Sonic Mania for the Switch was rated “E for Everyone” which caused one curious fan to ask why this was just now being tweeted. The ESRB confirmed that the new rating was indeed for a physical release.
Physical release, friend.
— ESRB (@ESRBRatings) October 24, 2017
It has been thought of that Sonic Mania was going to be digital only and with this news you’d assume some of the biggest Sonic fans would buy the physical version for collecting purposes. While the ESRB has just confirmed a Nintendo Switch physical copy, it’d be a little weird to not see Xbox One and PS4 follow in its footsteps.
It seems like it is becoming a trend lately with digital-only titles later receiving physical releases. Stardew Valley, Sonic Mania, Undertale and Friday the 13th: The Game all come to mind as recent games that once were deemed digital-only but managed to find their way to store shelves.
No price or release date has been given for a physical release of Sonic Mania so stay tuned for that. The digital version costs $15 so we’re going to have to assume it’ll cost a little more than that for a physical release.
