Sonic Team

Sonic Team (Japanese: ソニックチーム Hepburn: Sonikku chīmu) is a Japanese video game development division of Sega. The division was established as Sega AM8 in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan in 1988, and was renamed to Sonic Team in 1991 after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis home console. The game was a huge commercial success for Sega, and started the long-running Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. In the mid 1990s, the studio began to create and develop new intellectual properties, whilst continuing to oversee production on the Sonic series. Sonic the Hedgehog, Nights, and Billy Hatcher are the official mascots of this company.