Sonic Team

Sonic Team is a computer and video game developer established in 1988 originally known as Sega AM8. In 1991, AM8 took its name from their phenomenally successful Sonic the Hedgehog series and became Sonic Team. It is one of Sega's most popular creative teams. Sonic Team was headed by the famed video game designer, producer, and visionary Yuji Naka. The joint creator of Sonic, Naoto Ohshima, left Sonic Team to form his own studio, Artoon. On 8 May 2006, Naka left the group with ten other members of Sonic Team to establish an independent game developer, PROPE.

In 2003, United Game Artists (formerly Sega AM9) merged with Sonic Team. In 2004, Sonic Team once more became an internal division of Sega after being spun off as a second-party developer in 2000. Sonic Team has been headquartered in Shināgawa, Tokyo, Japan and Novosibirsk, Russia.