Selection of the game for development came from the insistence of parent company Sega Sammy Holdings president and COO Haruki Satomi. Hardlight, a British development studio owned by Sega, began developing Sonic Dash after completing Sonic Jump. Rings, which can be earned through gameplay or purchased in app, allow access to upgrades and additional characters.

Players can compete for higher positions on leaderboards. In mission mode, players must complete objectives. The goal of Sonic Dash is to avoid obstacles and enemies while collecting rings. It was initially released as a paid application, but was made free-to-play a month after its iOS release. The game was released in March 2013 for iOS, November 2013 for Android, and December 2014 for Windows Phone and Windows, along with an arcade release in November 2015 as Sonic Dash Extreme. It is Hardlight's second Sonic the Hedgehog game, the first being 2012's Sonic Jump. Sonic Dash is a 2013 endless runner mobile game developed by Hardlight and published by Japanese game studio Sega.

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