GameStop leaked the possible release date for Sonic Superstars, with its newly published store page for the game stating that Sega's upcoming platformer is slated to hit the market on October 17. The listing was unearthed shortly after the Japanese developer confirmed that Sonic Superstars has a big limitation in how it approaches its multiplayer features.
The new Sonic the Hedgehog co-op game was originally revealed at the 2023 Summer Game Fest in early June. After offering a glimpse at some gameplay footage, the announcement trailer ended with a reveal that Sonic Superstars is planned to launch in fall 2023.
The October 17 launch claimed by GameStop fits that official time frame, and while it could easily be a placeholder, it doesn't look like a typical tentative date used by retailers; distributors usually play it safe with placeholders by picking the final day of whatever month or quarter a given game is officially targeting. True to that practice, Target, Walmart, and Canadian VGP all currently list Sonic Superstars as releasing on December 31, 2023.
Compared to those conservative estimates, GameStop's street date for Sonic Superstars is fairly legitimate-looking, although that's not to say it should be taken without reservations, not least because retail listings are a historically unreliable source of game release date leaks. Another factor casting some doubt on the accuracy of GameStop's listing is the fact that Sega today held Sonic Central 2023, an annual event dedicated to Sonic the Hedgehog news that would have been an apt opportunity for the company to confirm that Sonic Superstars is releasing in less than four months. And though the game was featured during the 30-minute live stream, the developer merely reiterated its fall 2023 launch window at the event.
While some fans expected that a local co-op experience in the vein of the upcoming platformer will be on the affordable side, Sega already confirmed that Sonic Superstars is surprisingly expensive, starting at $59.99 for the base edition. Another thing that could inhibit its launch is GameStop's stated release date coming true, as October 17 comes just three days before Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder hit the market.
And though the former is hardly geared toward the same target audience, Nintendo's next 2D Super Mario platformer could very well eat into the sales of Sonic Superstars, especially since that game is also confirmed to feature local co-op multiplayer. Given that state of affairs, an October 17 release date for Sonic Superstars seems somewhat dubious, at best.
Sonic Superstars launches fall 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
