Highlights

  • Sonic Superstars fell short of Sega's sales goals due to competition from Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
  • Sega plans to boost sales during the holiday shopping season and leverage the release of the third live-action Sonic movie.
  • Despite the initial sales figures, Sega remains determined to support and improve Sonic Superstars in the coming months.

Sonic Superstars has fallen short of Sega’s sales goals, thanks in no small part to it launching just a few days before the highly-anticipated Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Sega announced a 2D platformer in the style of Sonic’s classic Genesis-era adventures earlier this year, with players able to take control of the titular Blue Blur and a handful of Sonic's most popular playable characters in either blistering single-player, co-op, or competitive multiplayer minigames. Sonic Superstars seemed like a promising prospect for Sega, and critics gave it reasonably positive reviews for invoking the feel of the original Sonic games while adding a few new tricks like unlockable Chaos Emerald powers.

However, by choosing to release Sonic Superstars during the busy month of October, Sega set up its prized platforming mascot for a particularly difficult race. No less than three days after the launch of Sonic Superstars, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. Wonder to record-breaking sales, reigniting the classic rivalry between the Big N’s famous plumbing hero and Sega’s hyper-fast hedgehog. Additionally, Sony and Insomniac released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on the very same day as Wonder, and it would quickly become one of the prolific PlayStation developer’s most financially successful titles within days of its launch.

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Unfortunately for Sonic Superstars, it appears that this fierce competition led to it selling less than publisher Sega originally hoped for. As reported by IGN, Sega CEO Haruki Satomi admitted that Sonic Superstars had a “slightly weaker start than we had anticipated” during a recent Q and A meeting with investors. When asked about the cause for this, Satomi suggested that other major releases might have played a significant factor, though he didn’t name Super Mario Bros. Wonder or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 specifically.

Sonic Superstars Launch Trailer screenshot

Despite Sonic Superstars’ less-than-hoped-for sales figures, Haruki Satomi and Sega aren’t giving up on the new platformer anytime soon. Satomi stated that his company is aiming to bolster Superstars during the busy holiday shopping season, as the Sonic franchise tends to sell well in November and December. Amazon recently offered Sonic Superstars at a reduced price across all platforms for Black Friday, so Satomi could have a point about the game’s sales picking up during the holidays.

Haruki Satomi also pointed out that the third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie is set to hit theaters next year, and he predicts that it will help boost sales for both Sonic Superstars and last year’s Sonic Frontiers - just like the recent Super Mario Bros. Movie drew attention to the plumber’s console adventures. In any case, Sonic Superstars has a lot of catching up to do, especially after it fell shy of Sega’s goals during its crowded launch back in October.