SEGA Expected Sonic Superstars to Have A Better Launch

Sonic Superstars launch wasn't as good as SEGA had hoped, but they've got plans moving forward which we detail here!
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Sonic Superstars Sonic And Gang
Image: SEGA

In a recent financial results briefing by SEGA Sammy Holdings president and group CEO Haruki Satomi, Satomi acknowledged that Sonic Superstars, the company’s latest 2D Sonic game, had a “weaker start than anticipated” following its October release. The game received generally positive reviews from critics and players, being one of the favored Sonic games. Still, it appears that it failed to meet SEGA’s sales expectations.

In the results briefing, Satomi attributed the game’s slower start to several factors, including the release of other major titles around the same time, such as Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Additionally, he noted that the holiday season is typically the strongest period for Sonic IP sales, and SEGA is still hopeful that the game will pick up momentum in the coming months.

The majority of the marketing budget (90%) for this game will be allocated to the Thanksgiving and holiday season, starting in November. Despite the game’s weaker-than-anticipated start, the company intends to maintain its marketing efforts to achieve comparable sales to Sonic Frontiers.

“Both the Metacritic score and user score [for Sonic Superstars] are higher than Sonic Frontiers, and we would like to continue to sell firmly.”

SEGA Results Briefing

The company is also encouraged by the game’s reception, with Metacritic scores of:

  • 76 on Xbox Series X/S
  • 73 on PS5
  • 71 on Switch
  • Average user rating of 8.8 out of 10.

Those aren’t glowing but the user score shows that Sonic Superstars has done well with its fanbase. Since only 10% of the marketing budget was used according to Satomi, we’ve likely not even seen how big the game will end up being. Slow starts can be discouraging, but there are plenty of games that have had slow burns.

It is important to take into account that Nintendo will likely be heavily marketing Super Mario Bros. Wonder since that’s been a huge hit for the company. The game has a 92 average for both user and critic scores on Metacritic, which will make it heavy competition for SEGA. In a way, it’s Sonic vs. Mario all over again.

Jorge A. Aguilar

Jorge A. Aguilar

Jorge A. Aguilar, also known as Aggy, is the current Assigning Editor.

He started his career as an esports, influencer, and streaming writer for Sportskeeda. He then moved to GFinity Esports to cover streaming, games, guides, and news before moving to the Social team where he ended his time as the Lead of Social Content.

He also worked a writer and editor for both Pro Game Guides and Dot Esports, and as a writer for PC Invasion, Attack of the Fanboy, and Android Police. Aggy is the former Managing Editor and Operations Overseer of N4G Unlocked and a former Gaming editor for WePC.

Throughout his time in the industry, he's trained over 100 writers, written thousands of articles on multiple sites, written more reviews than he cares to count, and edited tens of thousands of articles. He has also written some games published by Tales, some books, and a comic sold to Telus International.

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