Sonic Superstars Had A Slightly “Weaker Start” Than Anticipated, Claims Sega

Sonic Superstars is a hearty throwback to the old style of Sonic games we know and love. The nostalgic gameplay, however, has failed to hit the early sales goals set by the devs at Sega. The CEO Haruki Satomi says that it had a “slightly weaker start” than the team had expected in the recent Sega Q2 2024 financial reports. The game did not sell as well as it was initially hoped due to a few factors that hindered its presence.

Sonic Superstars was released in October, which is a slightly weaker start than we had anticipated, but in reality, when Sonic IP sells the most is mainly November to December, and more than 90% of this title’s marketing cost will be spent in the Thanksgiving and holiday season from November onwards,” mentions the CEO.

The CEO alleges that the IP usually sells the most during the last two months of the year because of the holiday season. It allows gamers to buy the titles on sale and relax during the holidays. However, this year was an anomaly since it was chock-full of major and smaller releases. Many gamers also have their backlogs filled to the brim, which may have influenced many not to buy Sonic Superstars yet. 

Related Content:

• Sega Wants To Bring Its Classical IPs To Roblox, Movies, And More.
• Two New Persona Games To Release In 2024, Confirms Sega COO Shuji Utsumi.
• Sega Confirms Like a Dragon Gaiden’s English Dub Will Be Added Post-Launch.

However, the CEO has high hopes for the new entry in the Sonic IP, and Sega plans on pushing it through the competition via marketing in the holiday season. Haruki Satomi even believes that Sonic Superstars has the potential to sell as much as Sonic Frontiers, which sold an astounding 3.5 million copies alone. To put things into perspective, Sonic Frontiers is the best-selling Sonic game ever as of May 2023.

Although in the financial results announced today, we are forecasting this title’s sales slightly weaker with the view of the status of start mentioned above, we plan to continue our marketing efforts to sell on the same level as Sonic Frontiers.”

Sonic Superstars had already left a sour aftertaste in the mouths of gamers before being released. Many were unsatisfied with its gameplay from the footage shown before its launch. However, with proper marketing and promotion this holiday season, it could get a huge boost in sales. The platformer came out on October 17, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC.