Sonic Superstars launched in October final yr, delivering the primary new sidescrolling sport within the sequence since Sonic Mania, although it hasn’t carried out the way in which Sega would have anticipated it to. Shotly after the sport’s launch, the corporate revealed that the sport had seen “a barely weaker begin than anticipated”, attributing that partly to the truth that the sport had launched in a very busy interval that additionally noticed the discharge of the likes of Tremendous Mario Bros. Surprise, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, and plenty of others.
Clearly, the one sport that the sport was in all probability in most direct competitors with was fellow megaton sidescrolling platformer Tremendous Mario Bros. Surprise, launching simply three days apart- and that shut proximity of releases has impacted Sonic’s gross sales, in accordance with Sega.
Sega not too long ago revealed an official English translation of its most up-to-date quarterly Q&A with traders (caught by VGC), the place, upon being requested about Sonic Superstars’ lower-than-expected gross sales, the corporate pointed to how shut its launch was to “competing titles in the identical style”.
“Though Sonic Superstars has typically been nicely acquired by those that have performed it, the timing of the launch coincided with competing titles in the identical style, and it has been wanting the preliminary forecast,” Sega stated. “The strategic enlargement of Sonic IP is progressing nicely, and we are going to proceed to work to extend repeat gross sales of this title.”
There was a major hole within the crucial reception for Sonic Superstars and Tremendous Mario Bros. Surprise, which is prone to have contributed to the disparate industrial performances of each video games, with the previous sitting at a Metacritic rating of 73, and the latter at 92.
As of December 31, Tremendous Mario Bros. Surprise has bought practically 12 million copies worldwide. It’s the fastest-selling Tremendous Mario-related title thus far.
Later this yr, Sega is about to launch one other Sonic sport within the type of Sonic X Shadow Generations, an expanded remaster of 2011’s Sonic Generations that can embrace a wholly new, standalone marketing campaign targeted on Shadow the Hedgehog.
