Sega President: Sonic Superstars Was a 'Disappointment' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 January 2025 / 2,694 Views
Sega president Shuji Utsumi in an interview with Eurogamer was asked how they were working to increase the quality of Sonic games and he admitted Sonic Superstars was a "disappointment."
"We were trying to do something creative with Sonic Frontiers," saod Utsumi. "With Sonic Superstars it turned out to be a disappointment, in terms of the outcome compared to what we delivered.
"This time we have Sonic X Shadow Generations and the next Sonic movie, so we're pushing things in the transmedia direction - movies and games working in harmony to make things bigger. But the core [of the experience] is the game. The game needs to be very good or else there is no transmedia effect.
"The Sonic X Shadow Generations game is actually very good, I would say awesome, action-wise. But starting next year, it's going to be the next level, as you will just see at TGA."
Sonic Superstars released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in October 2023.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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It's crazy. Sonic Mania comes out to pretty much nothing but gushing praise, costs relatively little to develop and promote, has good sales and karma... then Sega abandons it entirely and goes right back to making the sorts of Sonic experiences that people pan and ignore. It just makes no sense to me. None.
Superstars looks fun, but this, 100%.
They kicked out Christian Whitehead after delivering Sonic Mania and getting massive praises the series didn't get the likes since Adventure where Sega still was making consoles... why?
Sometimes it feels like Sega tries to kill Sonic on purpose.
For a Sonic game, I don't believe Sonic Mania rlly sold all too hot. IIRC Forces was outselling the game for a long while despite being critically panned as well costing 3x for consumers [$20 v. $60]. Unfortunately, the casual market doesn't always look at quality in deciding their purchase, as is demonstrated by the unfailing success of CoD, Pokémon, and FIFA.
imo the biggest problem with Superstars from a commercial perspective was Sega's choice to release it 3 days before the greatest 2D platformer in nearly three decades dropped.
You are too harsh. Sonic Mania success is based (for the most part) on the nostalgia factor. Yes, it is a great game, very well done, made with long-time fan love. But you better try to innovate before launching the same game every year... or its sells will collapse. Even me, who played a loooot the 16bit games when I was a child, and I really loved to replay the Sonic CD uniqueness (I could beat the game in just half an hour with the good ending, obliterating every Special stage record time by the developers) I find Mania a little cumbersome at the end.
Sonic Superstar is a good game. Maybe not that good as Mania is. But I recommend Sega to cut the price and continue to promote it, now that digital downloads are the king and many games can save its initial number sells after some time.
And to continue the saga with new pixel-art and 3D model 2D sequels, every now and then.
Gee, it's almost like rushing this game to release in the same week as Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder was a really, REALLY stupid idea...
The sad part is that Superstars is a perfectly fine game. The levels are fun to go through and the fact that they're all original is a plus over Mania. Music is fine, graphically it looks good, Trip is a very welcome new character and she's fun to play as. This game with her or Amy is a damn good time... Until you get to the boss fights. Good lord, what the Hell were they thinking with those boss fights. Seriously, they are the absolute PITS. And the fact that they didn't patch out the bugs that are STILL present in the game is a ridiculous move I don't understand.
And just releasing this game in the same week as the two most hyped games of the holiday season that year, including the first new 2D Mario game in over a decade... SEGA pretty much sent this game out to die.
Two of the most culturally popular characters ever might I add. I definitely got Wonder and forgot Superstars existed. SEGA really is scatterbrained.
my sega/sammy stock a disappointment
Iizuka went with Superstars over Mania 2 because he felt Mania only appealed to hardcore old-school Sonic fans with it's pixel art, and thought that Superstars with it's modern 3D graphics but sidescrolling viewpoint would appeal more to modern audiences. But Superstars didn't sell as well as Mania (they announced 1m sales for Mania about 8 months after release, but have yet to announce 1m for Superstars over a year after it's release), reviewed about 15 points lower on average, and likely had a higher budget due to using modern 3D graphics techniques instead of pixel art. Hopefully they learned their lesson and develop any future 2D Sonic games in the style of Mania.
I thought the reception of Sonic Superstars was fine. Its a game that didn't need to exist, but also not a low point for the IP.
The trouble is, another mediocre game to add to the series' pile was the last thing Sonic needed. Especially soon after the mishandling of Sonic Colours Ultimate, Sonic Origins. Superstars was also massively overpriced for what it was; £55 in the UK was really insulting, it's actually more expensive than almost every first party Nintendo Switch game, including Super Mario Wonder. Sure it got discounted but so did Mario Wonder and even then the damage was already done by releasing the same week as each other.
I understand, but Sonic has always been handled poorly or below its potential.
I find it almost strange they feel any need to speak out given the history.
What didn't help is it launched at $60 and during the same week Spider Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It was going to get overshadowed even though it was multiplatform. Mario was the biggest factor since Nintendo platforms are where Sonic sells the best. Sega should have held off on launching the game and drop the price to $40. Sega wants Sonic to match or even surpass Mario, but it's no where near that at this moment.
They tried to do the same thing with Forces - They even released that game at $40. But it was COMPLETLEY overshadowed and dwarfed by Super Mario Odyssey, which was the most hyped and anticipated Mario game since Galaxy 1.
I think some of the old-heads and hire ups at SEGA never really moved on from the 90s console wars and are still stuck in the mentality of "SEGA does what Nintendon't."
It's over. Mario won. Nintendo won.
Sonic is not on Mario's level when it comes to appeal and popularity and most likely never will be. But that's ok! He doesn't need to be. Just focus on making Sonic, and by extension, SEGA themselves, the best they can be at their own pace. If that means delaying the games every now and then iron out the kinks, so be it! I've lost count of how many Sonic games could have turned out SO much better than they did if SEGA just let that stuff go and was just willing to take a page out of Nintendo's playbook and delay the games to ensure they are as great as possible. Superstars, Forces, Frontiers (Which I still thought was good), and ESPECIALLY '06!
They wanted to compete with the big boys, specifically with Mario. They jumped in the shark tank and got ate up.
Lesson learned.
No one is buying Sonic at full price in 2024.
Frontiers and Shadow Generations say hello.
...Price discourse is a pain. I blame Steam sales.
Goodbye, they're not full price.
The door's that way, Frontiers and Shadow Gen are still selling at full price on the online stores.
You can see yourself out. Generations and Frontiers are $40 and $25 respectively on amazon, which is where most people are buying those games since they're both top 15 on the best sellers list.
This is my house, get out.
Generations sold 1 million (Sure doesn't sound like "no one") in just its first day - where it was sold at full price.
Frontiers was the 4th best selling game according to NPD in November 2022, ahead of games like Madden, FIFA, NBA 2K, and Mario Party Superstars (Again, doesn't sound like "no one"). And it had already passed 2.5 million a month after its release, where it sold mostly at full price.
Y'know what those games had it common? They were both good (Frontiers) or great (Generations) Sonic games that were given a chance to actually do well.
The Sonic fans showed up for those games early then sales stalled, Which is why those games are now discounted. Can you show me where Sonic frontiers sold 13 million units because that's what Mario Party Superstars did without being multi-platform?
Sega purposely pit Sonic superstars against Mario Wonder my guy. Sega wanted the smoke, and they got the fire. Mario beat both Sonic and Spiderman. The cream rises to the top my friend. Shadows is doing a whole lot better than Superstars by staying in its lane. Lesson learned.
Well, at least Oshima could work in another Sonic. That was great. Also, now you can sold the game during many years in digital form.
What a "surprise". Its understandable since its 70$ on PlayStation store.
People seem to not realize Sonic fans moved past the 2D days and embraced the 3D adventures a long time ago, and the sales reflect as much. Sure not every 3D Sonic game is great, but some are (Adventure 1/2, Colors, Generations). Even ones that had deep flaws like Unleashed and Frontiers still end up selling and are largely accepted by the fans for what they do right.
And Sonic is NOT the same as your average COD, FIFA yearly release that barely changes. If anything, i think Sonic's issue is that it changes too much with each release and thus has difficuly keeping each positive development and building off of it. I'm not even a huge fan of Frontiers open world aspect but just looking at the sales shows i'm the minority view.
I've played every Sanic title, even the mario kart ripoffs (which they just announced a 4th one LOL). At least the series has variety. I mean Superstars was basically their attempt at a Mania 2 and look at how different it turned out. For years i've heard people say Sonic's dead, or mediocre etc, lol he's doing just fine. He's got more games than almost any other franchise, has grown a fandom for decades, and still gets enough sales to mitigate the "disappointments" like Superstars.
From some of the people who made Balan Wonderland, so you know...
To be fair, Balan Wonderworld was mostly the result of Yuji Naka having a Metroid Other M moment by utterly refusing to concede to modern game conventions even when it made sense to do so. Of course, Yoshi’s New Island WAS pretty much all on Arzest…
Sonic is just an ok game in my opinion. Nothing more. Shouldn't expect too much.
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