Many would very fairly say that SEGA has been one of the best publishers of the year, if not THE best publisher of the year. If you think about the games they’ve released through their own teams or the ones they publish for, like Atlus, they’ve had numerous best-selling titles, Game of The Year nominees, and entries from key franchises and new IP that fans can’t get enough of. Seriously, it’s been a good year for SEGA and those under them. 2023 wasn’t exactly as crisp, though, and one of the reasons for that was a game called Sonic Superstars.
The game was simple and noble enough in intentions, as it was a new 2D Sonic title that would feature new maps, local co-op, and a “fresh” 3D art style while being in the 2D perspective. However, there were many problems with the game, as the Metacritic scores will tell you, and it didn’t sell well. In an interview with Eurogamer, SEGA president Shuji Utsumi admitted that things weren’t as quality with the title as with other games with the blue blur:
With Sonic Superstars it turned out to be a disappointment, in terms of the outcome compared to what we delivered.
Many will note that one of the biggest reasons for the failure was that SEGA released the game RIGHT NEXT TO Nintendo’s big Switch game Super Mario Bros Wonder, which was a best-selling, record-breaking, innovation-filled game that reminded people why Nintendo is still the top dog in the “rivalry” against SEGA. Still, with the success of Sonic X Shadow Generations in 2024 and the likely success of the Sonic 3 movie, SEGA has plenty to be thankful for right now.
