Sega noted that the start of Sonic Superstars turned out to be "less successful than anticipated"

Sega Sammy Holdings President and CEO Haruki Satomi addressed the initial sales of Sonic Superstars, noting a somewhat weaker start than anticipated but expressing hope for improvement.

"We launched Sonic Superstars in October, and its start was slightly less successful than we had planned," shared Satomi. "However, our experience shows that Sonic game sales are most active from November through December, with over 90% of the marketing investment allocated to the Thanksgiving and holiday season from November through the year-end."

Satomi added, "While our current forecasts indicate slightly lower sales than expected due to the earlier discussed start, we intend to actively continue our marketing efforts to achieve results comparable to Sonic Frontiers' success."

During a subsequent Q&A session, Satomi was asked about the reasons behind the lower sales of Sonic Superstars. He mentioned the game's release during a highly competitive period but remained optimistic about future sales based on the positive feedback from critics and players.

"We believe the impact of other major game releases during the same period was significant, but we plan to ramp up promotion, particularly during the holiday season on global markets," explained Satomi. "Both the Metacritic scores and user reviews are higher than those of Sonic Frontiers, and we aim for successful sales."

Currently, Sonic Superstars holds a Metacritic rating of 76 on Xbox Series X/S, 73 on PS5, and 71 on Switch, with an average user score of 8.8 out of 10.

However, the game launched just three days before the release of Super Mario Bros Wonder, which currently boasts a Metacritic rating of 92. This close proximity of release dates between these two competing games likely contributed to a slower start for Sonic, as many Switch owners might have opted to purchase Mario's game first.