Summary
Segapresident Shuji Utsumi admitted in a recent interview thatSonic Superstarswas a “disappointment” for the company, especially compared toSonic X Shadow Generations.
Although Sonic has had a lot of ups and downs over his long career(especially that infamous 3D era that nobody can seem to get over), things have been looking a lot more positive for the Blue Blur and his friends in recent years.Not only is he a bona fide movie star now, but almost all of hislatest games like Frontiers and Shadow Generations have been very well-received by fans and critics.
That being said, there has been one surprising bump in the road for Sonic that none of us saw coming - the middling reception to Sonic Superstars. Considering how massive Mania was for Sega, Superstars seemed like an easy slam-dunk, but that’s not what ended up happening at all.
Sonic Superstars Was A “Disappointment”, According To Sega
When Sonic Superstars launched,it received a very muted reception from critics and fans, with Sega also admitting that it didn’t sell as well as it had hoped, likely due to launching next to Super Mario Bros. Wonder.As pointed out by Nintendo Everything,Eurogamer recently had the opportunity to talk with Sega president Shuji Utsumi, which led to a discussion on Sonic’s recent outings.
Eurogamer asked Utsumi about the quality control when it comes to Sonic games and compared it to mainline Mario titles feeling like a “big event”. This led Utsumi to admit that Sonic Superstars turned out to be a “disappointment” when it comes to how it was delivered, something that the studio is working on to maximise the “transmedia direction”.
We were trying to do something creative with Sonic Frontiers. 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. - Shuji Utsumi
While Utsumi seems to be a bit let down by Superstars' performance and reception,he does at least say that Sonic X Shadow Generations is “actually very good”, so it seems that the studio is back on track when it comes to the Blue Blur.Here’s hoping that streak continues with the recently revealed Sonic Racing CrossWorlds.
