Back in the day, Sega and Nintendo — and by extension, Sonic and Mario — were true rivals competing with each other time and time again for platformer supremacy. These days, however, it seems like there’s been a clear winner, and that’s seemingly been backed up by the recent release of Sonic Superstars and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
In a recent Sega investor Q&A, reported on by IGN, Sega head Haruki Satomi stated that Sonic Superstars has had a “slightly weaker start than [Sega] had anticipated.” When asked for the reasoning for the lower than expected start, he goes on to admit that “the impact of other companies’ major title released at the same time is significant.” Satomi doesn’t outright name Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but he almost doesn’t need to. Sonic Superstars launched on October 17th, while Super Mario Bros. Wonder released just three days later on the 20th. He could, of course, be referring to Spider-Man 2, which also launched on the 20th, but either way, it looks like Sega may have made a misstep with the release timing of Sonic Superstars.
Haruki is optimistic though, going on to say that “Sonic IP sells the most … mainly in November to December” and states that their plan is to spend more than 90% of Sonic Superstars marketing budget in the holiday season.
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Written by Jaxson Tapp
As a lover of gaming and the written word, Jaxson currently fills his time not only with playing games, but also writing about them. Ready for anything, Jaxson’s passion for puzzle games, JRPGs, tough platformers, and whimsical indies helps him bring a well-rounded opinion to Nintendo Wire’s reporting.
