In June 2023, the character models for the game received complaints on Twitter by fan artist Rafa Knight, who noted that they resembled her own models of the characters that had been used for merchandise, even having the same minor imperfections as the toys. She claimed she had not been credited for her work either, instead being ignored by Sega and other related figures. In response, Katie Chrzanowski, the social media manager for Sega of America, apologized for the misunderstanding and explained that the models were custom-made for Sonic Superstars, and promised to privately email Knight with more details later on. It's unknown if any more developments in this controversy happened since.