With the 2024 Olympic Games happening in Paris right now, you might be thinking: where is the companion Mario & Sonic game? After all, we’ve regularly gotten sports games featuring the Nintendo and Sega mascots since 2007.
Unfortunately, it looks like the International Olympics Committee (IOC), which worked with the two Japanese gaming giants for many years, has decided to go in a different direction.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Mario & Sonic producer Lee Coker said the IOC “wanted to look at other partners and NFTs and esports” after the release of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
“Basically the IOC wanted to bring [it] back to themselves internally and look at other partners so they would get more money.”
On the one hand, it makes sense that the IOC would want to cut out two big (and presumably expensive) partners like Nintendo and Sega, especially since the Mario & Sonic would only ever release on the former’s consoles.
But on the flip side, there’s the questionable “NFTs” (non-fungible tokens) of it all. Of course, the scam dumb tech fad is effectively dead, although, to be fair to the IOC, many businesses and organizations were interested in them between 2020 and 2021. Therefore, it’s not exactly surprising that the IOS was looking at NFTs around this time, however ill-advised it may have been.
Interestingly, the IOC did actually pursue a tie-in game for Paris 2024, a free-to-play Android, iOS and PC title called Olympics Go! Paris 2024. In it, you can take part in 12 different minigames based on Olympic sports, including archery, swimming, golf and fencing.
However, it hasn’t seemed to be promoted much, with even us at MobileSyrup having not heard of that game until Eurogamer pointed it out. What the IOC is promoting, however, is NFTs within the game:
“You can claim a legendary or epic pin showcasing the Paris 2024 mascot holding a flag and waving. You can add these digital gems to your collection through Magic Eden’s friendly NFT marketplace as part of Coinbase’s Onchain Summer event. Be sure to have an ETH L2 Base-supported wallet to secure yours today!”
Thankfully, the latest Sonic and Mario games didn’t have any NFTs in them.
In related news, check out our breakdown of where to stream the 2024 Paris Olympics in Canada.
Image credit: Sega
Source: Eurogamer
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