Olympic Games Was Set to Ditch Popular Game Series in Favor of NFT and E-sports
The Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series didn't get a new installment, instead, this year's Olympic Games were accompanied by the announcement of e-sports games and a new NFT.
The Olympic Games were to abandon partnerships with Sega and Nintendo in favor of e-sports and NFTs, thus putting an end to Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series. The series that accompanied the official competitions since 2007 has ended.
Earlier, players had already noted with surprise that the beginning of the games in Paris didn't mark the debut of a new game featuring Mario and Sonic. According to Lee Cocker, one of the developers of the brand, interviewed by Eurogamer, the International Olympic Committee didn't extend the license, which expired in 2020.
The developer also reported that the Olympic organizers were considering "other partners," but were also looking at e-sports and NFTs. The supposed goal was to centralize these initiatives within the internal framework of the Committee, which would be more advantageous for the group.
So far, 6 installments of the series Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games have been released: 4 for the Summer Olympics and 2 for the Winter Games. They weren't the biggest hits of Sega and Nintendo, but the games had loyal fans and sold more than 26 million copies.
Although we don't have official confirmation of this information, we do know that the International Olympic Committee considered creating the Olympic Esports Games. The project was officially approved on July 24, and the first edition will take place in Saudi Arabia in 2025.
Moreover, the mobile game Olympics Go! Paris 2024 has been released, a free title from nWay studio that is also available on PCs through the Epic Games Store platform. In this store, you can also download cosmetic items for the game for free, but only until August 1st, 8:00 a.m. PT.
However, initiatives related to NFTs were announced already in 2021, and this year they are available through the mentioned game in the form of digital "pins."
