Why Mario and Sonic are missing the Paris Olympics — and what gamers will get instead
You might have noticed Mario and Sonic aren’t competing at the Paris Olympics.
That’s because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ended its long-running partnership with Nintendo and Sega, the creators of the Mario and Sonic video games, which since 2007 has spawned six titles for Nintendo platforms — four for each iteration of the Summer Games and two for the Winter Games.
A 2024 version was “not feasible” because of the tight timelines in the wake of the postponed 2020 Tokyo Games, the IOC said in a statement to CBC News.
The IOC is instead focusing on NFTs and esports. This time it partnered with the San Francisco- and Seoul-based company nWay to create Olympics Go! Paris 2024, a free-to-play smartphone game which includes NFTs users can claim.
The move makes sense to one industry expert.
For the people that are asking there will be no <a href=”https://twitter.com/MarioSonicGames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@MarioSonicGames</a> for <a href=”https://twitter.com/Paris2024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Paris2024</a> the franchise finished with <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarioAndSonic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#MarioAndSonic</a> at the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/OlympicGames?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#OlympicGames</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Tokyo2020</a> I know because I worked on all the games in the franchise. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Olympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Olympics</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PARIS2024?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#PARIS2024</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/videogames?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#videogames</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/gaming?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#gaming</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/esports?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#esports</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nintendo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Nintendo</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sega?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Sega</a> <a href=”https://t.co/o5OPEksF5G”>pic.twitter.com/o5OPEksF5G</a>
—@leecocker
The IOC likely got a “better offer financially, and opted for breaking the tradition of giving the Olympic license to these Japanese companies said Serkan Toto, the CEO of Kantan Games, an independent game industry consultancy that focuses on the Japanese market.
Toto also thinks the popularity of mobile games contributed to the decision.
Those games make up “half of the entire gaming industry,” he said. “It’s the biggest segment of all of the entire global gaming market.”
Toto also points to the importance of when those negotiations likely started — a few years ago.
The digital investments known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and esports were both “very hot” back then, he said.
“So I’m not totally surprised that the IOC actually chose this route.”
In addition to the mobile game, there’s a PC version of Olympics Go! Paris 2024, in which users can compete in 12 Olympic sports, such as archery, gymnastics, 100-metre athletics, swimming and golf.
10:24Have we reached the end for NFTs?
Are NFTs dead? A group called dappGambl surveyed over 73,000 collections and found that 95 per cent are worthless. Tech reporter and friend of Commotion Alyssa Bereznak recaps the NFT goldrush of the 2020s as a whirlwind of money and celebrity endorsements that ultimately crashed.
Toto describes the IOC’s new partnership as a “test balloon” that could lead to similar collaborations.
It reminds him of another sports/gaming partnership, between FIFA and Electronic Arts (EA), which was established in the 1990s and ended in 2022.
But there are differences, and when EA lost the FIFA deal, Toto doubts anyone at the company was “unhappy about it,” after years of paying the soccer organization’s “sky-high” licence fees.
“I think it’s more critical for such an imaginary game to have the Olympics license than for a soccer game to have the FIFA license,” he said.
As for esports, that venture will launch next year in Saudi Arabia, which has a 12-year agreement to host the nascent video game competition.
That event will be “very big” for the world of esports, according to Toto.
Fresh Air11:26eSports are leveling up, and getting their own Olympic Games in 2025.
In 2025, the Inaugural Olympic E-sports Games will be taking place in Saudi Arabia.Guest host Nav Nanwa got reaction to this news from Assistant Esports Director Chris Funston and a former player for the St. Clair Saints, the eSports team at St. Clair College in Windsor.
