Olympics ditched Mario & Sonic series to explore non-fungible tokens and esports
I couldn't submit it with NFTs in the title lol
by SenseTotal
35 Comments
Ok-Flow5292
I have to guess it was due to sales. Between it’s release (November 2019) and last sales update (March 2022), the game for Tokyo 2020 only sold one-million copies. That’s surprisingly low, especially with how successful the Switch has been. So it was likely deemed unsustainable to keep paying the licensing fees for a game that is moving units at a snail’s pace. A real shame, but not surprising.
Vendidurt
Were these even popular? I never picked one of these up .
Johnboy_245
I can get esports but the Olympic committee needs to stay the hell away from nfts.
owensoundgamedev
fun fact: Sonic and Mario played sports together longer than they beefed as console mascots/”rivals”
2007-2020: when the first and last olympic game came out (13 years)
1991-2003: when sonic 1 came out to when sonic heroes was released (the first multiplatform game) (12 years)
Edit: people say how SA2 was a few months after Dreamcast in 2002 but I went with first simultaneous multi platform release which was heroes
Paris Olympics was technically 2019 but had an arcade port in 2020
Edit again: Tokyo not Paris
BortGreen
Esports? You mean, like… Having a videogame about Olympics? What’s the difference?
It’s just easier to say they wanted to cut costs and instead of sega opted for doing a budget mobile game with a company that also wants to sell NFTs
Darragh_McG
NFTs were a pretty dumb fad
LatS_Josh
Not just Mario & Sonic, they dumped their main Olympics series too.
On one hand, I can’t say I’m all that upset. These games were pretty meh, and Mario & Sonic teaming up for an Olympics game was a huge wasted opportunity. But on the other hand, ditching the Olympics games for microtransactions and NFT-laced mobile gaming is just pathetic and sad.
RealGazelle
Do people still care about Olympic events enough to buy associated merchandise? People around me don’t really care, and every news outlet talk about how Olympic have fallen; it’s nothing but a giant debt generator.
mlvisby
Cashing in on NFTs after that craze has come and gone.
OviKintobor
The series was a massive dissapointmemt anyhow. I cannot imagine a lamer crossover between these two franchises.
Serafita
They could go for Nintendo and Sega at the olympics instead to pull in more franchise characters?
insane_steve_ballmer
Unrelated question: How’s FIFA doing now that EA has dropped them for being to greedy?
TwilightVulpine
Shame. They can’t set it in the Mushroom Kingdom if it’s non-fungible.
ThisOneTimeAtLolCamp
Investing in NFTs now is like investing in Pogs in the 2000s.
Angel7O2
That sucks I Enjoyed Mario and Sonic -Beijing ,Vancouver, London & Sochi.
Series went meh after 2014 but they were fun. Especially the Dream Events
fezzersc
Good. i did not want to see Luigi’s balls.
Hovi_Bryant
Not sure how these efforts are mutually exclusive. How is this not just a plain licensing agreement?
Striking-Count5593
A terrible alternative, but I am interested in the last game in the series by using older sprites to play some of the Olympic games.
hattingtonvi
Honestly, they could probably get away with rebranding Mario Sports or Sluggers if they felt like it
Sylverstone14
The games were okay, but I always loved hearing the soundtracks since we’d get to hear the SEGA Sound Team’s takes on various Nintendo tracks.
To be fair the tokyo Mario & Sonic game was pure trash
onga999
I just wish we could have gotten a winter Olympics themed game on the Switch.
Ironchar
lol IOC is getting greedy and its costing them.
Jumpyer
The M&S Sochi 2014 OST is so good
ishkabibbel2000
Has nobody with a brain been in the room to tell them that they’re late to the NFT craze, and that the idea is already dead on the vine?
Friendly_Drive381
The Olympics committee can kiss my ass, I’m not watching any Olympic games ever again. I can’t believe they ditched such a silly and fun franchise for fucking NFTs…
RebekhaG
Guys please do not blame Nintendo and Sega for this. Blame the Olympic committee for this. I’m pissed that this has happened. I loathe this decision. If Nintendo and Sega were at fault here I’d definitely be calling them out ,but they’re not responsible. I was shocked that Nintendo didn’t cancel the series. Mario & Sonic At The Olyimpic goes doesn’t deserve to be canceled. It deserves to live on. Fuck this decision. I grew up with the series and to see it go hurts. It better come back. No one is going to watch the Olympic esports. What we want is the Mario & Sonic Olympic games to continue. No other Olympic game will sell any better than Mario & Sonic series. I hope Nintendo and Sega tells the Olympic committee to continue Mario & Sonic series. The Tokyo 2020 was the best in the series because Mario and Luigi have cute outfits. A non Mario and Sonic Olyimpic game is not the way to go if the Olympics want games.
shadowlarvitar
Crazy. The one and only time I cared about the Olympics was when I played those games, which hasn’t been since the Wii era but that was due to lack of people to play with 😂
HarryNohara
I think it was also time to drop the Mario & Sonic at the Olympics franchise. Games were relative poor and sales were bad, not very sustainable. It’s just a shame that there is no Olympics game. Well, there is one, but it’s a mobile game: Olympics Go! Paris 2024, which is dry as bones..
That said, it’s not that there has ever been a really good Olympic licenced game. It’s always racing, rythem or button bashing. A lot of sports just aren’t really suitable for gaming.
hyperforms9988
NFTs make sense… well, it would’ve made sense at one time when NFTs still had some hope of catching on. Gaming is more narrow in terms of interest level, and Olympic video games are probably never going to be more than a casual/niche-level interest. NFTs… I mean, if they took off, can you imagine selling a single unique NFT of each medalist with “investors”, or people with too much pride in their country’s accomplishments all tripping over themselves to part with obscene amounts of cash for that? And for the general public, a version of the same ones that are either limited or unlimited. It would’ve been a no-brainer for them to do, however they wanted to divvy that out.
They chose to let the deal lapse in 2020. NFTs first started blowing up in the mainstream in 2020. NFT trading increased from US$82 million in 2020 to US$17 billion in 2021, and then it crashed in 2022. There’s a small window of time there where it seemed like it would’ve made a lot of sense for them and it would’ve been around that time. What they and a lot of others didn’t count on was the crash. NFTs would practically cease to exist by the time the next Olympics in 2024 would come to pass. They’re still around… God knows why.
altanass
The Olympics itself has lost its touch.
It used to be about battle royales / fights to the death.
That’s what gamers want to see.
Mdreezy_
What are they opting for Fortnite as a sport category? They are clearly not understanding the reach a video game, especially a Mario or Sonic game can have. Do they want people to interact with the idea of the Olympic Games or not? That’s not going to happen with NFTs. As for esports I don’t even get what that’s supposed to entail but it seems like chasing influencer revenue.
nRenegade
Rofle-fucking-mao
MaryAJackson1
The change could open up new opportunities for innovation.
An_Evil_Scientist666
Damn is that why internet explorer closed down, because they rebranded and bought out the rights to the Olympics, because god they’re slow on the trend.
35 Comments
I have to guess it was due to sales. Between it’s release (November 2019) and last sales update (March 2022), the game for Tokyo 2020 only sold one-million copies. That’s surprisingly low, especially with how successful the Switch has been. So it was likely deemed unsustainable to keep paying the licensing fees for a game that is moving units at a snail’s pace. A real shame, but not surprising.
Were these even popular? I never picked one of these up .
I can get esports but the Olympic committee needs to stay the hell away from nfts.
fun fact: Sonic and Mario played sports together longer than they beefed as console mascots/”rivals”
2007-2020: when the first and last olympic game came out (13 years)
1991-2003: when sonic 1 came out to when sonic heroes was released (the first multiplatform game) (12 years)
Edit: people say how SA2 was a few months after Dreamcast in 2002 but I went with first simultaneous multi platform release which was heroes
Paris Olympics was technically 2019 but had an arcade port in 2020
Edit again: Tokyo not Paris
Esports? You mean, like… Having a videogame about Olympics? What’s the difference?
It’s just easier to say they wanted to cut costs and instead of sega opted for doing a budget mobile game with a company that also wants to sell NFTs
NFTs were a pretty dumb fad
Not just Mario & Sonic, they dumped their main Olympics series too.
On one hand, I can’t say I’m all that upset. These games were pretty meh, and Mario & Sonic teaming up for an Olympics game was a huge wasted opportunity. But on the other hand, ditching the Olympics games for microtransactions and NFT-laced mobile gaming is just pathetic and sad.
Do people still care about Olympic events enough to buy associated merchandise? People around me don’t really care, and every news outlet talk about how Olympic have fallen; it’s nothing but a giant debt generator.
Cashing in on NFTs after that craze has come and gone.
The series was a massive dissapointmemt anyhow. I cannot imagine a lamer crossover between these two franchises.
They could go for Nintendo and Sega at the olympics instead to pull in more franchise characters?
Unrelated question: How’s FIFA doing now that EA has dropped them for being to greedy?
Shame. They can’t set it in the Mushroom Kingdom if it’s non-fungible.
Investing in NFTs now is like investing in Pogs in the 2000s.
That sucks I Enjoyed Mario and Sonic -Beijing ,Vancouver, London & Sochi.
Series went meh after 2014 but they were fun. Especially the Dream Events
Good. i did not want to see Luigi’s balls.
Not sure how these efforts are mutually exclusive. How is this not just a plain licensing agreement?
A terrible alternative, but I am interested in the last game in the series by using older sprites to play some of the Olympic games.
Honestly, they could probably get away with rebranding Mario Sports or Sluggers if they felt like it
The games were okay, but I always loved hearing the soundtracks since we’d get to hear the SEGA Sound Team’s takes on various Nintendo tracks.
[Their version of Buoy Base Galaxy](https://youtu.be/UNvfPIUuL0Y) still lives rent-free in my head.
To be fair the tokyo Mario & Sonic game was pure trash
I just wish we could have gotten a winter Olympics themed game on the Switch.
lol IOC is getting greedy and its costing them.
The M&S Sochi 2014 OST is so good
Has nobody with a brain been in the room to tell them that they’re late to the NFT craze, and that the idea is already dead on the vine?
The Olympics committee can kiss my ass, I’m not watching any Olympic games ever again. I can’t believe they ditched such a silly and fun franchise for fucking NFTs…
Guys please do not blame Nintendo and Sega for this. Blame the Olympic committee for this. I’m pissed that this has happened. I loathe this decision. If Nintendo and Sega were at fault here I’d definitely be calling them out ,but they’re not responsible. I was shocked that Nintendo didn’t cancel the series. Mario & Sonic At The Olyimpic goes doesn’t deserve to be canceled. It deserves to live on. Fuck this decision. I grew up with the series and to see it go hurts. It better come back. No one is going to watch the Olympic esports. What we want is the Mario & Sonic Olympic games to continue. No other Olympic game will sell any better than Mario & Sonic series. I hope Nintendo and Sega tells the Olympic committee to continue Mario & Sonic series. The Tokyo 2020 was the best in the series because Mario and Luigi have cute outfits. A non Mario and Sonic Olyimpic game is not the way to go if the Olympics want games.
Crazy. The one and only time I cared about the Olympics was when I played those games, which hasn’t been since the Wii era but that was due to lack of people to play with 😂
I think it was also time to drop the Mario & Sonic at the Olympics franchise. Games were relative poor and sales were bad, not very sustainable. It’s just a shame that there is no Olympics game. Well, there is one, but it’s a mobile game: Olympics Go! Paris 2024, which is dry as bones..
That said, it’s not that there has ever been a really good Olympic licenced game. It’s always racing, rythem or button bashing. A lot of sports just aren’t really suitable for gaming.
NFTs make sense… well, it would’ve made sense at one time when NFTs still had some hope of catching on. Gaming is more narrow in terms of interest level, and Olympic video games are probably never going to be more than a casual/niche-level interest. NFTs… I mean, if they took off, can you imagine selling a single unique NFT of each medalist with “investors”, or people with too much pride in their country’s accomplishments all tripping over themselves to part with obscene amounts of cash for that? And for the general public, a version of the same ones that are either limited or unlimited. It would’ve been a no-brainer for them to do, however they wanted to divvy that out.
They chose to let the deal lapse in 2020. NFTs first started blowing up in the mainstream in 2020. NFT trading increased from US$82 million in 2020 to US$17 billion in 2021, and then it crashed in 2022. There’s a small window of time there where it seemed like it would’ve made a lot of sense for them and it would’ve been around that time. What they and a lot of others didn’t count on was the crash. NFTs would practically cease to exist by the time the next Olympics in 2024 would come to pass. They’re still around… God knows why.
The Olympics itself has lost its touch.
It used to be about battle royales / fights to the death.
That’s what gamers want to see.
What are they opting for Fortnite as a sport category? They are clearly not understanding the reach a video game, especially a Mario or Sonic game can have. Do they want people to interact with the idea of the Olympic Games or not? That’s not going to happen with NFTs. As for esports I don’t even get what that’s supposed to entail but it seems like chasing influencer revenue.
Rofle-fucking-mao
The change could open up new opportunities for innovation.
Damn is that why internet explorer closed down, because they rebranded and bought out the rights to the Olympics, because god they’re slow on the trend.