The 2024 Paris Olympics kicked off over the weekend, and while the Olympics and video games (at least when it comes to simulation-style sports) have always had a connection, sports fans noticed that this year there wasn’t even an arcade-style Mario and Sonic adaptation.
Eurogamer reported on Tuesday that the International Olympic Committee has decided to let its licensing deals with Nintendo and Sega’s mascots expire after 2020, paving the way for less traditional opportunities like esports and NFTs.
“Basically the IOC wanted to bring (the Olympics) back in internally and look at other partners and make more money,” developer Lee Cocker told Eurogamer. He has worked on almost every game in the Mario & Sonic series dating back to 2007.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Summer or Winter) includes adaptations of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the 2012 London Olympics, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (which was pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Why aren’t the Olympics a huge hit in video games?
Nintendo’s line of sports games starring Mario have generally been well-received. The problem is that Nintendo has been reluctant to feature the main character on non-Nintendo platforms, so they are exclusive to a single platform. This may also have had something to do with Nintendo’s split with the IOC.
Olympic adaptations have generally worked better as party game ensembles than traditional sports simulations, and Nintendo has a strong reputation in this regard. Sega released a game for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which received middling review scores but was praised for its variety of events (including the countries represented). Sonic also appeared, but he was more of a wacky costume/avatar option (along with the spaceman and other fun choices) than his own persona.
The Olympics, despite being a major sports event, has struggled as a video game series, as it is not a single event but an ensemble of multiple events, and many popular sports such as soccer, tennis, and basketball already have dedicated titles.
