Nintendo and Sega’s long-standing and historic partnership to create Olympic video games reportedly ended in 2020 as event organizers looked elsewhere for opportunities.
Lee Cocker, who served as executive producer on several Mario & Sonic Olympics titles, told Eurogamer that the International Olympic Committee allowed the licensing deal to lapse because it “wanted to look at other partners, NFTs and esports.”
“Basically, the IOC wanted to regain internal control and look for other partners to get more money,” Cocker added.
The 2024 Summer Olympics kicked off in Paris last week, but no Mario & Sonic games were available in time for the start of the event – the first time this has happened since the original was released in 2007 to coincide with the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
Over the past two decades, there have been four Mario and Sonic tie-ins for the Summer Olympics, plus two for the Winter Olympics.
This year, instead of a Nintendo/Sega title, the IOC has released Olympics Go! Paris 2024, a free-to-play title for mobile and PC developed by nWay, which has previously worked on several Power Rangers games.
Olympics Go! allows players to compete in 12 sports and unlock NFTs from the Paris 2024 digital pin collection.
The original Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games was announced in March 2007 and marked the first time the two mascots (once archrivals in the '90s console wars) appeared together in a game.