{"id":66247,"date":"2024-08-02T08:19:39","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T08:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ginx.tv\/mario-sonic-olympic-games-ditched-for-nfts-esports"},"modified":"2024-08-02T08:19:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T08:19:39","slug":"mario-sonic-olympic-games-ditched-for-nfts-esports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ginx.tv\/en\/nintendo\/mario-sonic-olympic-games-ditched-for-nfts-esports","title":{"rendered":"The Olympics Killed Mario & Sonic Series So They Could Explore NFTs and Esports"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIP Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. As you may have noticed, we haven’t had a new Paris addition this time round. Which is a shame because the drag queen from the opening ceremony<\/a> was one spiky hat away from a very speedy cosplay. <\/p>\n

The licence for those games haven’t been renewed by the International Olympic Committee, and we now know why. It’s because, drum roll please: Money.<\/p>\n

That’s according to Lee Cocker, who worked on almost every entry in the series. In an interview with Eurogamer<\/a>, he said:<\/p>\n

“They wanted to look at other partners and NFTs and esports. Basically the IOC wanted to bring [it] back to themselves internally and look at other partners so they would get more money.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now I get why the IOC would want to look into esports. And it ain’t because it’s what the kids are into. It’s because, drum roll please … Money. And as of last week, the Olympic Esports Series was born. But NFTs? Apparently, THIS is what they ended up with:<\/p>\n

\"0de4af_aaedb7458c904994ab98efc87a97b1eb~mv2\"<\/p>\n

Yep. Digital pins of the Olympic mascot, Phryge (free-juh). Why play a fun game with two of the biggest characters in gaming history when you can buy a pin of this red bird that you can’t actually pin anywhere? Plus, NFT’s were lame back in 2022.  In 2024, they’re just straight up embarrassing. <\/p>\n

Now I should play devil’s advocate a little here because the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series was kinda going the same way as FIFA\/EA FC in that each new entry was essentially the same game as the previous one. <\/p>\n

And each entry sold less too. The 2008 game sold 13 million. 2010 sold 7 million. 2012 sold about 3.5 million. Fast forward to the 2020 edition and it sold less than a million… so in reality, there’s every chance that the IOC just didn’t see value in continuing the partnership… Although we’re surprised that THIS is what they released instead.<\/p>\n

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