So now that the 2024 Olympic games are officially underway I can't help but wonder when Nintendo plans to announce and release this year's installment of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games. I have always enjoyed playing these with my friends and family. I am guessing maybe a shadow drop or something on the eShop. What do you guys think? When will they announce it?
Sadly, I suspect that Sega just let it quietly die, like they already did with the Winter Olympics games.
It's not been a particularly successful series for a while, either in terms of sales or critical acclaim, and I doubt the license comes cheap.
The Tokyo game was also one of the last projects that AlphaDream worked on before they went bankrupt, although I don't think they were the only studio involved.
@Tasuki All the other Mario and Sonic at the Olympics games came out months before the corresponding Olympics started, so I assume there won't be one this year. The series has been selling less well for the last decade so maybe they are killing it? Or perhaps they decided to bring back the winter olympics instead and have a 2025/2026 game (the winter olympics is Feb 2026 so I assume a game would come out late 2025 if they do that.)
Another possibility is that they drop the Olympic license and make a generic game, much like EA have done with FIFA. Since it'd no longer be tied to the Olympics, they could release it whenever they want.
Either way, I'm disappointed that we don't get to see Mario and Sonic doing competitive breaking.
Another possibility is that they drop the Olympic license and make a generic game, much like EA have done with FIFA. Since it'd no longer be tied to the Olympics, they could release it whenever.
Mario and Sonic at... cross country club? 🤔 At the community gym?? Doesn't have the same ring to it.
Hmmm even if Sega didn't want to do it I don't see why Nintendo wouldn't continue the series. They are great games for multiplayer so it doesn't make sense not to continue them, plus with the hype the Olympics bring it would be dumb not to make one. I am thinking perhaps a shadow drop here soon.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
Mario and Sonic at... cross country club? 🤔 At the community gym?? Doesn't have the same ring to it.
Maybe not that generic, but Nintendo have a couple of hot sellers in Clubhouse Games and Switch Sports, doing far better numbers than the series has seen in a long time, so I don't think the Olympic license counts for that much.
I'd completely forgotten about the Olympics until it was brought to my attention about a month ago, and I'd been wondering about this too. So strange given that even the Wii U got one!
And a shadow drop?! With the games just a day away?,m Forget about it!
And there's no plain console game for the 2024 Olympics at all - only a mobile app. I don't get why they didn't just chuck the mobile app on a Switch cartridge (sans in-game transactions) and call it a day.
Oh, well. I guess we've still got two solid 2020 Olympics games to enjoy on Switch.
@Tasuki you’d have to pay for licence fees for Sonic, Mario and the Olympics for game series that has become a mainstay in the discount bargain bins. I doubt Nintendo are kicking themselves for all of the lost cash.
It was awesome seeing Gojira preform in the opening ceremony today and now I can just ignore the sporty jumpy athletic bits to the Olympics.
Basically the summary is no 2024 game and the license wasn't renewed (possibly partially because of covid). The implication is that the franchise is permanently gone but that seems like a bit of a leap even if it doesn't exist this year.
The problem would be that, with Sega letting the license go, someone else has had an opportunity to pick it up, and I'd presume that that was nWay, with their mobile game.
They could still make a Mario & Sonic game without the Olympic branding, of course, but it's a series that clearly needs a bit of a rethink. They've gone from selling over ten million copies of the first game across the Wii and DS, to only just over a million for the latest game on the Switch. The perception that it's a series long past its prime is very much borne out by the numbers.
Apparently viewership of the Olympics itself has gone down a lot in recent years, especially in the US. Not sure if this is related to how well the games did.
Side note, but I find it weird this series even has to be licensed. Did Mario Kart need a license to make Paris Promenade? The concept of the Olympics is thousands of years old so it feels a little more like needing to license the concept of basketball rather than e.g. licencing the NBA games specifically with all the real players etc. I guess the real question is whether they would still be allowed to make Mario and Sonic at the Mushroom Olympics.
Apparently viewership of the Olympics itself has gone down a lot in recent years, especially in the US. Not sure if this is related to how well the games did.
Side note, but I find it weird this series even has to be licensed. Did Mario Kart need a license to make Paris Promenade? The concept of the the Olympics is thousands of years old so it feels a little more like needing to license the concept of basketball rather than e.g. licencing the NBA games specifically with all the real players etc.
The Olympic committee are hardcore in protecting the trademark. I've heard a story about a small village having a sports day and calling it their "Olympics" only for Olympics to set their lawyers on them.
The Olympic committee are hardcore in protecting the trademark. I've heard a story about a small village having a sports day and calling it their "Olympics" only for Olympics to set their lawyers on them.
It's worse than that, even.
The word used to be considered generic until the 1970s, and can still be found in the name of a whole host of sporting clubs who were founded before that time. There's also an airline, a whole bunch of ships, and a greyhound race, among other uses that continue under grandfather rights.
However, since then, the IOC made it a condition of hosting the games that every country had to pass a law giving them full IP rights over the word and, combined with international agreements, it's now a trademark with global reach.
You'd have a better shot at calling your village sports day the "Sonic the Hedgehog games" to be honest, as at least we know that Sega are pretty liberal when it comes to fan games. I wouldn't fancy your chances throwing Mario in there, though.
The word used to be considered generic until the 1970s, and can still be found in the name of a whole host of sporting clubs who were founded before that time. There's also an airline, a whole bunch of ships, and a greyhound race, among other uses that continue under grandfather rights.
However, since then, the IOC made it a condition of hosting the games that every country had to pass a law giving them full IP rights over the word and, combined with international agreements, it's now a trademark with global reach.
That is most interesting and the first time I'm hearing of this. I can't imagine that every country would pass such a ridiculous law(s), and I imagine that most countries on Earth wouldn't consider hosting the Olympics to be a great enough priority to make such a concession to appease the IOC. It's almost surprising that more countries haven't pushed back against this. There is strength in numbers and yet the spineless never cease to yield.
Back to Mario and Sonic, alternatively, they could have rebranded the series any which way and still set the game in Paris in order to rake in those Olympic dollars. I don't think the cross-promotion even helps Mario and Sonic anywhere near as much as it benefitted the IOC. Olympic video game adaptations have a very brief shelf life, after all.
Well if they can't use the word Olympics just call it Mario and Sonic at the Summer (Winter) Games and there you go.
That's a good idea. They might also have to remove any Olympic-ish symbols and music, but they could make a game with a silly plot in one of the game worlds explaining why there is a big event. They could actually be pretty creative if they didn't have to focus on the precise events in the Olympics. I hope they do something like that in the future; it could probably interest people who don't care about the Olympics while also giving a similar enough taste to people who already liked the franchise.
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