According to reports, the official Olympic game development cooperation between Nintendo, Sega and the Olympic Committee ended in 2020, and the Olympic Committee was already looking for other opportunities at that time. We also previously reported that Lee Cocker, an executive producer who has participated in the production of multiple "Mario and Sonic Olympics" games, was interviewed by Eurogamer. During the interview, in addition to revealing that the series "may have ended", he also stated that the International Olympic Committee's licensing agreement has expired because the Olympic Committee "wants to consider other partners, as well as NFT and e-sports."
"Basically, the IOC wants to keep it (official game development) in-house and consider other partners so they can have more funding," he said.
The 2024 Paris Olympics kicked off last week, but this time the "Mario and Sonic Olympics" game was not launched. The first game of the game was released in 2007 to coincide with the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It has been uninterrupted in the past 20 years. A total of 4 games were released to coincide with the Summer Olympics and 2 to coincide with the Winter Olympics.
This year the Olympic Committee released a game called "Olympic GO!" The free mobile game "Paris 2024" (also available on PC) is developed by a San Francisco company called nWay - this company has also previously developed officially authorized NFT badges. In this mobile game, players can also unlock NFT digital badges for the 2024 Paris Olympics by participating in 12 sports events.
There is currently no price or information related to these NFTs on the Internet. But the International Olympic Committee seems to have a "soft spot" for NFTs. During the 2021 blockchain craze, the Olympic Committee launched a series of Olympic badge NFTs, priced between $9 and $499. Likewise, no one currently seems to be selling these NFTs on the market at a higher price.