Nintendo Breaks One Of Its Best Traditions With The 2024 Olympics

Summary Mario & Sonic aren't getting a video game for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, marking the end of a long tradition.

Declining sales over the years likely hurt the chance of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games continuing.

Mario & Sonic taking a break might be good, but it would be nice to see the franchise return someday.

Nintendo has its fair share of franchises that have fallen by the wayside over the years, but when it comes to power players like Mario games, the company can be surprisingly consistent about keeping up traditions. From the obvious heavy hitters like Mario Kart to a number of RPGs and sports-themed spin-offs, the odds are that any reasonably successful game starring the intrepid plumber will get its fair share of sequels. One of his most interesting roles might be coming to an end, however, and it's ultiamtely not that much of a surprise.

When it comes to oddball Nintendo exclusives, few things feel more out of left field than the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games franchise. Although the games are developed by SEGA, not Nintendo, Mario still gets top billing, and they only show up on Nintendo systems. It's a collaboration that would have seemed inconceivable during the heights of the mascot and console wars in the 90s, and it's still a bit bizarre that the biggest collaboration between Mario and Sonic is based around the Olympics of all things.

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Mario & Sonic Aren't Getting A 2024 Olympics Game

The Crossover Franchise Has Quietly Disappeared

Although the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are ongoing, Mario and Sonic aren't taking any trip to them this year, possibly putting a quiet and unceremonious end to the franchise. The duo already missed the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, but 2024 marks the first time since 2004 that the pair hasn't united for the big summer event.

Game reporter Stephen Totilo mentioned asking SEGA for clarification on why the series isn't returning on Twitter, a query that apparently received no response. When applying Occam's razor to the situation, however, the simplest explanation is likely that the sales just weren't high enough to justify such a high-profile collaboration. The VGSales database of franchise sales and revenue shows a general pattern of decline across the franchise, with the worst-performing entry, Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, coming in under a tenth of the sales and revenue of the original Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

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Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games did represent an uptick in sales for the franchise, probably due to the general popularity of the Switch as a platform. It's very possible that SEGA was still hoping for a bigger recovery, and making a Mario & Sonic at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games might just be a bad financial move, especially when SEGA can focus on making games that star Sonic without complex licensing arrangements.

Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games also faced the unusual circumstances of a pandemic and delayed Olympic ceremony, but nailing down just how much that might have affected sales in any direction is impossible.

Mario & Sonic Could Have Gotten Stale

Recurring Sports Franchises Often Struggle To Innovate

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From a consumer end, it's hard to place the same value on the profit equation, but there may be a better reason for the franchise to make its exit. Like a lot of recurring sports titles, the Mario & Sonic games ran the risk of eventually starting to tread water. The 2020 entry did enough to keep things fresh, but if the profits never returned to their original heights, the games might have ended up going in the direction of bargain bin titles with decreased investment in development.

There isn't necessarily any reason why a new entry is needed when the past titles are readily available, but it would be nice to see Mario & Sonic games come back someday. Letting a great franchise rest is better than running it into the ground, and Mario & Sonic taking a step back while it still has more dignity than most sports games isn't a terrible thing. It would just be a shame if this was the end forever, and it would be nice to see a game on the Nintendo Switch's upcoming successor leverage the IP.

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The 2024 Paris games are still getting a tie-in game with the mobile title Olympics Go! Paris 2024, but it doesn't look like a particularly adequate replacement for the full-fledged Mario & Sonic experience. Anyone getting hit with the itch might do better to pick up a copy of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 or even chill with one of the Winter Olympics entries, as it seems unlikely that a new Mario & Sonic game will be coming anytime soon.

Source: Stephen Totilo/Twitter, VGSales