NFTs
The official Olympics game has ditched Mario and Sonic in favor of mobile and PC — but it’s also promoting NFTs
For the past two decades, the official Olympic video games have starred Mario and Sonic and have been exclusive to Nintendo devices. Not so this year. Olympics Go! Paris 2024 is free and available for PC via the Epic Games Store.
Hear the monkey’s paw curl? Yep, it’s a mobile game port with the touchscreen prompts apparently still intact, and its publisher is also promoting a “Paris 2024 NFT Digital Pin Commemorative Collection.”
“They wanted to look at other partners, NFTs and eSports,” Lee Cocker told Eurogameron the decision to move the series away from Mario and Sonic. “Basically, the IOC wanted to bring [it] “turn inward and look for other partners to get more money.”
Cocker was involved in several titles in the series while working at ISM Ltd, a company responsible for managing the Olympic Games video game license.
Go! Paris 2024 Olympics is consequently now available on the Epic Games Store. Includes 12 mini-games, including sports such as archery, 100m dash, golf and rowing, plus the ability to expand the Olympic venues with upgraded shops, cafes and stadiums using unlockable items earned by competing in events.
The game is published by nWay, which also holds the license for the official Olympics NFT Digital Pin. “You can claim a Legendary or Epic pin featuring the Paris 2024 mascot holding a flag and waving. You can add these digital gems to your collection via Magic Eden’s user-friendly NFT marketplace as part of Coinbase’s Onchain Summer event. Make sure you have a wallet that supports ETH L2 Base to secure yours today,” the post reads. Go! Olympics website.
I have a real fondness for Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games 2020. Its story mode was underwhelming, but the many, many sports it featured were fun, and I played dozens of hours of it with the family, up until a few weeks ago. I probably would have thrown down £50 to buy a 2024 iteration. It’s a shame I can’t now, but also that I can’t celebrate an official Olympics game coming to PC.