20 Ridiculous Reasons Video Games Were Cancelled
5. The Olympics Explored NFTs & Esports Instead - Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Paris 2024
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is one of those mainstay franchise that most assumed would just keep chugging along in perpetuity - a fun sports-themed mash-up starring two of the medium's most iconic platformer mascots.
But Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 actually ended up being the final game in the series, as a title expected to coincide with the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris was quietly scrapped.
As the Olympics were getting underway, it was reported that the International Olympics Committee decided not to renew its license partnership with Sega and Nintendo, instead embarking on a new deal with nWay to produce content centered around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and esports.
Basically, the IOC thought that they could make more money licensing the Olympics through other avenues, which while perhaps prudent from a financial perspective, does feel like a bit of a miserably soulless, corporate reason to put the kibosh on a classic franchise that lasted almost 20 years.
Was it really not possible to do the NFT nonsense and still make these games?