Earlier today, Sega announced an agreement with International Olympic Committee to produce games for the 2020 Olympic Games. The new games will have console, handheld, mobile and arcade versions. While there is still no announcement for the complete details, this could mean that we will see more Mario and Sonic Olympics for the future.
Details Of The Sega Olympics Agreement
According to a report from GameSpot, Sega wanted the license because Olympic Games "draws everyone's attention." According to Sega, they are the best choice because of their "accumulated experience and knowhow."
According to Sega CEO Haruki Satomi, he felt honored to be granted with the sub-license from International Sports Multimedia (ISM). The report said that ISM CEO Raymond Goldsmith believes that Sega's video games will help "support the global appeal of Tokyo 2020."
The Sega games will have different versions - handheld, mobile, console, online and arcade. Releasing the different versions is a good way to further promote the games since it will be widely available for different users.
Sega's Previous Olympic Games
Sega reportedly started to focus on winning titles to improve sales on their new releases, after recent ventures into game development did not harbor fruitful results to their efforts.
As part of this strategy, Sega developed games about the previous Olympics, including the Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 Olympics Winter Games, and the Bejing 2008, London 2012, and Rio 2016 Summer Games. These games were featured as Mario and Sonic Games and feature the game characters in various sports events.
Sega's history of releasing Olympics-themed games is a solid proof of their capabilities. It is becoming a tradition and a good strategy for their sales. More importantly, the next Olympics will also be monumental in their ventures, since it will be hosted in one of the founding countries for video games. So look forward to the next Mario and Sonic Olympics.
