Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for Wii and DS has sold five million copies, but another collaboration between the two iconic characters is still up in the air, Sega tells Next Generation.

"Getting Mario and Sonic together in the first place took so long, every decade, to make that happen," Sega of America COO and president Simon Jeffery said in a phone interview. "So I think rushing into any other collaboration is not going to happen. It's going to be fairly calculated."

Launched on November 6, the game is developed by Sega and features popular videogame characters from both Sonic's and Mario's universes, such as Tails, Knuckles, Luigi and Yoshi. Sega published the game in the West, while Nintendo published the game in Japan. The game is licensed through a worldwide partnership with International Sports Media, the interactive entertainment licensee of the International Olympic Committee.

The game has rocketed off of the blocks since its debut, topping sales charts both in the US and abroad. And while 5 million copies is a major milestone, Sega is expecting to sell even more.

"There have only been three months so far and the Olympics themselves are another four months away," Jeffery said. "We're expecting to sell quite a few million more globally, hopefully between now and the end of this year."

He added, "This reinforces what we've firmly believed - that there is a huge opportunity on the Wii and the DS to get some breakout hits, especially exploiting our intellectual properties. We're not going to be shifting our focus any, though. We're still going to be focusing on hardcore games on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, too, and really all kinds of stuff on Wii."

Article supplied by Next Generation.

Mar 5, 2008