Nintendo is sunsetting Mario Kart Tour next month
There will be no new content after October 4th.
Mario Kart Tour has carved out a niche for itself in the mobile gaming space since launching as a beta in 2019, but all good things must come to an end. Nintendo just announced that there are only three more "tours" (original multiplayer events) scheduled for the next month and after that the tours will repeat from the beginning. There will be no new courses, drivers, karts, gliders or features of any kind added after October 4th, according to an in-game screengrab posted to Reddit.
Does this mean the game is heading to the digital scrapyard? Yes and no. Nintendo is abandoning the development of new content for the free-to-play racer, but it’ll still be available to download and experience. Without the lure of fresh content, however, the player base will likely shrink dramatically, despite Nintendo saying they hope people will continue to use the app.
Engadget reached out to Nintendo for clarification as to why the content spigot was turned off and we'll update this post when we get something official. However, every game eventually runs out of new content, and it could be just as simple as that. It’s worth noting that Mario Kart Tour has been a success for the company, raking in nearly $300 million as of last year, which was originally reported by Eurogamer. This haul makes it Nintendo’s second-most profitable mobile title, behind the massively popular Fire Emblem Heroes.
Despite financial success, Mario Kart Tour has had its share of controversy. Like most free-to-play mobile games, it constantly asks you for money and the most egregious instance of this was something called “Spotlight Pipes.” This gacha mechanic provided loot boxes with undisclosed odds, so you had no idea if it was worth it or not. Gamers rallied against this mechanic and Nintendo removed the pipes last September. However, the company faces a class-action lawsuit after a parent claimed his child spent $170 on Spotlight Pipes, as reported by Kotaku.
Nintendo’s still churning out content for other mobile games, including Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Super Mario Run and the aforementioned Fire Emblem Heroes. The company recently partnered with mobile giant DeNA to create something called Nintendo Systems, which presumably is developing new smartphone games and related experiences.
