Nintendo has announced Mario Kart The tournament will close for good later this year, without an offline mode.
Despite their initial apathy for the format, Nintendo has released several mobile games over the past decade. Most have earned only a medium reception, but one of the most profitable is Mario Kart Tour.
Released in 2019, Mario Kart Tour is a mobile spin-off that has had a surprising impact on the last two mainline titles. Several city courses from the Tour were entered Mario Kart 8 Deluxe via DLC, while some characters and costumes were set Mario Kart World.
Mario Kart Tour may have been bogged down by gacha mechanics at first (which Nintendo later removed), but it still proved popular. According to Sensor towerit is the second grossing mobile game for the company, after Fire Emblem Heroes.
Now, seven years after launch, Nintendo has announced that it will shut down the Mario Kart Tour from 30 September 2026 at 7am BST in the UK.
As confirmed in a FAQ pageNintendo has no plans for an offline version either. “An offline version is not planned for release,” it said in a statement.
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In other words, starting September 30th, you won’t be able to download or play Mario Kart Tour at all. It’s a surprising move considering Animal Crossing: Pocket Campanother mobile game from Nintendo, got an offline option before it was also shut down.
“We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since the launch of the service long ago,” it said in a statement. ‘Thank you for playing Mario Kart Tour’.
Several in-game features, including automatic Gold Pass subscription renewals and the ability to purchase in-game ruby currency, have now been disabled. If you have subscribed to Gold Pass renewals before, you will still receive Gold Pass benefits until it expires. In addition, from August 4, everyone will have access to the benefits of the Gold Pass for free.
Nintendo stopped updates to Mario Kart Tour in 2023, though it did get a surprise update to coincide with the launch of Mario Kart World last year.
The main question is why has Nintendo decided to shut it down now? There’s a chance some sort of sequel could be planned based on its success, or it could be shifting priorities in Mario Kart World – a game in in desperate need of substantial DLC.
Nintendo still has several mobile games in the works, including Fire Emblem Heroes, Pikmin Bloom, Fire Emblem Shadows, and the recently launched Pictonico!
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