Nintendo has many big brands to show for it: Zelda, Pokémon and of course Mario – in all its forms. However, the Japanese company is now discontinuing support for a well-known Mario game.
We’re talking about “Mario Kart Tour”. It will officially end on October 4th, when no new content will be released for the mobile game. But what exactly does that mean and is there perhaps any indication of further planned measures by Nintendo?
Mario Kart Tour no longer receives content
The concept actually sounds quite promising: the popular, family-friendly racing game Mario Kart as a mobile phone game. In 2019, exactly that was launched in the form of “Mario Kart Tour”. The gameplay is based on the original Nintendo games. You can choose well-known characters from the Mario cosmos – especially Mario himself, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach and whatever they’re called – as “racers”.
Then you compete against other games in a go-kart-like race. The aim is not only to master the route, but also to collect all sorts of useful items along the way.
Also read: Mario Kart Tour for your smartphone – this is how the first level plays
For more variety, Nintendo regularly delivered new content such as rewards or route profiles. However, this should end from October 4th. The company communicated its decision to players without providing any explanation. The end of Mario Kart Tour only became known through a message on X (formerly Twitter) that some affected users posted. However, there is no information about the planned step on Nintendo’s own website.
No longer interested in mobile games?
One can therefore only speculate about the exact background. The game didn’t get particularly great reviews. However, it was still able to build a certain fan base. Especially in its launch year of 2019, the title achieved some success – in the truest sense of the word.
Apparently not enough for Nintendo; The business figures also suggest this. From the Report for the past year 2022 shows that the mobile games division only accounts for a very small part of Nintendo’s sales.
The last content update for “Mario Kart Tour” will probably come on September 20th. Then the Anniversary Tour starts. After that, the tours consist only of recycled content.
The end of Mario Kart Tour could have these consequences
Now it’s a mystery as to whether there isn’t more to it. The content for the mobile game “Mario Kart Tour” is based on that of its big brother for the Switch console: “Mario Kart 8: Deluxe”. Since the mobile branch no longer receives support, the console game could soon also face this. That would be unusual in that it is the most successful game for the Nintendo Switch.
This in turn fuels speculation about a new generation of consoles. Only a hardware change seems logical in this light. The next Switch even seems to have progressed so far that Nintendo was able to show a prototype behind closed doors at Gamescom.
It could also mark the beginning of the end for Nintendo’s mobile gaming ambitions. So far, the company’s success in this area has been limited. The Switch console is sometimes in direct competition with mobile phones as a gaming medium.