Nintendo Shutting Down Mario Kart Tour iOS Game

[MacRumors]

Nintendo today said it is ending service for its Mario Kart Tour mobile game on Tuesday, September 29. There are no plans for an offline version of the game, so it will no longer be playable after that date.

In-game currency is no longer available for purchase, and Nintendo has ended automatic subscription renewals ahead of the shutdown date.

Players who had a Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass subscription will be able to use the benefits for free from now until September 29, while players who did not have a subscription will get the benefits starting on August 4.

The Gold Pass includes Gold Gifts, Gold Challenges, 200cc, an increase in the maximum coins and points that can be earned per day, and a pipe gauge that fills faster. Players who have rubies can use the currency in the Spotlight Shop, Mii Racing Suit Shop, and Coin Rush until service ends.

Mario Kart Tour launched in September 2019 and it was downloaded more than 90 million times during its first week of availability.

Like traditional Mario Kart games, Mario Kart Tour on iPhone and iPad tasked players with racing to beat their rivals to the finish line, using drifts and items to succeed. The game featured several tracks, and playable characters like Luigi, Toad, Shy Guy, Waluigi, Peach, and Toadette.

Nintendo has launched and then canceled several mobile games, including Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Miitomo, Dr. Mario World, and Dragalia Lost. Fire Emblem Heroes, Super Mario Run, and new game Pictonico continue to be available.

Article Link: Nintendo Shutting Down Mario Kart Tour iOS Game

 

[Astuces iOS]

Enough was enough right, no one was playing this

 

[seinman]

I still miss Dr. Mario World 😢

 

[miguelness]

Sickening news, but it has to be done.

I'll miss you, MKT. Right up there with Miitomo and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. For someone who didn't have a Nintendo console growing up, these games introduced me to Nintendo's IPs. Really great stuff.

 

[uacd]

I have Mario Kart on Switch cartridge and NO ONE can take it from me. The joy of physical games will always be the best experience. I am glad Nintendo isn't like Sony or Rockstar, and I hope this comment won't age like milk by the time Nintendo gets to their next-gen console

 

[erikkfi]

I bought single-player game Mario Run back in the day, and only later realized it needed a wi-fi connection to work, rendering it useless on plane flights and any area with dodgy internet. After that I never considered and never would consider buying another Nintendo iOS game.

 

[bradman83]

So many hours spent during the pandemic playing this game before finally caving in and getting a Switch.

 

[AppleTO]

This game was Switch bait.

Pun intended.

 

[matthew12]

I'm kinda not surprised. Nintendo seems to have moved on. Even most of the city tracks in this game found their way to a proper Mario Kart game, being DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

 

[B4U]

They made it a pay to win game and almost no way to win without paying. All those limited time characters are given extra bonus points each week.
Then they stopped having any new contents since 2023.
This is totally expected when they milked the players this long.
(BTW, I was selected for the open beta.)

 

[xxFoxtail]

Would be nice to have an offline version of this. Mario Kart Tour is one of the very few games I play on my iPhone.

 

[fatTribble]

To all those who played, my sincere condolences. 😢

 

[B4U]

I have Mario Kart on Switch cartridge and NO ONE can take it from me. The joy of physical games will always be the best experience. I am glad Nintendo isn't like Sony or Rockstar, and I hope this comment won't age like milk by the time Nintendo gets to their next-gen console

Sony just announced 2 news last week too.
Moving forward, no disc media for games AND they are shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita PS store.
So, we can pay and never own the games. 🙁

 

[Makosuke]

I'm a pretty significant Mario Kart fan and have been enjoying the newest console version, but as soon as I got to the registration section to even start playing the mobile game I deleted the app and never even tried it. Maybe it's fun, but I'm not logging into an account just to find out.

Super Mario Run was quite impressive for a one-button platformer, and I give a lot of credit to how much level design they managed to milk out of a 2D game with a 0D control scheme, but it was still only worth a brief install, and gave me the impression I probably wasn't missing much with the Mario Kart parallel.

 

[bluecoast]

A weird blip in Nintendo’s history - making games for anything other than their own hardware - and never to be repeated I expect.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy52]

I have Mario Kart on Switch cartridge and NO ONE can take it from me. The joy of physical games will always be the best experience. I am glad Nintendo isn't like Sony or Rockstar, and I hope this comment won't age like milk by the time Nintendo gets to their next-gen console

I mean… a lot of the cartridges for the Switch 2 aren't the full game. Nintendo's just using smoke and mirrors, while Sony and Rockstar (and probably Microsoft) are being honest about what they're doing. What can be said for Nintendo is they polled their users to find out what people thought about it, and, seemingly, more physical releases have been coming.

There's always an Evercade (or embracing retro gaming and kitting out a PS2 or PS3, which I'm currently in the middle of).

 

[quietstormSD]

I'm actually very surprised they are ending this game. This is the perfect mobile game that Nintendo could get people that are not in the Nintendo IP into it. I'm very surprised. I guess it wasn't generating that much revenue for the cost of development, or may have been eating into their console sales with Mario Kart World on Switch 2 and the mobile game being "enough" for people.

 

[slcoss]

I bought single-player game Mario Run back in the day, and only later realized it needed a wi-fi connection to work, rendering it useless on plane flights and any area with dodgy internet. After that I never considered and never would consider buying another Nintendo iOS game.

To be fair, Mario Kart Tour was free, with racers and karts you could purchase if you wanted but not required. I've played MKT quite often through these years and never have I spent a dime on it. The Wifi connection is an awful decision as it means you nca't play it on a plane or road trips with no cell coverage.
I play Mario Kart Tour almost every day with coworkers on our break, and whenever I'm in a long wait like the bank or the doctor. Sad news for me.

 

[StanleyOmar]

Would be nice to have an offline version of this. Mario Kart Tour is one of the very few games I play on my iPhone.

It always sucked that you had to be online to play this. It even demanded a decent connection to load, which meant airplane wifi often wasn't even enough.

 

[anthorumor]

Bring the maps over to MK8; I personally like the Sydney map!

 

[svish]

Surprised to see this. Offline version would have been great.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Very sad to hear Nintendo is shutting down. Many cherished childhood memories there.

 

[seinman]

Bring the maps over to MK8; I personally like the Sydney map!

Sydney and 11 other Tour courses are in the MK8D booster pass ($25 DLC or included if you have the NSO+Expansion subscription): https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_8_Deluxe_–_Booster_Course_Pass

 

[germanbeer007]

I have Mario Kart on Switch cartridge and NO ONE can take it from me. The joy of physical games will always be the best experience. I am glad Nintendo isn't like Sony or Rockstar, and I hope this comment won't age like milk by the time Nintendo gets to their next-gen console

All physical media will eventually stop working. Perhaps Sony/Nintendo/Xbox division will die before your physical media does, but that's assuming no one steals it and no external forces break it.

Plus 15% of that $60-$70 price tag of your game went to the physical retailer. Consumers are far better off cutting out the middle man and just buying direct from the platform so that consumer/platform owner/developer can enjoy the benefits of that extra 15%.

This whole physical media debate is ridiculous. The trend towards digital is a clear signal that the future is no physical media. We're far better off if physical media gets deleted ASAP.

A part of me suspects Gamestop and other physical stores paid off some media company to root for physical media because otherwise they will cease to exist in the near future. And then a bunch (not you) of people is just jumping on the wagon because it's the hot new thing to complain about. At least that's what I would do if I was CEO of Gamestop.

I wrote this while listening to Apple Music.

 

[germanbeer007]

Sony just announced 2 news last week too.
Moving forward, no disc media for games AND they are shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita PS store.
So, we can pay and never own the games. 🙁

Just let it go, like how we did with music and we're all better off.