Nintendo Shutting Down Mario Kart Tour iOS Game

[TVreporter]

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,

Yet…

It's likely coming - Nintendo may sit back and wait to see how gamers react to Sony's move.

 

[mellonseed]

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. 🙁

Sony has something like "if you're offline for 36 months they would just close your account and all your digital games would be gone" hidden in their TOU.
I saw this few days ago and was really pissed off.

 

[CarAnalogy]

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

I read this two ways, not sure which one you mean but both interesting angles.

In the one sense, let go and let IP owners as it were, it is more convenient as long as what you want is available.

On the other hand, in some ways we are not better off because some music that did not make the transition to streaming licensing is gone forever. Other music that did has been pulled, or can be pulled at any moment.

Some real art, both music and video games, is lost forever due to corporate licensing policies.

I don't know what the answer is, but it's important to keep in mind what has been lost and why.

 

[CarAnalogy]

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. 🙁

Pretty bold of them to announce both at once. Kind of like when Apple discontinued the headphone jack while simultaneously introducing AirPods.

Unfortunately(?) it worked.

 

[Scott Baret]

This is why I still prefer MarioKart 64.

 

[yabeweb]

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

Well Nintendo is no different, their Key Cards will be useless as much as download codes..

 

[Charlie Bonesx]

All physical media will eventually stop working.

That is just plainly false

Unless you mean on the time scale of the sun swallowing the earth or what not

 

[Charlie Bonesx]

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

I’m guessing you aren’t a musician 😉

 

[GrumpyOldGuy52]

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

Man, you must be real fun at parties.

I still buy physical music and rip it to my Mac (the CDs still get played, though). That then feeds my 1TB iPod. In my mind, streaming services are to music what a Big Mac is to a steak, but to each their own.

 

[macos9rules]

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

I'm not sure if I understand your comment correctly, but Nintendo is not shutting down. They're just removing an iOS game that was probably not very popular.

 

[B4U]

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

Nah, I am keeping my music library locally.

 

[B4U]

Sony has something like "if you're offline for 36 months they would just close your account and all your digital games would be gone" hidden in their TOU.
I saw this few days ago and was really pissed off.

Sony got hacked like over 10 years ago and had to log us all out. One of my account was tied to an email address that I hardly ever used. Forgot that email password and cannot get back the PS account. Everything gone, but that was on me.
Still, this 36 months is really BS.

 

[1ppl3]

You will own nothing and will be happy

 

[MacsRgr8]

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. 🙁

The dream of all software companies: only offer subscriptions, online usage required and no physical copies. That way the company is always in charge of what you can use, when you can use it and for how much.

 

[keksikuningas]

Nintendo has a lot of hardcore fans. I am hoping some of them are already on the preservation work, trying to create an offline version by either emulating the server or just removing the server checks

 

[Samplasion]

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

The Booster Course Pass released in 2022-2023 brought all Tour tracks to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch 1 (except for Piranha Plant Pipeline, for some reason).

 

[uacd]

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%.

Retailers often have good deals. They get those disks from companies for much lower prices than we think. Not just once I’ve seen and bought games on cartridges that were initially 70$ for just 25-45. Trusting a platform to do that thing, well… unless it is Steam or GoG. Sony is greedy asf and middle man policy is ideal measure to hold them at bay.

The main issue is that they want to enforce the model where you don’t own the game but the company leases it to you. It has already happened when Sony removed games and content from their store.

You cannot back it up, you will just have to cope that the money you paid once are now gone. It is not like AppStore where apps that you purchased back in 2012 are still in your purchases, however I’ve seen that when developer removes app from store you can no longer access it too.

Another issue is that they want to sell 100GB+ games over the Internet. This is ridiculous, their infrastructure isn’t even ready for that. It would only mean slow download speeds and long wait times for other players.

While disk is not ideal physical media, they should have long switched to flash drives or cartridges - they are practically indestructible. It will cost them slightly more but will make everyone happy.

Also, since they want to sell games online, if they sold them for 70$ they better drop the base price to 50 or 40, cause right now they are relying on users to cut their expenses without balancing out the price

 

[uacd]

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).

Great point, I really forgot about this. But still many games are full games! I am glad they are still writing it out on the box “game key-card”. Shame on publishers who cheap out though. If they really want to enforce “you will own nothing” future I believe barely anyone will be playing those games in the future.

Not only consoles and equipment have skyrocketed in prices in the last 10 years but also the fact that you need to pay for digital-only games and upgrade your equipment more regularly can backfire.

I mean I am not whitewashing Nintendo, it was just the only existing example as of now, unfortunately. If Sony simply decided to wait until 2028 and present their new-gen PS6 without disk drive “as-is” it would have been much less backlash. Apple did just that with their Macs and removed disk drive many years ago. But it is a bad and sad trend nevertheless, digital ownership sucks because of how easily it can be revoked

 

[Samplasion]

If Sony simply decided to wait until 2028 and present their new-gen PS6 without disk drive “as-is” it would have been much less backlash. Apple did just that with their Macs and removed disk drive many years ago.

I don't think that's an accurate comparison. For what it's worth, you can buy a 20$ external reader today and play movies and music from 20 years ago. With what's going on in the gaming industry right now, there won't be such a possibility.

That is to say, what Sony (and Microsoft to follow, I'd wager) are doing is much worse than what Apple did imho, in terms of options for the end user.

 

[ErikGrim]

This game was Switch bait.

Pun intended.

 

[SuperJR0!]

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

On the Switch 1 game card, Super NES, or N64?
You are aware that the switch 2 physical game key cards are physical, but it grabs an install from nintendo servers to install on the system right?
So, although it's "Physical," it's still a digital product because if the servers go down, you won't be able to reinstall the game.
Sorry, Multi-billion dollar companies do not have our best interest at heart. It's all about their bottom line and not about preservation.

 

[SuperJR0!]

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

Can't speak for all of us on this one.
I like ownership. knowing it can't be pulled at any moment.

 

[xyz01]

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. 🙁

To be fair - after closing the stores, you can still download your games. What you can't do is buy new ones.

 

[diamond.g]

Great point, I really forgot about this. But still many games are full games! I am glad they are still writing it out on the box “game key-card”. Shame on publishers who cheap out though. If they really want to enforce “you will own nothing” future I believe barely anyone will be playing those games in the future.

Not only consoles and equipment have skyrocketed in prices in the last 10 years but also the fact that you need to pay for digital-only games and upgrade your equipment more regularly can backfire.

I mean I am not whitewashing Nintendo, it was just the only existing example as of now, unfortunately. If Sony simply decided to wait until 2028 and present their new-gen PS6 without disk drive “as-is” it would have been much less backlash. Apple did just that with their Macs and removed disk drive many years ago. But it is a bad and sad trend nevertheless, digital ownership sucks because of how easily it can be revoked

I think the game key cards are a good compromise (like the CoD disk that has nothing on it but a license to play the game). You can still sell them, and get them second had or lend them out (unlike pure digital purchase).

I took Sony's announcement to mean no more disk based games at all, even on PS5/PS4. Especially since they have yet to formally announce the PS6.


I'm sad Nintendo is stopping support of MKT, but also not surprised. It probably didn't entice enough folks to pick up a Switch/Switch2 to justify it's existence/continued support.

 

[Student of Life]

This was is/was go to game on the iPhone. So much fun, quick races. You could win without having to do micro transactions. Just super sad. I had a bad feeling when I saw the rewards these last few days being great. Honestly I would buy this game without any hesitation.