It’s heading for the finish line. Nintendo has confirmed the EOS for its mobile racer Mario Kart Tour, which launched in September 2019 for Android and iOS. The game will shut down this September after sticking around for seven years. Ironically, it’s outlasting most of Nintendo’s other mobile projects.
Here’s the full scoop on the Mario Kart Tour EOS
The game will stop operating on September 29th at 11 pm Pacific time. As the shutdown approaches, Nintendo has already started winding things down. Sales of the game’s premium currency have been suspended.
Meanwhile, automatic renewals for the Gold Pass subscription have also been turned off. And everyone will receive subscription-level benefits for whatever time the game has left. If you’re still actively playing, the app provides more information about how Rubies and Gold Passes will be handled before everything goes offline.
There’s no offline version, so don’t get your hopes up. Mario Kart Tour isn’t getting any offline version after its EOS, Nintendo’s FAQ has already confirmed it. So, several Mario Kart tracks that only exist in Tour will effectively disappear once the servers shut down, leaving those courses unplayable.
Did you ever race?
Initially, for a while, it was an extremely profitable game for Nintendo. But then, things started getting a bit messy. When it launched, unlocking characters and karts relied heavily on gacha-style mechanics, something that drew a lot of backlash from players.
The game struggled with heavy criticism over its microtransactions and simplified touch controls at first. Nintendo eventually changed course in 2022 by removing the gacha system and replacing it with a more traditional item shop. The game also introduced a subscription service, including the Gold Pass, in an effort to move away from its original monetization model.
Despite all that, Nintendo has decided to shut down the game. Part of the reason is that the company is phasing out live-service mobile support to shift focus toward mainline console titles. Also, the mobile market is not the same as it was 6-7 years ago. So, just like that, the servers are going offline.
Be sure to read our next scoop on Nine Crowns of Faenord, an Open-World Action RPG.
