Nintendo really is going after this whole mobile gaming thing hard, having brought Mario, Animal Crossing, and Fire Emblem to the mobile stage already. Up next is the mighty Mario Kart — ruiner of friendships, breaker of controllers, shatterer of… smartphones?
Mario Kart Tour is the name of the game and… that’s about it for what we know. Aside from a few other little items, like the fact that it’s still in development and that it’ll be released at a to-be-announced date. That’s all that Nintendo has released out into the world at present.
The checkered flag has been raised and the finish line is near. A new mobile application is now in development: Mario Kart Tour! #MarioKartTour Releasing in the fiscal year ending in March 2019. pic.twitter.com/8GIyR7ZM4z
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018
What we don’t know is what the payment structure is going to look like. Will the company be releasing a freemium title supported by microtransations (like Fire Emblem Heroes) or will it be wholly paid-for, perhaps with some content available for free (an approach we saw with Super Mario Run). We’d expect a paid-for game, given the nature of Mario Kart, but perhaps Nintendo has a more flexible payment model in mind.
Nintendo has also had some other news to share. There’s a Mario movie in the works from the same studio that created the Minions films, the Nintendo Switch’s paid online services go online this September… oh, and the Switch has also officially outsold the Wii U, almost topping 15 million units sold to date.
At least we’ve still got some time before the whole world grinds to a halt. Mario Kart Tour is set to release before March 2019, with a more concrete release date set to be announced later.