Farewell to Mobile Racing Game 'Mario Kart Tour'

Mobile gamers are set to lose one of Nintendo's most popular racing titles. Japanese video game giant Nintendo has confirmed that it will permanently shut down the servers for Mario Kart Tour, its seven-year-old mobile racing game, on September 30 at 12:00 p.m. Bangladesh time.

When Nintendo discontinued Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, the company released an offline version to allow players to continue enjoying the game. However, it has confirmed that no such offline edition is planned for Mario Kart Tour, meaning the game will disappear from mobile platforms permanently at the end of September.

Nintendo has already stopped selling the game's premium in-game currency, Rubies. The company has also discontinued new subscriptions and automatic renewals for the Gold Pass, which offered additional rewards, exclusive challenges and access to the 200cc racing mode. Players with existing paid Gold Pass subscriptions will continue to enjoy most of its benefits free of charge until the game's shutdown.

For regular players, Nintendo will make Gold Pass features available free of charge starting August 5.

The decision to discontinue the game had been widely anticipated. Mario Kart Tour effectively entered maintenance mode in late 2023, when Nintendo stopped adding new racing courses, drivers, karts and gliders.

Despite ending support for the title, Nintendo is not abandoning the mobile gaming market. The company recently launched PictoNico!, a new game that uses photos from a user's camera roll as part of its gameplay. Meanwhile, Super Mario Run remains active nearly a decade after its release, while Fire Emblem Heroes and last year's Fire Emblem Shadows also continue to be available.

Although globally popular mobile titles such as Pokémon GO, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this week, and Pikmin Bloom continue to perform well, neither game is operated directly by Nintendo.

//DBTech/BMT/OR//