After seven years of service, Nintendo is preparing to fully shut down one of its kart racing games.
Mario Kart Tour Goes Offline September 30
In a surprise announcement today, Nintendo has confirmed that it is ending support for the mobile game Mario Kart Tour. The iOS and Android kart racer launched back in 2019, as Nintendo was investing more heavily in mobile apps after the initial popularity of Pokemon GO.
Unfortunately for fans of the game, Mario Kart Tour is next on the chopping block and the game will be fully closed down in just a few months. Nintendo announced the game’s closure details on social media and on its official website. No official reason was cited for the change.
“Service for the Mario Kart Tour game for smart devices will come to an end as of 11:00 p.m. Pacific on September 29.
We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since service began so long ago.
Thank you for playing Mario Kart Tour.”
The sale of Rubies in the game has ended already. The game’s currency can be used in the Spotlight Shop, Mii Racing Suit Shop, and Coin Rush until service ends.
All automatic subscription renewals and new subscriptions to the Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass have been stopped, as well.
Players whose Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass subscriptions extend past the start of maintenance at 11:00 p.m. PT on July 7, 2026 can enjoy Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits, minus continuous-subscription benefits, until September 29, for free.
The most controversial part of the change is that the game will not receive support for any kind of offline mode. This means that players who have spent money on microtransactions over the last few years will have no way to continue playing solo or access their content anymore after September 30.
There has been some negative backlash in response to the announcement on social media today, but Nintendo has not directly responded to any of the complaints.
It will be very interesting to see what the future of Nintendo’s mobile app strategy brings and whether the company is looking to fully shift away from these types of games or if they have anything else planned for the app stores.
Be sure to check back soon for more Nintendo news and updates.
Mario Kart Tour is available now on iOS and Android devices. The game will no longer be available beginning September 30, 2026.
The post Nintendo Is Pulling the Plug on One of Its Long-Running Racing Games appeared first on VICE.
