Mario Kart Tour Races Ahead With 90 Million Downloads In Its First Week

Okay, I know I praised Mario Kart Tour on how it’s a fun time waster, and all that stuff. But now, it’s honestly getting really boring, and I haven’t even played it for a week. I guess that’s how mobile games go. It’s basically a life cycle.

Mobile game gets downloaded.
Play it a few times.
Haven’t played the game for a week.
Delete the game or keep the game on your phone for eternity and not play it.
The cycle repeats.

That’s how it goes. At least for me.

I’m not gonna spend money on MTX, don’t want to be Mario Kart Poor.

Amusing that Mario Run was deemed a failure because it had a consumer friendly purchase model, yet MKT made less money than SMR despite its "gacha" system and way more people downloading it.

I haven't tried it myself, the idea of playing Mario Kart with just touch screen controls sounds terrible. Or is it compatible with Bluetooth controllers?

It's a fun distraction, not much more. Not gonna bellyache over it, it's done its job.

@Yoshinator I’m running into the same issue as well. Races aren’t nearly as fun now.

@personauser93, @Yoshinator - I had the EXACT same issue! Someone needs to investigate this.

It's harmless because it's free to play, but I can't for the life of me see why anyone would drop a dime on this when they could play a real Mario Kart game on a Nintendo device with actual controls. Even IF this game was worth spending some money on (it isn't), the prices are ridiculous and you'd really have to dislike yourself to get ripped off like that.

I wonder how many people download it then pretty much uninstalled it straight away though.

I haven't downloaded myself yet but I know at least 6 people in work who did the above

I already have playing the game, trying to complete the cups, but I still do not understand the control, it is really complicated to use the gyroscope and "the help" to not leave the track is sometimes quite rare.
However, I haven't got bored of the game.

In addition to the control, my complaint is the gatcha system (and who would not complain about this, XD), as this game really requires having a good amount of characters to choose from, waiting to get a character instead of the karts or The wings (seriously, does this get into the draws ?!), really it's cruel, even when you use the 10-shot draw, I only got 3 characters (and I already had 2 of them ...)

In the end, the game, if it wasn't for the control and the gatcha, the game wouldn't be bad, in fact it would be very good, it's a pity...

@Yoshinator I'm at Daisy cup and still breezing through it so I don't really share your criticism. In fact, I think it's a little too easy.

@AnnoyingFrenzy wait for the multiplayer gets patched all hell breaks loose against other players.

@RiasGremory Oh I know, and I shall relish in my slaughter.

@Toy_Link
It has made less money so far because of the 2-week free trial.
We'll know how comparable they actually are in a month or so.

@Yoshinator
That's just Mario Kart (TM) since 1992

@Toy_Link
Short term revenue is a pretty poor indicator of a movile game's success.

As of right now, Fire Emblem Heroes has made $600 million while Mario Run has only made $70 million, but looking at those 1st week revenue numbers would have told a completely different story

@TimeGuy,

Why is it disgusting to make money from a game, a lot of triple AAA titles have DLC and expansion packs that cost money, hell on a lot of those titles you have a choice to opt for the poor or deluxe version of the game, which to me at it's core is pretty similar to this model, I am assuming you don't think a developer should take the time and effort to make a mobile game and make no money at all, so we all know the model pricing structure of mobile games and their reliance on micro transactions, but then seem surprised when a game employs these principles, I does seem to me that for a lot of the core video game fans it's o.k to turn a blind eye when a console game is pushing DLC,expansion packs and loot boxes etc, but when a mobile game dares to do it it's a crime.

Ok good job Nintendo, now use this money to buy and save alpha dream

@Yoshinator
Absolutely fair point. You need incredibly good RNG to clear Dry Bowser and Metal Mario cups even with all the right stuff.

@Toy_Link
Thought the same thing love the Mario system a lot more

Money money money!

I played it a bit but deleted after 3 days or so. Looks good, but controls are imprecise at best, although the monetization crap is the main villain. Scores, coins, cups, rubies, time-limited prize availability... but what really annoyed me was how you can come in 1st place way ahead of the other racers and still not “win” - you get less than the top prize because you did not achieve a certain score. Thanks but no, thanks.

The game needs some balancing in score requirements and CPU AI, but it’s still a fun game to play for free.

I'm surprised about the sales. like for real? Hate gaming on mobile. You always have to be online to be checked (most games) and it eats a lot of battery and it's on small screen and it's half function due no controller. (sure you can plugin a controller these days) But i rather plug a controller in my PC and play it from there for full experience. Mobile games... especially 3d feels like a demo

@SpicyBurrito16
Unfortunately, for me, this is what happens with games in general lately. I'm hyped, buy it, download it, play it a couple of times and then get bored.
I guess my gaming urges are slowly letting go until I completely stop playing games and just start watching "let's plays" on youtube

On this site, gamers complain about this game. But the world doesn't. The world will simply play it and buy/unlock items via microtransactions. The percentage of gamers is hugely smaller to percentage of general populus.
This is the future of gaming. Mobile phones. A device which is an "all arounder". And I like it. Dedicated consoles/devices are just clutter. One device, capable of gaming, music, movies, sandwich making is what the general populus wants.

Hail Stadia! ☺

@johnvboy It's disgusting because full retail releases and DLC just ask for a one off payment and its yours. I bought Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, I bought the season pass. It didn't ask for a penny more. That was it, done, I had finished buying Mario Kart 8.

Mario Kart Tour has the typical disgusting monetization structure of low rates to get what you want with seemingly small payments to get currency/open the next loot box (because that's all these pipes are, loot boxes, slot machines). They're specifically designed to frustrate you into parting with a few £/$ with unfair difficulty, wait times and low odds. Didn't get what you want? Have to wait x amount of hours to try again? Why not give us a few more £/$? It ain't much, go on...Then you look at your bank account and realise you've spent friggin' loads on this trashy mobile garbage and it's still trying to make you spend more.

They're essentially selling the solution to problems they invented. The game isn't balanced around being fun, it's balanced around trying to frustrate players. Gamble in Yakuza? Fine, that's fun because it's all fake currency and the game isn't designed to be unfair on the player, it's designed to just be fun. Gamble in any of these games? No, because it's real money and they're designed to work against the player.

Whether you ignore the microtransactions or not or whether it's as bad as other games isn't the point. There's people with gambling problems, addictive personalities and simply those who aren't "all there" and don't really grasp how much they're spending until it's too late. These are the people who these trashy games prey on and it's people like yourself defending it and brushing it off as nothing that are keeping this trend alive because "hey, it funds other games right? Who cares if some guy with gambling problems spent $5000 on this trash, it gives me a new game!".

Oh, and I think "they deserve to be paid for their games" goes right out of the window when the game was designed specifically around this monetisation method. They don't deserve a penny when the only reason the game was made and designed like this was specifically to grab an endless amount of money. They want to be paid, release a finished product.

THIS is why the mobile market is a joke.

Oh, and adding a subscription to it as well? F*** off, Nintendo. $5 a month? It's almost as much as Game Pass, except it's for one game, and not a very good one at that.

@aVagabond I don't disagree. I look forward to the to the very possible day I can play all games on one device because it seems like the direction we're headed. Third party publishers will release on smartphones etc when they're at a point that they're capable of running something as well as consoles and when they do, console platforms are going to have to survive essentially on just their exclusives (because c'mon, who's going to buy the latest £400 Sony console for GTA12 when you can just get it on your phone?).

When Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have to rely only on their exclusives, I think it's going to be a slow death for dedicated games consoles...And Microsoft will probably die first given their lack of library.

That said, I don't welcome this monetisation structure. If this is the future of gaming, I guess I'll just not be gaming at that point. 'Back in the day' it seemed like a cool idea that would never happen to have one system that plays all the games but as it becomes closer and closer to a very possible reality, I more and more don't like the idea.

This game should be buried and never talked about again. It's a disgrace!

Delicious predatory micro transactions and loit boxes, mmmm.

Scary how many people here seem to have no problem work that because it's Nintendo.

Cya
Raziel-chan

Every person I know who downloaded this has deleted it. I didn't even bother, still playing MK8D 😂

Launched the pipe only 4 times so far and already got Peachette (who apparently is super-duper rare).
Game is fun for a short race here and there, but pity the fools who thought, they can get a full blown Mario Kart. 😆

It's beyond awful; The gameplay, the micro-transactions, the monthly subscription..... a travesty of a Mario Kart 'game' from Nintendo.

@nmanifold Nintendo sinked to a new low here.

Mario Kart 8 on Wii U/Switch is by far superior.

One of the MegaTransactions in MKWT costs more than Mario Kart 8 on Switch. That's insane.

100$ is not a Micro Transaction. It's a Mega transaction and you still don't get the full game.

Twelve years after smartphones arived, we get Mario Kart on them. But does it work? And is it reasonable to shove this many side dishes down people throats?

Brace yourselves for my best food analogy for this one:

It's like a fancy restaurant advertising itself as a free bread basket buffet, and then stretching the interior decor to an extreme, in an effort to sell people on their actual menu.

Crazy numbers.

As for the game, it's a mobile release. Since when do we hold mobile gaming with its F2P loving market to the same standards we hold a fully priced console game? Of course the game has MTX, of course its designed to suck your money. They all do. That's how Fire Emblem Heroes was as well.

And that's why I dont play them. But I'm not upset a F2P mobile game has MTX. I'm upset when fully priced console games have MTX. But not F2P mobile games. That's the model the mobile market prefers. Would I personally prefer a one time purchase like Super Mario Run? Absolutely. Yet the game got review bombed with all the rage of the F2P loving casual market complaining over a one time $10 price, so there you have it.

Dont like the F2P mobile market? Buy a dedicated gaming console and play on that. At least then complaints about MTX will actually have merit.

This website is tonedeaf.

By continuously reporting on this game you are encouraging people to download this game and they may get caught up in its disgusting gambling mechanics and waste a lot of money.

You are part of the problem and a disgrace.

Haven’t played it, I don’t like touch controls.

Is there any reason why the pro controller can’t be made compatible with iOS / Android? Does the decision come from the phone side or the Nintendo side?

All this article proves is people have more money than sense and Nintendo life have a huge hard on for this " game".

It might of had 90 million downloads it I bet most of them deleted within a couple of days at most, I did and everyone else i know who downloaded it.

@BarefootBowser

I'm not making excuses for Nintendo or defending this game, but as long as they keep this kind of thing out of their real games on dedicated platforms I really don't care. Free to play mobile games have been monetized like this for years and all you have to do is not play it or give them your money. Even if the game didn't have these awful microtransactions it'd be an inferior Mario Kart game to every other real MK with actual button controls. It's harmless in that they haven't done this in the mainline games yet, and if you spend money on rubies in this crappy app you're just stupid and weak-willed.

Like I said, when this kind of thing starts showing up in their full $60 games, then we can start worrying.

Sooooo many people getting ripped off right about now...

@Spudtendo Weak-willed? Maybe (depending on the person). But there's much more to addiction and compulsive behavior than just being 'stupid.' Especially when many people find a deep, emotional outlet on gambling-like mechanics.

I usually hope F2P, micro-transaction heavy gatcha games don't make money.

@BarefootBowser.

Not making excuses at all fella, Nintendo have made a mobile game that's free to download but charges after that, this is pretty much the model for mobile games, I fail to see why we are surprised by this.

@Tao,

Despite your post the fact remains this is not the next console version of Mario Kart, and thus does not follow the same rules, it's a mobile game that pretty much follows the template of all free mobile apps, if Nintendo had of released this as Mario Kart 9 on the Switch I would be complaining as much as you, but they haven't so I fail too see why people are getting so upset.

@TimeGuy,

It's in all honesty not designed for us. my little girl loves Roblox in all of it's cash inducing guises, she and my other half do not spend tonnes on it but the still enjoy playing every day, If I suggested to them they should buy a Nintendo Switch and spend £40 to £50 a game they would think I was mad, see it's all different perspectives mate, what's expensive and no value to one person is great value to somebody else.

@BarefootBowser

I downloaded the app, I decided then and there I wouldn't spend money on anything, and I deleted it a few days later because I was bored. I said I wouldn't spend money on it and I didn't. I'm not saying that it isn't scummy but people have free will. Speak with your wallet and don't give in. These companies make these awful microtransaction free to play games because people willingly spend money on them. No one is holding a gun to their head.

A lot of my non gamer friends and family are playing it, and the "issue" of "microtransactions" doesn't even register for them. It's just a new, fun and free game. It's only the vocal "gamer" minority of its players that bothers to complain about it.

Everyone that's throwing away terms like "gambling" and "predatory" when describing this game should get their facts checked, or maybe focus that energy into more meaningful issues.

Nintendo is making money so they don't care.

@BarefootBowser,

Why do people like yourself always assume people are vulnerable, they could just not have the same issues with these games as you, I do hear what you are saying, but it's still your view of things being outraged for everybody else.

Wow who is actually spending money on this game? For what, a couple of extra rewards and to get characters and karts that have exactly the same stats as the other ones?

@BarefootBowser

People with these compulsive tendencies need therapy. If they aren't spending money on loot boxes or microtransactions they'll find another outlet to waste money on. As much as I dislike Mario Kart Tour and other free to play trash like it, it's a product that I don't have to spend money on and I'll only get outraged when Nintendo starts putting these microtransactions into their full fledged AAA console games.

@BarefootBowser,

True, but can't run a world and it's economy based on vulnerable people, because on that argument you could ban everything commercial because they could buy it without control.

I downloaded it but couldn't log into my MyNintendo account. I took it as a sign to skip the game. Racing on a vertical screen and touch screen controls don't sound fun.

@TimeGuy,

But we don't have to buy into it if we do not want, if people want to spend their money on mobile games it up to them, you can't blame Nintendo, when they introduced a mobile title with a one time payment nobody was interested because it was not the model they were used to.

@BarefootBowser

I would like to keep developing economies out of video game discussions, along with moral/ethical principles, hell we have enough arguments as it is, we are all Nintendo fans on here and if something makes them money it helps fund the games they make designed for us, which can't be all bad.

Don’t spend any money on this game. It doesn’t have any good deals.

@BarefootBowser,

The same here fella, and it's good to get a nice civil discussion on here for a change, and I do agree with a lot of your points, but after watching my daughter and Wife play Roblox, you can see how a certain demographic loves this moble model, because it's not all at once as it were, and this is so true with many things, for example if I were to spend £12,000 on a kitchen that would last us 10 years or so she may feel this is a waste of money, but would think nothing about spending £12,000 or so over a 10 year period, it's all the way you look at it I guess.