Mario Kart Tour Will Receive No New Content After October's 'Battle Tour', Says Nintendo

a sad day but what a fun ride.

Can't say I'm surprised, it's definitely been slowing down.
But at least this "generation" of Mario Kart is ending this year, bring on the next!

New mario kart rumours incoming.....

Switch 2 release title I heard from the special uncle!

It’s sad to hear. I’ve played it nearly everyday. I’ve put more hours in it then Mario kart 8 and deluxe combined.

Our journey round the world has come to an end.
Whilst not my preferred Mario Kart, the game was given the chance to try so many interesting things like the point system and character costumes.
It's a significant entry that's for sure.

Now attention can shift to something new right??😉

Given Tour is the reason the Booster Course Pass exists, it does sadly seem like Nintendo's going the brand new Mario Kart for Switch's successor route.

Four years? I have GOT to stop blinking.

They're going to shut it down in a year or so, just wait.

Time for a complete edition release on Switch?

This game's new content lasted longer than the average Splatoon game as of this point.

@JohnnyC maybe a double dash mode in mk9?

Will the next Mario Kart game be 9 or 10?

I would hope Mario Kart 9 or whatever it will be called gets as many resources as it can. After all these years I'm hoping for something really fresh.

I'm glad we have the Tour tracks preserved in 8 Deluxe so we can still play on them even after Tour shuts down. Nintendo is finally starting to preserve their content for a change.

Hopefully they'll do the same for Dragalia Lost.

Mario Kart Tour is great fun. It isn't closing yet...just no new content/tracks

Which is OK as there is so much old stuff I'd like to see again

@Twilite9 I would argue that they nearly forgot about that whole franchise.

But yes we need a new F-Zero game.

@1UP_MARIO Same

I’m devastated, this game is so nostalgic and special

I guess it's logical, with the last booster pass annoucement coming these weeks as well.. time to move on ... mario kart X switch 2!

I estimate I’ve spent almost 500 hrs playing this (approx 5hrs per tour apparently). Having bought 1 battle pass per year on average that’s 4p per hour, pretty good value for a game with so much content.

I don’t mind no new content, though I wish they’d added a few more battle courses. I’ll keep playing until it dies

@Grumblevolcano sad? It has only been nearly a decade since we have had a proper console Mario Kart. The Tour tracks are mostly meh….a new entry is long overdue….

Do look forward to some end of speculation vids on youtube

it seems the anouncement of the next Mario Kart is imminent, many trough Nintendo would do a second Booster Course Pass or a definitive edition of Mario Kart 8 with all Booster Course Pass content packed in.

I wonder when the game will finish altogether.

Mario Kart 9 when?!?!?

End-of-service must be coming soon. It'll probably happen by 2026 if I had to guess.

Looks like it will be all hands on deck for the development of the next Mario Kart game on Switch 2.

And another app goes onto life support. Makes me wonder why Nintendo ever thought the phone market was ever a good idea, they clearly weren't making as much as they wanted.

Well, at least there's still Fire Emblem Heroes.

@TheMegaMarshtomp I think Nintendo was freaking out about the future after the Wii U (and rightly so) and thought mobile was necessary to their survival. But after the Switch exceeded expectations I don't believe they feel producing mobile games is a must.

@rockodoodle By continuing to support MK8, they'd be sticking to the PS3/360/Wii U model of sizeable base game and support post-launch with DLC.

A brand new game would likely use the PS4/XB1/PS5/Series X|S model of small base game and DLC replaced with microtransactions (most likely the battle pass + microtransaction store model popularized by Fortnite).

That's likely the reason Nintendo Systems (that Nintendo +
DeNA collaboration) exists, to put mobile game mechanics into console games.

@Grumblevolcano MK8 is almost ten years old. I don't think it's sad at all that a new title is on the horizon.

Did that count as MK9? So Mario Kart X in 2024!

Nintendo is trying too hard to kill their mobile division.

Soon this will affect Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes.

@Grumblevolcano Genuinely absurd take, Nintendo Systems seems to be far more online-centric and Nintendo's already implemented microtransactions in free console games (which they've very notably never done for anything you have to pay for) - they don't need help for that. Not even Splatoon 3 moving to a season format has led to Nintendo aping monetization from other companies. And Mario Kart also comes with considerable expectations attached. Mario Tennis and Mario Golf still wound up with content comparable to past games in the end, but to have less than 32 tracks at launch is almost certainly a no-go

I'm looking forward to not seeing any more articles about it here.

@Grumblevolcano I think you’re wrong on this one about Mario Kart going forward. Sure they can put out micro transactions drivel on mobile but they aren’t going to screw with their hybrid consoles THAT much.

Smash 4 had a lot of dlc, but Smash Ultimate was still a HUGE base game with some dlc later.
Mario Maker 1 and 2 were barebones base games where we were expected to make the levels, but we are now getting Wonder, not MM3.
Splatoon had 2 and 3 with dlc later.

Mario Kart Ultimate - the only logical name not “Nintendo Kart” since it will have Link, Splatoon, Pikmin etc in it - will have the normal sized base game, heck they’ve had 10 years to make it so it better, like the angry person above me said, w/ paid dlc tracks from previous games added later.

The only question to me is do we get Mario Kart 8 Deluxe complete at launch and then have to wait another 2 years for Ultimate or can we finally get a new game after 10 years? I’m 50-50 on that.🤷🏻‍♂️

But MKU will be great, no worries, see Wonder.👍

So MarioKart 10 coming soon.... (As Tour is classed as 9 in the financial statements)
Definitely a release game for the Switch 2

I'm just hoping that in Mario Kart 10, they add these costumes and more! cause that's the only reason why I was so tempted to play MKT but just couldn't get the hang of the game.

I doubt MK10 will release for Switch 2 launch (if it is coming out late next year) but I see it coming out the following year Holiday 2025 -Gonna be a good holiday for Nintendy

I don't think they are completely done adding new content to the game, rather, they will be taking a <long break> to develop something new, since literally every 15 days there was something new, and if we do the math, there were +20 new items per year (circuits, karts, characters), which would be overwhelming if they continued with more (especially for new players and those who have not get everything, or what they want most, in the game).
Also, as some say, the game will continue to more tours, then, it's not the end, it's just a hiatus while something new is planned.

I was wondering why they gave us 2 new tracks for about a year, inevitable they would run out doing that! Seems like they want to end it all nicely with the sixth wave!

Let's hope the unique battle courses will also reach Mk8!

And I've loved playing this for all these years, the combo system made it play like a completely different game than regular MK!

This is a bummer. I’ve been playing this game religiously since it came out. It’s pretty easy to play for short periods of time and has been part of my morning routine for awhile now.

That being said, it’s pretty clear the game has been winding down for the past year. The new content was definitely slowing down. Still, as long as they keep it going I’ll probably still play. There’s a lot of content created over the past 4 years and now (as a free player) I’ll be able to save up for characters and karts I still don’t have. Never the end, but I’m sure going to miss it!

@Exerion76
You WISH.
We're getting Home Circuit Deluxe.

Honestly don't believe this. I just got back into the game a few weeks ago, and it seemed like things were moving along just fine.

@SakuraHaruka just saw your comment and you might be right. With the endless flood of content they've released already, it's perfectly understandable that they may have just hit a wall with all of this and might come back at a later date.

and...if nothing else...I guess it's a great chance for people to catch up on what has been released so far.

I really loved the game for a couple of years. Never spent any money, and had a full garage of high end stuff. It was a nice chill way to play Mario kart and the combo system was addicting. I had my fun and walked away, figuring it wasn't going to last forever because even lucrative mobile titles get put out to pasture.

The game was unfairly maligned on release. It's way more generous and enjoyable than most mobile titles, packed with content, and definitely had the Nintendo magic. It just wasn't exactly traditional Mario Kart on phones and people couldn't handle that and oh no someone might make a foolish purchase to get Pumpkin Rosalina. It's nice they've been porting the best stuff over to MK8 deluxe. Hopefully Mario Kart 9 brings the combo system back in some way.

another thing I want to say...I REALLY hope Tour has some sort of influence on the next mainline title. The sheer amount of content available has honestly made Tour become my favorite Mario Kart title. This could easily change if the next console game includes an absurd amount of content and tracks.

(....and guest characters...)

I’m calling it now… game is on life support and servers go offline next year.

with both the mobile game and switch game getting new content together, mario kart fans have been eating good.

wild when you think about how pocket camp still gets regularly updated. im still salty it hasnt come to my country, and that NH and PC couldnt have a cool update cycle together like mario kart did

Awwwww, no latinoamerican tracks? I wanted to race on third world contries.

I really enjoyed the different variants on the courses that Tour provided. It’d be cool to see a track builder/modifier in MK10

Aw man. I really wanted them to do a warioware tour with Mona in it.

@Coalescence

Ahhh, but you see, that "Nintendo magic" is precisely the reason the game was maligned so much. The game being well made, the microtransactions fair, and it achieving profit and popularity was seen as a dangerous thing for many out there, either because they were afraid it would steal resources from the "true Mario Kart" or because it would make Nintendo double down on mobile projects instead of focusing on the Switch. Therefore, the need to keep the game down, specially if it was reasonably good.

Mario Kart Tour wasn't my favorite game, but it gave us a lot of content, and it ultimately led to more tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which I'm thankful for.

@fenlix me too. I was expecting Rio and México from Latin America. Other cities I thought would get tracks are Cairo, Dubai and New Delhi.

I think they drop the numbering, next one is just called Mario Kart. I could see it including a lot of non Mario cast members, like MK8 did after a while with Link and the Animal Crossing characters.

I also would love to see a return to the Double Dash!! formula, two drivers per cart and special items for each driver

I didn't touch the gamw after about a month's worth of play.

Well, thank goodness, I can rest easy now that I can at least take my time to fully collect and upgrade everything without worrying about possibly missing out on any badges.

@Twilite9 This comment has been annoying me all morning.
The last main entry in the Mario Kart series was released 9 years ago, followed by a deluxe edition and two spin-offs, both released a few years ago, and then DLC, so it wouldn't be over-saturating to release another game, given how popular the series is. Also, doing the math, a new F-Zero game is 100% not going to sell better than a new Mario Kart since a lot of kids don't even know what F-Zero is. Nintendo has done a lot of risks, like the Wii, but this would be a risk that definitely wouldn't pay off.

Yay. I thought this game was dumb. But both this and Mario Kart 8 can reach the finish line together, while Mario Kart 9 prepares to go onto the starting line. At least, that's how advertising would put it.

Do the same teams work on this and the normal Mario Karts? I need to know whether to be elated or indifferent. I did not enjoy this entry, sadly.

I'm kind of upset. Seeing new outfits for characters was my favourite thing about the game. I loved MKTour to death, so sad to see it go . I hope they eventually make a revival.

Well no loss here, I could never figure out the controls for that game. It looked nice but it was completely unplayable for me. Even when I won it felt like I was all over the road. I would have kept playing if it had a controller option.

At this juncture Mario Kart 9 (or 10, whatever) kind of doesn't interest me at all honestly. There's no way it's going to have even like a third of the content 8 does so feels like it's pointless to bother being invested in.

@dew12333 I hadn't thought about the possibility of a launch Mario Kart on 'switch 2'... but it would make a lot of sense.

I can’t help but think that with tour ending and no more dlc for mk8. Plus these massive building up rumours of switch 2, and no new 3d Mario for a while.
Could we be on the verge of a switch 2 announcement, with Mario kart 9 and Mario odyssey 2 as release games?
Here’s hoping.

@Classic603 that would be great to have some more non Mario characters in. Maybe star fox characters, Kirby, hell even samus and captain falcon?

And would love a return to double dash, even if it’s an extra mode.

@Sequel System seller right off the bat, makes perfect sense.

@HolyGeez03 indeed it does

@TheBigK yes Mario Kart Tour is developed by Nintendo EPD

@Lizuka Right? When a new entry comes out though, I hope that we are able to play all tracks together if you own them, is it too much to ask?