Nintendo will shut down smartphone racing game Mario Kart Tour this September after seven years.
A notice posted on social media this morning states that the game for iPhone and Android will stop working on September 29th at 11:00 pm PT. The game was released in September 2019 and is one of the few remaining Nintendo mobile games that are still running.
“We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since it launched so long ago,” Nintendo wrote on its blog, providing a few additional details about the game’s demise. “Thank you for playing Mario Kart Tour.”
All Mario Kart games ranked
Nintendo shutting down its smartphone games is nothing new—many of them have already been cancelled. But Mario Kart Tour lasted longer than most, was used to develop tracks for the Switch expansion for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and was – at least for a time – extremely profitable.
However, the financial success of Mario Kart Tour was initially marred by controversy, as it used gacha-style mechanics to unlock new karts and characters. After major backlash, Nintendo replaced this system with a more standard item store in 2022, as well as a subscription service.
Today, the sale of in-game currency is suspended, as is the automatic renewal of the Gold Pass subscription. Soon, all players will be able to enjoy the benefits of a subscription for the remainder of the game’s life.
However, unlike the shutdown of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Nintendo is not preparing a standalone version of the game for players to switch to after the shutdown of the Mario Kart Tour servers. “There are no plans for a standalone version,” says the extremely brief FAQ page on the matter. This is a shame, as it will result in some Mario Kart tracks unique to the game remaining unplayable forever.
Perhaps the lack of an offline version is because Mario Kart World is seen as a key factor in Switch 2’s adoption – and Nintendo would rather you buy a console to play it, whereas a completely new Animal Crossing game seems a long way off.
However, with the demise of Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo’s catalog of smartphone games will shrink even further. Fire Emblem Heroes and Shadows remains operational, as does Super Mario Run. And then there’s Pikmin Bloom, which is primarily run by Pokémon Go developer Niantic.
However, Nintendo hasn’t completely abandoned its smartphone ambitions. Earlier this year, the company launched Pictonico!, an app that lets you turn camera images into WarioWare-style mini-games.
Tom Phillips is news editor at IGN. You can contact Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky. @tomphillipseg.bsky.social