Mario Kart Tour: Mario Kart‬, ‪Super Mario Run‬, ‪Super Mario‬, ‪DeNA‬, ‪Nintendo Switch‬‬

Despite a somewhat inconsistent record with smartphone games, Nintendo is continuing to add to its roster, revealing that its next effort will be a mobile Mario Kart.

First announced as in-development in February 2018, Mario Kart Tour is still something of a mystery as Nintendo didn’t proffer any details on its gameplay, pricing model or even a firm release date.

Following the failure of Miitomo, Mario Kart Tour is a good sign that Nintendo is going to be investing in mobile adaptations of its more popular IPs, rather than trying anything more weird or new any time soon.

While we don’t know too much about the game thus far, this is everything we do know, and we’ll keep updating this page as more details are revealed.


Cut to the chase
What is it? Mario Kart on mobile!
When can I play it? It'll be released any time between April 2018 and March 2019
What can I play it on? Nothing confirmed but it's likely to be iOS and Android
Mario Kart Tour – when can I play it?
Mario Kart Tour's exact release date is yet to be revealed, with Nintendo giving us a pretty wide window. We know the game will be coming in the next fiscal year but that means it could launch any time between the start of April 2018 and the end of March 2019.

Though we don’t want to be overly negative, we’re inclined to say it’s more likely that we’ll see the game towards the end of 2018, into early 2019. Nintendo’s mobile titles have historically been subject to delays, and given the fact that Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing Pocket Camp are relatively recent releases and still undergoing updates, we’re not sure the time is right to push another big IP title out there just yet.

Mario Kart Tour – how much will it cost?
Going on Nintendo’s past mobile releases, it's difficult to tell whether Mario Kart Tour will be a free-to-play title with microtransactions, or a one-time purchase game with no paid extras.

A recent report from the Wall Street Journal has said that the game will be ‘free-to-start’. While this is a little unclear, Super Mario Run is also a free-to-start game which does give us some idea as to how the model could translate to Mario Kart Tour.


For Mario Kart Tour we imagine the game will – like Super Mario Run – be released as a free trial which gives access to one or two tracks and a limited number of characters and cards. After players have gone through this trial, they’ll then be able to purchase the full game for around $10/£10 and get access to all of the game’s features as well as free updates at later stages.

This would make it slightly different from the free-to-play titles like Animal Crossing Pocket Camp which is free to download but has certain content which can only be accessed for a fee. Although this is a model that would also work for Mario Kart Tour; we could quite easily see the game being free to download with certain tracks, characters and cars requiring an additional purchase.