Japanese company Nintendo has announced the permanent shutdown of Mario Kart Tour, bringing to an end one of the most popular racing games on mobile phones after nearly seven years since its release. The company confirmed that it will not provide an offline version, meaning the game will disappear entirely after the closure date.

Closure Date

Nintendo explained that the servers for Mario Kart Tour will stop working on September 30, 2026. After this date, players will no longer be able to run or access the game's content.

The company has also stopped selling the game’s digital currency and canceled new subscriptions and automatic renewals of Gold Card subscriptions, which provided players with additional benefits such as exclusive challenges and 200cc race mode.

Current subscribers will still be able to take advantage of most subscription benefits until the closure date. From August 5th until the game is permanently shut down, these benefits will become available to all players for free.

The Shutdown Was Expected

The decision to close was anticipated after the game entered maintenance mode in late 2023. Nintendo stopped adding new tracks, racers, vehicles, or any new content and simply re-offered previous content without significant updates.

Nintendo continues with mobile games

Although Mario Kart Tour has been ended, Nintendo still continues to support its presence in the market of mobile games, as it recently launched Picketnico and continues to provide games such as Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes.

Pokemon Go and Pikmin Bloom are still available but Nintendo no longer operates them directly.

The end of Mario Kart Tour marks the end of a seven-year journey for one of Nintendo's most prominent mobile games, at a time when the company continues to reorganize its strategy in the mobile gaming market and focus on new experiences.