After seven years of service, Mario Kart Tour will soon be taking its last lap around the course. Nintendo has announced that its mobile spinoff of the mega-popular kart racing series will have its servers shut down on September 29th, 2026. In addition to that, all microtransactions have been deactivated, meaning rubies are no longer available for purchase.
I didn’t realize there was a subscription pass for the game, but anyone currently subscribed will receive Gold Pass benefits until the game’s end of service. Players not currently subscribed will get Gold Pass benefits starting August 4th, 2026, until closure. Gold Pass grants things like specific challenges, 200cc races, and extra coins… although a lot of that won’t matter for the few months Mario Kart Tour has left.
Currently, Nintendo has no plans to maintain an offline version of Tour for play beyond the closure date. While the game wasn’t exactly well received by critics, that seems like a tremendous missed opportunity to engage with players on a different platform. Nintendo has always been stingy with its mobile games, and though the company is focusing on the Switch 2, it would be wise to keep other customers happy by providing a one-time purchase option (similar to what it did with Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp when it shut down its online play).
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
