AppleInsider Staff
After a missed launch date in March, the hotly anticipated mobile debut of Nintendo's Mario Kart franchise, "Mario Kart Tour," is slated to arrive on iOS and Android devices in late September.
Nintendo announced the new release date in a tweet on Monday, saying the popular racing game lands on devices running Apple's iOS and Google's Android on Sept. 25.
Apple's Japanese App Store Twitter account followed up with its own tweet, saying the title will be available for iPhone and iPad, while the U.S. App Store account followed suit with its own teaser. Embedded in both App Store tweets is an in-game clip showing the game's classic "rocket start" maneuver and regional pre-order links.
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— App Store (@AppStore) August 27, 2019
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Let's go!
Pre-order @NintendoAmerica's Mario Kart Tour now: https://t.co/PwPKQkr5IE pic.twitter.com/LBgGKUSH1r
The September launch represents the second delay for "Mario Kart Tour." Announced in January 2018, Nintendo initially expected the game to hit digital stores in in fiscal 2019, later narrowing down its launch window to March. Earlier this year, the Japanese gaming giant pushed back release to summer 2019.
Mario Kart's entrance onto the mobile scene follows past success in the space. In 2016, Nintendo partnered with Apple on its first branded offering, "Super Mario Run," which went on to rack up record downloads and in-app purchase figures. Nintendo subsequently released "Fire Emblem Heroes" and "Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp" in 2017, and revived longtime franchise Dr. Mario with "Dr. Mario World" in July.
Following Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo is slated to release action role-playing game "Dragalia Lost" on Sept. 27.
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So it's free with "In-App Purchases". Hopefully this is at least similar to Mario Run rather than the freemium approach they seem to be taking now. But I assume it's more likely to be a "freemium" title. Too bad they didn't get on board with Apple Arcade like Sega has.
Freemium obviously makes them more money so it makes sense from a business point of view to go that way. But I will continue to avoid such titles, especially for a game like this that my kids are likely to spend a long time playing. If the game is still fairly playable without the in-app purchases similar to Dr. Mario I will still download it though.
Edit:
Found this on the App store description:
* Free-to-start; optional in-game purchases available. Persistent Internet, compatible smartphone, and Nintendo Account required. Data charges may apply.
* For information about our ads, please see the “How we use your information” section of the Nintendo Privacy Policy.
* May include advertising.
Dr. Mario World is still not available in my country. I wonder if this will launch sooner.
Sweet, sweet, delicious IAP. - Nintedo
Dragalia Lost came out last fall. I think it was Nintendo's first mobile game based on a new IP.
IAP? Nope.