Mario Kart Tour closes after seven years and nearly $270m in revenue
Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo’s mobile racing game, has officially shut down after nearly seven years of service. The game launched worldwide in September 2019 and was discontinued with an announcement on July 8, with Nintendo thanking players for their support but providing no specific reason for the closure.
The mobile title proved commercially successful over its lifetime. Mario Kart Tour was downloaded more than 276 million times and generated an estimated $268.5 million in revenue for Nintendo. The game experienced explosive growth at launch, with 14.7 million downloads recorded in a single day on September 26, 2019—its peak. In its first week, it accumulated 54 million downloads, reaching 81.8 million after the first month.
In-app purchase revenue peaked at just under $22 million in October 2019 as initial player enthusiasm was at its highest. The game’s strong financial performance suggests it remained viable for Nintendo throughout its service period, though the company has not disclosed details about declining engagement or other factors that may have influenced the shutdown decision.
The closure adds to the growing list of live-service games being discontinued, even when profitable, raising ongoing questions about game preservation and player investment in digital-only titles that depend on server infrastructure.