Less than seven years since launch, Nintendo has announced that its free-to-play Mario Kart game, Mario Kart Tour, is shutting down, with no offline equivalent to keep it playable once its servers go down.
Specifically, Mario Kart Tour will be unplayable from September 29, 2026, at 11pm PT – equivalent to September 30 at 2am ET or 7am BST. "We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since service began so long ago," Nintendo says in its shutdown notice.
With the announcement, Nintendo has also ended the sale of Rubies (in-game currency), and stopped new purchases and automatic renewals of the game's Gold Pass subscription. Anyone with an existing subscription can "continue to enjoy Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits, minus continuous-subscription benefits," for free until the game's shutdown, and those without a subscription will be given the same benefits from August 4.
Worst of all for any fans of Tour, though, is Nintendo's confirmation that "an offline version is not scheduled for release." When Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp's end of service was announced back in 2024, Nintendo immediately confirmed that it was developing a way to save your game data and let you keep playing, with the one-time-purchase release Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete coming along to save the day for longtime fans.
It seems that with Mario Kart Tour, fans will just have to cling onto the game's tracks that made it into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and World. There are quite a few – 8 Deluxe added the likes of Tokyo Blur, Paris Promenade, and Sky-High Sundae, for example, with the latter returning in World. Here's hoping that more tracks could get preserved in Mario Kart World as DLC over time. The Switch 2 game only last week was updated with two new Knockout Tour routes, though these didn't add any traditional new tracks – just new ways to experience the old ones.
While you're here, be sure to check out our ranking of the best Mario Kart games.
