Mario Kart as a service: The future of Nintendo?

Mario Kart as a service: The future of Nintendo

In the latest Nintendo Direct, the Big N made it very clear to us that the Nintendo Switch will be the company’s first console that doesn’t have its own Mario Kart . Possibly, we will not see a new title until 2024, when 10 years will have passed since the original launch of Mario Kart 8 for Wii U. However, in the last appointment, Nintendo did show news for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, practically turning it into a video game as a service . Are these the future plans of the company?

Mario Kart as a service. It is never late if happiness is good

mario kart como servicio

As much as Nintendo has tried to convince us otherwise, the Switch is missing Mario Kart . The authentic nintendo already enjoyed Mario Kart 8 at the time – that is, in 2014 -. This 2022, both Disney and Square Enix have plans to launch their own “Mario Kart”. And this must have shaken Nintendo’s plans a bit, realizing now, eight years after the release of MK8 , that they’re losing market share as well as the Wii U rehash is selling on the Switch . And that’s when Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass appears on the track. How did they take so long to make such a logical move?

Let’s go by parts. It is understandable that we will not see Mario Kart 9 on Switch. How attractive would it be? We would have the same graphics, and it would be like going through the checkout again to buy a similar product. It makes much more sense to add new circuits —or remastered old tracks— to the video game itself . And thus enrich it, even if that means buying a DLC or having to pay two Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack memberships to get to have the 48 circuits that will come to the game in 6 different waves .

The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass tells us a lot between the lines, but there are two that are key. The first of all is that the Switch will continue to be at the forefront until at least the end of 2023 . And the second is that Nintendo is paving the way to position its video games as a service . And, although this business model does not always benefit players, there are Big N franchises that could gain appeal with this strategy .

Which Nintendo games would benefit from being sold as a service?

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If we think about it carefully, Nintendo should have chosen this business model for Mario Kart years ago . Why let a title die years after launching it when it could be kept alive for months by releasing several annual DLCs ? If the norm is that only one game of this franchise comes out per console, the logical thing is to continue making money with it while keeping the most loyal players happy. A manual win-win .

But not only that. Animal Crossing , for example, also uses the same model, i.e. only one mainline game per console . And, although it already had its free DLC on Nintendo 3DS, New Horizons on the Switch has also followed the same path as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe . Are we or are we not facing a paradigm shift?

pokemon wild area

Before we say goodbye, there is another franchise that could also benefit from this model: Pokémon . Game Freak’s strategy is just the opposite of Animal Crossing or Mario Kart. However, the pressure to meet the established schedule has forced the studio to release games in recent years where it can be clearly seen that there is a lack of development .

It would make a lot of sense to release a mainline Pokémon game and update it with new regions , stories, and creatures over time . Whether they choose this path or not will depend on whether Game Freak and Nintendo want to show the potential they have, or if they settle for games that meet, but will never reach the top. In the case of Sword and Shield , they already had their own DLCs, but, on that occasion, it was excessively noted that it was not a video game as a service, but rather a postgame that was cut from the original game as it did not have enough time to include it in the base cartridge. And you? Do you think that this model that Nintendo is gradually getting into is positive or negative for the players ?