Mario Kart Tour is out now (if you can get in) and if you thought the current server issues were the only concern, you might want to prepare yourself for this next bit of news.
Nintendo has announced that Mario Kart Tour will have a “Gold Pass” subscription service. Gold Pass is a paid service that affords you some in-game benefits each month, including some “gold gifts,” in-game badges, and 200cc. That’s right, in order to play races at 200cc, you’ll have to fork up $7.99 AUD a month. And you’ll lose access to it if you stop paying. That’s 95 dollarydoos a year.
This is on top of the game’s randomised gacha mechanics, in which you’ll have a random chance of getting characters and karts that have a huge impact on how you play and can give you big advantages in a race. It’s a worrying look, to say the least, and it’s looking like Mario Kart Tour will end up as Nintendo’s most aggressively monetised game to date. We can only hope this isn’t the start of a trend.
To put the price into perspective, with the same amount of money per year, you could buy a year-long Family Pass subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, or a full-priced game on the Switch eShop, with cash to spare. Or a year of Apple Arcade, and gain access to a hundred games without any microtransactions, ads, or in-game purchases. Tough choice.
More than 450 games added this final week.
What a year.
Gotta go fast.
