Mario Kart Tour is Shutting Down in September - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 July 2026 / 3,521 Views

Nintendo announced it is shutting down Mario Kart Tour on September 29 at 11:00 pm PT / September 30 at 2:00 am ET / 7:00 am UK.

The sale of rubies ended starting today. They can be used in the Spotlight Shop, Mii Racing Suit Shop, and Coin Rush until service ends.

All automatic subscription renewals and new subscriptions to the Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass have also stopped. All benefits will be made available for free until the game shuts down starting with the Vacation Tour on August 4.

Mario Kart Tour released for iOS and Android in September 2019.

Read details on the changes to Gold Pass below:

1. Players whose Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass subscriptions extend past the start of maintenance at 11:00 p.m. PT on July 7, 2026:

You can continue to enjoy Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits, minus continuous-subscription benefits, until 10:59 p.m. PT on September 29, 2026, for free.
Note: This includes players in a free-trial period.

2. Players without a Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass subscription at the start of maintenance at 11:00 p.m. PT on July 7, 2026:

Beginning with the start of the Vacation Tour at 11:00 p.m. PT on August 4, 2026, until 10:59 p.m. PT on September 29, 2026, you can enjoy Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits, minus continuous-subscription benefits, for free.

Q&A

Q. Do I have to take any extra steps to enjoy Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits for free?

A. No extra steps are required to enjoy Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits during its period of free availability.

Q. Which Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits do I have access to?

A. You can access the following benefits.
　・ Gold Gifts
　・ Gold Challenges
　・ 200cc
　・ The maximum amount of base points and coins that can be earned in one day is doubled
　・ The multiplayer pipe gauge will fill twice as fast
　・ Multiplayer grade cap will be S+9.
　Note: You cannot receive continuous-subscription benefits beginning 11:00 p.m. PT on July 7, 2026.

Q. Can I not use the Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass until 11:00 p.m. PT on August 4, even if I have used it in the past?

A. If you were not subscribed to the Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass when maintenance began at 11:00 p.m. PT on July 7, 2026, you cannot use it until 10:59 p.m. PT on August 4, regardless of your past subscription history.

Q. Can you share a Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass between different operating systems during its period of free availability?

A. If you are using the same save data, you can enjoy the Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits regardless of operating system.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.

16 Comments

whereby (on 10 July 2026)

I have to be honest I did not know that this game existed! Never really got into mobile gaming though

Garrus (on 08 July 2026)

(i think mario kart world is still a switch 1 not switch 2 game, maybe they are working on another mario kart that has Star Fox level graphics, like we originally thought, i hope so, and I would like the racing modes and battle modes from the SNES game to be in there)

we were done dirty by Tour and World and I hope Nintendo realizes they can't squander their number one game series

ZSEzsgrsgz Garrus (on 09 July 2026)

Lol.

Garrus ZSEzsgrsgz (on 09 July 2026)

i'm just fantasizing about an actually good mario kart game, instead of the one we got :)

Jumpin Garrus (on 09 July 2026)

Well "Nintendo squandering" and "we were done dirty" are merely your perceptions. But Mario Kart World has sold 14.7 million units in 9 months on new hardware, by far their best selling launch title of all time (leaving Wii Sports a distant second). What difficult lesson is it that you think Nintendo is learning from that?

JackHandy Jumpin (on 09 July 2026)

I was one of the minority voices praising the game as fun when it came out, but it's hard to make much sense of sales when it's bundled in with launch consoles. There's no way to gauge how much of it was from being bundled or how much of it was due to the game itself.

Jumpin JackHandy (on 09 July 2026)

True, but that was also the case with Wii Sports in most markets. And the MKW edition cost an additional 50 USD premium over the standard edition. IMO, both games were heavy console sales drivers.

Are there any non-bundled launch games that come close to Wii Sports (which did around 9 million in 9 months) or the 14.7 million done by? The closest I can think of is Super Mario 64 (I believe that one had no bundles launch year).

JackHandy Jumpin (on 09 July 2026)

There really isn't any way to gauge it, though. I mean, maybe if Nintendo had done a massive internal poll etc. But without it, we're left to speculate.

2zosteven Jumpin (on 10 July 2026)

the additional $50 for the bundle was a no brainer for me

Garrus Jumpin (6 days ago)

i'm one of the millions of people that couldn't buy the Switch 2 without World included, and also it sold well because it was effectively $50

you are being disingenuous and you know it

it's a pack in game, it's like talking about the sales of Wii Sports

I think Nintendo knew the game isn't very good, that's why it is a pack in title and not just sold separately at launch, it would have failed

Garrus (on 08 July 2026)

I heard they are remaking Super Metroid with pixel graphics, I hope they do SNES Mario Kart as well.

Mario Kart for the SNES is still what I consider the #1 greatest game of all time. UP there in my top 3 with Starcraft and Mass Effect.