Nintendo will be shutting down one of its own games later this month, with no plans for an offline version, meaning it will effectively be unavailable to anyone interested in checking it out. Compared to many other game companies, Nintendo rarely releases live-service games, but it has on occasion, especially when it comes to its mobile titles.
Wanting to drive players to its dedicated handhelds and home consoles, Nintendo resisted the urge to develop games for mobile devices for years. It finally gave in with Super Mario Run, which eschewed the traditional free-to-play model that many mobile games employ in favor of a more traditional approach. Later, Nintendo mobile games went free-to-play instead and leveraged heavy microtransactions and live-service elements, as is the norm, to varying degrees of success. Over the years, Nintendo has released live-service mobile versions of some of its top franchises, including Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart.
Nintendo's Mario Kart Tour now has a much stricter rating, with one region recommending against it being downloaded by younger players.
Mobile game Mario Kart Tour was first released in 2019 and earned negative reviews for its gacha elements and aggressive...
