Nintendo’s long-awaited Mario Kart game for smartphones will FINALLY arrive for select Android users next month
- Nintendo is now accepting applications for beta tests of its Mario Kart Tour app
- The app, teased since 2018, will bring Nintendo’s hit Mario Kart game to phones
- U.S. and Japan Android users can apply for the beta, which begins next month
- Nintendo expects to launch Mario Kart Tour for iOS and Android this summer
Nintendo’s much-anticipated Mario Kart version for smartphones is getting closer to release.
The Japanese game giant announced this week that it’s now accepting applications for beta tests of the game, called Mario Kart Tour.
Android users in the U.S. and Japan can sign up for the closed beta on Nintendo’s website and the program will run from May 22nd to June 4th.
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Nintendo America announced on Twitter that the smartphone version of the iconic Mario Kart would be released this year
Not everyone who applies to be a part of the beta program will be accepted, according to Nintendo.
The beta tests arrive ahead of Mario Kart Tour’s official launch, which Nintendo expects to be in Summer 2019.
Mario Kart Tour will be available for both iOS and Android devices upon release.
Nintendo first revealed it was developing a Mario Kart app in early 2018 and has remained tight-lipped ever since.
It was supposed to launch in March, but Nintendo pushed back the launch date a few months ago to this summer.
The firm said it needed more time to ‘improve quality of the application and expand the content offerings after launch,’ according to Variety.
In addition to Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo is also expected to release Dr. Mario World, which it described as an action puzzle game involving Mario.
Mario Kart Tour is being made by Nintendo and DeNA, the same developer that helped create Super Mario Run and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.
Many analysts are expecting Mario Kart Tour to be another runaway hit for Nintendo.
Experts suggested it could even be Nintendo’s first ‘billion dollar app,’ according to Bloomberg.
Nintendo’s biggest success to date in the mobile gaming world has been ‘Fire Emblem Heroes,’ which has grossed approximately $500 million since its launch two years ago.
HOW DID MOBILE GAMING AND THE SWITCH SAVE NINTENDO?
Nintendo has had a rough few years.
Following disastrous sales of its Wii U console, investors clamoured for the Kyoto-based firm to close down its home console division and focus on smartphone games.
Super Mario Run, the first time one of Nintendo’s iconic video game characters appeared on a device that wasn’t built by the company itself, set download records across the globe when it launched in December 2016.
Super Mario Run topped 40 million downloads just four days – becoming the fastest game to reach the milestone in App Store history, Nintendo revealed at the time.
However, Nintendo shares tumbled after it was revealed only a tiny percentage of players were willing to pay the £9.99 charge to unlock all of the content in the game.
‘Mario is arguably the most popular gaming franchise in the world, yet we see only about 8 percent of those who try the game actually purchasing it,’ Sensor Tower analyst Spencer Gabriel said.
However, Nintendo does not appear to be deterred, with a slate of new mobile games scheduled to launch between now and March 2019.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo is quietly working on a Legend Of Zelda adventure for smartphones and tablets to launch in late 2018, and Nintendo recently confirmed its best-selling racing game – Mario Kart — would be headed to iOS and Android smartphones before early 2019.
Elsewhere, the Kyoto gaming company has seen enormous success with the successor to the Wii U, Nintendo Switch.
The home console, which can be on a television or on-to-go thanks to its in-built six-inch touchscreen and detachable Joy Con controllers, has seen enormous demand.
At its most recent earnings call, Nintendo almost doubled its full-year operating profit forecast.
Sales of the all-new console, which includes its own version of Mario Kart and Legend Of Zelda, have exceeded the company’s estimates and outstripped those of its predecessor, the Wii U.
Nintendo also raised its year-end Switch sales forecast to 14 million consoles from 10 million.
This new annual target would alone exceed lifetime sales of 13.56 million consoles for the Wii U, which was on the market for about five years.
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