Nintendo Is Shutting Down Mario Kart Tour on September 29, 2026

Mario Kart Tour was a lot of people's first Mario Kart, the one that lived in a pocket instead of under a TV. Nintendo has now confirmed the ride is ending: service shuts down at 11:00 p.m. PT on September 29, 2026, which is the morning of September 30 for players in Europe and Asia. The announcement went out on July 8 through the game's official account and Nintendo's support pages, and there will be no offline version once the servers close.

Video: Nintendo Mobile on YouTube

The wind down has already started

The shutdown is happening in stages rather than all at once. Sales of rubies, the game's premium currency, ended on July 7, and automatic Gold Pass renewals were canceled at the same time. Current Gold Pass subscribers keep most of their benefits for free until the end, and from August 4 those perks open up to everyone still playing. Nintendo is also planning farewell events and steep discounts in the in-game shop during the final weeks, so any leftover rubies are worth spending before the deadline rather than letting them evaporate.

Nothing survives the servers

This is a full stop, not a transition. Unlike Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which got a paid offline version when its online service ended, Mario Kart Tour will simply stop working. Every driver, kart and glider collected since the game launched in September 2019 disappears with it. In truth, the game has been coasting for a while. Nintendo stopped making new content in October 2023 and has been recycling old tours ever since, and dataminers actually spotted the end of service messaging in the game files before the official post went up.

Our take

We are not surprised, but we are a little sad. Tour was a strange, compromised Mario Kart, built around gacha pulls and one thumb steering, yet it introduced city courses that were good enough to graduate into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and it kept millions of people racing on the bus for years. The frustrating part is the preservation angle. When the servers go dark, a playable piece of Mario Kart history goes with them, and a series this important deserves better than deletion. If you still have an attachment to it, log in before September 29, spend your rubies, and take a few last laps around the real world.