Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo’s gacha-filled mobile racer which lets you tug on a warp pipe to earn a lederhosen-wearing Luigi, is doing pretty well. It has earned $200m in 18 months, and racked up 200m downloads worldwide.
Store data provided to Eurogamer by Sensor Tower shows that downloads slowed last year versus the game’s big launch at the end of 2019 – when Mario Kart Tour was Nintendo’s fastest-downloaded smartphone game by quite some margin. Spending, however, has stayed steady.
Nintendo’s mobile Mario Kart spin-off officially launched back in September 2019, and is primarily monetised through a gacha-based system which unlocks new in-game items.