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Mario Kart Tour Game App Will Be 'Free to Start'
posted on by Bayleigh Baker
DeNA President & CEO Isao Moriyasu revealed at the company's accounts briefing meeting held on Thursday that the Mario Kart Tour smartphone game will be "free to start." Nintendo will plan and develop the application while DeNA is responsible for the backend, such as servers, infrastructure, and analysis.
Nintendo announced on February 1 that it was developing Mario Kart Tour, a new game in the Mario Kart game series and the first of the series made for smartphones. Nintendo will release the game "in the fiscal year ending in March 2019."
In 2015, Nintendo partnered with DeNA to lend its intellectual property for the creation and launch of "approximately" five smartphone titles by March 2017. Through that partnership, Nintendo and DeNA have released the Super Mario Run, Miitomo, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp games. However, service for Miitomo will end on May 9.
The Wall Street Journal reported in December that Nintendo is seeking to establish more ties with other smartphone game developers, and were reportedly in talks with GungHo Online Entertainment.
The latest game in the Mario Kart series is Mario Kart 8, which shipped for the Wii U in 2014. The game sold over 1.2 million copies during its opening weekend. The game received a Switch version titled Mario Kart 8 Deluxe last April.
Source: Social Game Info via Hachima Kikō
