The Nintendo Switch's best-selling title, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, has gotten its first update in over two years. Despite selling over 35 million units (as of March), the game has not received much attention from Nintendo for a very long time.
Not only is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe the best-selling Nintendo Switch title, it also has many other accolades to its name, including the coveted title of the best-selling racing game in U.S. history. To call Mario Kart 8 Deluxe a hit feels like an understatement, but, despite all of the critical and commercial success, it has received no DLC support, and Nintendo has yet to reveal any indications that this could change any time soon.
With all of that said, players were pleasantly surprised to see a new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe update recently published by Nintendo. Released yesterday, the version 1.7.2 update is the game's first since January 23, 2019, and it finally fixes a pair of bugs that have annoyed players for years. Per the patch notes, version 1.7.2 addresses, "an issue that caused tournament points to be reset," as well as another issue that, "caused match history with friends to be reset."
For curious readers, the previous update from 2019 fixed another issue where the game would become unresponsive to any button inputs except for the home button. So the fact that the game has gotten any updates at all says that Nintendo is at least still working on the game, and making sure it is still playable. Still, there has not been any DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and its fanbase has had to find creative ways to keep the game fun.
Outside of the main series, one of Mario Kart's spin-offs, the mobile game Mario Kart Tour, has regularly gotten different content updates, such as new cosmetics and themed tracks. Of course, developing content for a mobile app is less resource and time consuming than the same process for a home console like the Nintendo Switch, but Nintendo has already been accused of not caring about its game development as much as its profits. From a fan's standpoint, the neglect of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is not a good look.
A more optimistic way to interpret these developments could be that maybe Nintendo is finally planning to roll out some Mario Kart DLC. But, realistically, this outcome does not feel likely. It is unclear what Nintendo is planning for the rest of 2021 (outside of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl in November), but if the company really wanted to release new DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, it has had ample time to do so.
Source: Nintendo