Nintendo has delayed the release of its mobile title Super Mario Kart Tour until summer. Nintendo initially announced the title in February 2018. Although no one knows what the details of the game are or what it might look like, the announcement had many Mario Kart fans excited to play one of their favorite titles on their smartphones.

The Mario Kart series of games launched in 1992 as Super Mario Kart, a go-cart racing game that let players compete with up to 12 others in a race. Along the tracks are various power-up items and boosts, as well as shells and banana peels that players can throw to deter other players' carts. The title was immediately a hit for Nintendo and eventually launched a 13-game franchise on consoles, portable devices and arcade games. The most recent title in the series, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, released on the Nintendo Switch in April 2017. That title brought Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC to the racing game. Mario Kart is so popular with Nintendo fans that it will soon become a theme park ride at Universal Studios Japan.

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Unfortunately, fans might have to wait a little longer for the next title in the franchise. Mario Kart Tour, a mobile game, has been delayed from March 2019 to summer 2019. Nintendo released details about the delay in its quarterly earnings report, which reads:

"In the smart-device business, Mario Kart Tour was scheduled to be released this fiscal year, but in order to improve quality of the application and expand the content offerings after launch, the release date has been moved to summer 2019. As we endeavor to develop future planned applications, we will also focus on continued service operations for applications that have already been released so that consumers can enjoy playing them for a long time."

However, Nintendo remains committed to its existing mobile titles. That includes the release of the massively successful Pokemon Go, which remains popular over two years after its initial release, especially after the recent addition of PVP battles. Other current Nintendo mobile games include Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes. There is also Super Mario Run, which set a record when it hit 40 million downloads within its first four days on the App Store, despite complaints about its pay-to-play model. Thanks to all of these titles, Nintendo's quarterly report states that its IP related income from smartphone devices was up 14.7 percent from the previous year.

Although Mario Kart Tour is delayed, its release will signal even more income from smartphone games for Nintendo. Add that to its existing slate of mobile titles, along with a potential new Pokemon mobile game, and the company will continue to make serious money with its releases for the smartphone market. For consoles, Nintendo has already dominated sales, with the Nintendo Switch becoming the best-selling console this generation. Nintendo has proven that it can create games that people want, and the wait for any delayed games is always worth it.

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Source: Nintendo