The mobile game Mario Kart Tour has not been released yet, yet the game is already facing Pay2Win accusations. What is going on?
What is Mario Kart Tour? The game is Nintendo’s next foray into mobile gaming. With titles like Super Mario Run (2016), Fire Emblem Heroes (2017), and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (2017), Nintendo has shown that it wants to play a big role in this market.
Mario Kart Tour is based on the popular Mario Kart series. You take on the role of a familiar character from the Mario universe, such as Super Mario himself, Bowser, or Toad, and race against others on various tracks with your vehicles. You collect coins, which you can use to purchase bonuses.
These could be speed boosts or banana peels that you can use to temporarily take out opponents.
A Mario Kart for mobile
When will the game be released? The release of the mobile game was initially planned for March but was then postponed to summer. A specific date will follow.
Can you play it already? Nintendo is currently holding a closed beta in Japan and the USA. This has revealed some information that raises concerns among fans.
Already criticized for being Pay2Win before release
What is the problem? In the game, you can unlock new drivers using the Gacha principle. “Gacha” refers to capsules that one pulls from machines in Japan. It is up to chance which capsule you get.
You can either earn new drivers by collecting coins and using them at the machine, or you can buy the characters for real money.
The characters have different abilities based on their rarity tier. Depending on the tier, drivers have one to three slots for items, which are then filled with items when they pick up one of the boxes on the tracks. The rarer a character is, the more items they can utilize and the better chances they have in races.
Is this Pay2Win? A debate has arisen among Nintendo fans about whether this is Pay2Win. After all, there is a chance to earn all the drivers. Nevertheless, many will spend money to acquire all the characters.
Nintendo further fuels this debate, as the company anticipates making a billion dollars in annual revenue with Mario Kart Tour. Now, many fear that investors will pressure Nintendo to expand this Gacha principle and also apply it to other games.
Fixed price against Gacha principle
Why are players upset? The Gacha principle was also used in the mobile game Fire Emblem Heroes. This principle evidently was well received, leading to its implementation in Mario Kart Tour. Nintendo’s first mobile game, Super Mario Run, was sold at a fixed price and avoided microtransactions. Apparently, that did not work out financially.
WhirlwindBarbarian summarizes it well on Reddit: “You voted for this when you ignored Super Mario Run at a fixed price but instead spent millions on the heroes in Fire Emblem Heroes!”
What do you think about the Gacha principle? Is it Pay2Win or not?
