While Mario Kart fans were hoping for an official confirmation of a rumored Mario Kart 9 to be announced at the latest Nintendo Direct, no such announcement was made. Instead, Nintendo revealed that it was releasing a whopping 48 DLC tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Featuring the return of classic tracks from across Mario Kart‘s extensive history, the DLC is slated to be released in sets of eight rolling out over the course of 2022 and 2023. While some fans may be disappointed that they have to wait longer for a full sequel to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, this DLC rollout could signal Nintendo’s business strategy moving forward.
Throughout the Wii’s life cycle, Nintendo had a smaller online gaming presence in comparison to its immediate counterparts, with a more inconsistent online infrastructure and minimal amount of DLC. During the Wii U era, Nintendo began to include DLC for a handful of titles, including a Luigi-themed expansion to New Super Mario Bros. U and additional playable characters for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. However, it wasn’t until the Nintendo Switch era that the company began to delve more extensively into the possibilities of online and post-release content for its marquee titles.
The Nintendo Switch has seen Nintendo’s most ambitious incorporation of online content and gameplay into any of its consoles yet, from the launch of its own premium tiered subscription service to a growing library of online-only titles. Prior to the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe expansion announcement, Nintendo’s most extensive use of DLC was for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate which saw 12 characters released post-launch. Mario Kart 8‘s DLC is even more expansive and being released across a much steadier clip than Super Smash Bros.‘ was, effectively doubling the amount of tracks in the game.
There’s also the outstanding matter of Mario Kart 9. The original Mario Kart 8 was released in 2014 for the Wii U before receiving a remastered port for the Nintendo Switch three years later. This marks the largest gap between main Mario Kart games, with the second-largest gap being the five-year gap in between 1996’s Mario Kart 64 and 2001’s Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance.
With Switch version alone of Mario Kart 8 selling over 43 million copies worldwide, a sequel is something of an inevitability. The extensive DLC for Mario Kart 8 could both get fans hyped for more and give a development team more time to work on a full sequel in the interim through the end of 2023. While unannounced, this would put a theoretical Mario Kart 9 on track for a holiday season 2023 release at the earliest.
The original Mario Kart 8 was one of the few first-party Nintendo games for the Wii U to have DLC content, an era which stands in direct contrast to how much Nintendo has embraced the possibilities of online content nearly a decade since. This is underscored with Nintendo’s surprise announcement for doubling the amount of tracks to be released as DLC over the course of the next year. The Switch has plenty of other games that could benefit from a similar post-release support strategy, including the recently launched Mario Party Superstars, and once again, Mario Kart leads the charge for Nintendo and its continued success.
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