Nintendo will be hosting a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online tournament this month with a chance to win some My Nintendo Gold coins. Essentially free cash that users accrue for purchasing things on the eShop, the top eight players from this month's tournament will be given 2,500 gold coins to spend however they see fit. Hey, they can even put it towards another year of Switch Online.
The tournament will be held between January 17 and 19. Rankings will start at 12 pm PST on each day and run for six hours. Players will participate in 24 max races and the highest scores from each day will win the coveted gold coins. You could technically win it three times, but that seems unlikely. There are specific tournament codes players will have to register on for each day (which can be found on the official Nintendo website).
Nintendo Switch Online may not be the greatest service around, but Nintendo has been trying its best to improve the service since its launch 2018. Tetris 99 is one solid example of those improvements, a free game that features a unique battle royale component. One of the ways Nintendo has encouraged people to keep playing is by offering up gold coins during "Maximus" events. It seems Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is going to be copying some of Tetris' playbook.
Small incentives like this are not only a good way to spur interest in Nintendo's service, but a great way to revitalize an older title. With no mention of a Mario Kart 9 coming soon, 8 Deluxe is still the only kart racer from Nintendo on the Switch. There doesn't necessarily need to be a new installment, but a lot of players may have moved one considering the games age.
Apart from releasing some new DLC, a tournament with a reward is a solid way to get people playing -or even buying-. Nintendo does note that no purchase is necessary, so you won't need to validate that you own Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or anything. Just play, have fun, and potentially win $75 in total.
It would be great to see something like this for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but Nintendo would need to first work on fixing the netcode for its premiere fighter. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe works surprisingly well for Nintendo's lackluster infrastructure whereas Smash does not.
Source: Twitter