Mario Kart made its maiden voyage onto mobile in 2019, but what does the game's first full calendar year hold for Mario Kart Tour?

Despite backlash from some over its use of microtransactions and gacha techniques, Mario Kart Tour arrived on the mobile scene with a bang in 2019. Though it wasn't released until September, Tour was downloaded more times on iOS than some of the game's main competitors such as Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Pokémon GO. It will need to keep that momentum going in 2020 if it wants to hold onto that crown, though.

Nintendo will need to take a few tips from Niantic on that front. Niantic has kept Pokémon GO popular for three and a half years by constantly adding to and updating the game. A new tour every two weeks on Mario Kart Tour isn't going to cut it. Nintendo will also need to build on what has been a successful game so far in major ways in 2020. One of the biggest and best ways it can do that is by rolling out the multiplayer function to all players.

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A lot of Tour's players were befuddled to discover that they couldn't race against other players when the game first launched. That has now changed, but only for players with a Gold Pass subscription. Since it is currently being described by Nintendo as a "multiplayer beta," it's probably safe to assume that the feature will be rolled out to the rest of us at some point in 2020.

Speaking of Tour's Gold Pass subscription, it was one of the things certain players complained about when the game launched, as certain aspects of the game are locked behind a paywall, and those willing to cough up the cash have an advantage over players who don't. Chances are high that the Gold Pass won't be going anywhere in 2020. Players are clearly willing to pay it, so why would Nintendo scrap it?

As for what else Nintendo has planned for Tour in 2020, well, there's not much information out there about its plans right now. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, providing that Nintendo actually does have plans and is simply remaining tight-lipped about them. That would certainly be in keeping with how Nintendo has been in the past. Providing Tour undergoes change and evolution this year, we predict it'll be a fruitful one for the game.

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