Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's first update in two years leaves fans wondering if it will ever get DLC
On track.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has today received a small patch which fixes a couple of minor issues. It's the first update for the game since January 2019.
Today's patch makes two tiny changes to fix tournament points and match history from being reset. But it has also, again, sparked discussion among players wondering if a more significant update will ever follow.
Released back in 2017, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Nintendo Switch's best-selling game. Four years on, it continues to sell extremely well and has a near-permanent spot in the UK boxed game chart top 10.
Last year it looked like surging sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons might finally dethrone Mario Kart 8 Deluxe from the Switch's all-time top spot - but then Mario Kart 8 Deluxe went and sold a bucketload more. It currently sits on a staggering 35.4m copies all-time total and is the best-selling racing game of all time in the US.
Modest game updates through 2018 saw Mario Kart 8 Deluxe add support for the Toy-Con Motorbike and Car from Nintendo's various cardboard Labo kits. We also got a smattering of Zelda: Breath of the Wild cosmetics, and support for the Switch Online mobile app.
But since that last small update in January 2019, all has fallen silent.
Mario Kart 8 on Wii U received two expansion packs with new racers and tracks - these are included in the Switch version as the "Deluxe" part of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe package. Fans had hoped Nintendo would continue to support the Switch version of the game in a similar way, but no new DLC has ever materialised.
Perhaps Nintendo doesn't want to undermine the "Deluxe" branding by offering optional paid DLC - which could make the game even more Deluxe-r? Perhaps Nintendo just doesn't want my money. Or, perhaps, Nintendo is doing just fine selling Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as-is, four years on, to consider more Mario Kart yet.