Mario Kart World's Metacritic review score could be impacted by people who are still "big mad about the price," former Nintendo marketing lead predicts ahead of Switch 2 launch

The Switch 2 and Mario Kart World are almost here – in fact, in some parts of the world, they already are – but the question remains, just how positive are the new racing game's reviews going to be? Ex-Nintendo marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have been trying to predict just that, discussing if the game's controversial $80 price tag could have any impact on its reception.

In a recent episode of the Kit and Krysta Podcast (below), the former Nintendo Minute hosts (also, respectively, Nintendo of America's former director of social media marketing and original content and senior manager of creator relations and original content) each share the average Metacritic score they think Mario Kart World will receive. Yang optimistically suggests 92, while Ellis aims a little lower, at a still very respectable score of 88.

Explaining his thoughts, Ellis points to the big "drop the price" controversy that dominated conversations online following April's flurry of Nintendo Switch 2 news, when it was confirmed that Mario Kart World is $80.

"I think there are some things about this game that make it a bit of a target for reviews," he begins. "Like there are people who are still, like, big mad about the price of this game, and it doesn't take many of those people who have an outlet, who are writing a review on Metacritic, giving this like a six out of 10, that's going to take it down from a 92 to an 88. I think there are things about this game that are more lightning rod-ish than we've had in Mario Kart before."

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He also adds that there are "pockets of communities that have frustrations with Nintendo right now, frustrations with the Switch 2," who might be looking for a way to take out their annoyances. "I just feel like that's a phenomenon that's gonna happen," he says.

Yang agrees that "this has been a launch where not everything is positive. This has been a launch for Nintendo where there has been some outcries of negativity and, you know, certainly there's been some bad communication from Nintendo, some confusing things that have happened throughout this launch."

She still seems positive about the game herself, as she points out that from the hands-on impressions we've seen so far, it seems "really high quality, really beautiful," and "a really big, bold step for Mario Kart." Even so, she adds: "I wonder how the kind of rockiness, the negativity, this kind of still [underlying] feelings that people may have will kind of counteract the quality of the game. Because that could be the difference between […] this game being in the 90 range and for this game being in the 80s range."

For now, we'll just have to wait and see, but the time is nigh for us to dive into the game ourselves. May your dispatch emails be timely and your pre-order deliveries swift, folks.

While you're here, be sure to check out our roundup of upcoming Switch 2 games.