Nintendo hopes that Mario Kart World will become an evergreen game for Switch 2 just like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe did for Switch 1, and I sincerely hope that means there's some DLC planned for it.
In Nintendo's latest financial results briefing presentation, president Shuntaro Furukawa reveals that "roughly nine out of every 10 people who purchased Nintendo Switch 2 have played" Mario Kart World, also counting those who bought the console and game bundle. That's not an enormous surprise – the sales of the Switch 2 and the latest Mario Kart entry have been close since launch – but it's still very impressive.
Nintendo clearly has high hopes for Mario Kart World going forward, too. "Just as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe became the most-played title on Nintendo Switch, we aim for Mario Kart World to become an evergreen title for Nintendo Switch 2 that players will continue to choose for years to come," Furukawa states.
It'll be no easy feat to match or even surpass Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, though. As of the end of September, the OG Switch racing game had sold 69.56 million copies – for reference, Mario Kart World was sitting at 9.57 million copies at the same time. Of course, the former had a head start of almost eight full years, so those numbers can't be properly compared, but World definitely has some catching up to do.
More generally, Nintendo's hopes that players will choose World "for years to come" are interesting. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's lifespan was supplemented by its Booster Course Pass DLC – the first wave arrived in March 2022, quite a long time after the game's initial launch, but the base package was already supplemented with the DLC that carried over from the original Wii U release of Mario Kart 8. That's all to say that Mario Kart World's predecessor ended up with way more unique tracks to race on to keep things interesting over time.
Nintendo hasn't spoken about potential DLC for Mario Kart World at all, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my fingers crossed that this latest statement might hint at plans for more substantial long-term support beyond basic patches.
