Nintendo announce a Gold Pass subscription service for Mario Kart Tour

To coincide with the release of Mario Kart Tour Nintendo have revealed the game will also have a subscription service called the Gold Pass that will cost $4.99 per month. It will allow players to get more rewards as well give them access to 200cc races.

Bearing in mind that the game already has a gacha system in place, this addition to the game is sure to ruffle a few feathers. But that may depend on how much you feel like you're missing out on by opting not to sign up for a subscription. The Gold Pass will give players three main benefits.

The first is you'll get Gold Gifts from racing in Tours. This looks to include in-game currency as well as different Karts and characters. It seems that you'll still have to race to earn this rewards though, rather than just receiving them automatically, so in that sense, it's reminiscent of Fortnite's Battle Pass. The second is you'll be able to earn to special in-game badges from Gold challenges.

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The third and final benefit – which is the most controversial – of the Gold Pass is that it will unlock 200cc races. If you're unfamiliar with Mario Kart, the higher the CC essentially means the faster the game becomes. So they've effectively locked this option behind the subscription service, which is sure to annoy long-time fans of the Mario Kart series or folks who detest subscription services.

If you're a first-time user you'll be able to grab yourself a free trial of the Gold Pass that'll last two weeks, which is also the same amount of time each of the game's different tours will last. 

Mario Kart Tour is available now on the App Store and Google Play. It has been described as a free-to-start game so you will hit a point where you'll have to pay or possible subscribe based on this latest news.