Mario Kart Tour Multiplayer Coming In December With A Beta Test

[UPDATE] Nintendo said in a tweet that a beta test for real-time multiplayer will begin in December, but only for Gold Pass subscribers.

The original story is below.

Mario Kart Tour is more than a month old now, but the promised multiplayer update hasn't come yet. Nintendo promises that it's still coming but won't commit to exactly when we can expect it.

Wall Street Journal reporter Takashi Mochizuku shared the detail from a Nintendo earnings call on Twitter. The company reiterated that it plans to introduce online multiplayer, but can't give further comment on details.

The game launched with single-player only, but it can be confusing since parts of it appear similar to online play--from bots with player-like usernames to performing an online check before starting a race. For the time being, you can add friends and even gain some rewards for doing so, but the only way to compete with them is indirectly. During Ranked Cup events, you can compare your score to your friends for bragging rights. The menu has said a Multiplayer mode is "Inbound!" since launch.

Mario Kart Tour is a very different take on the classic game tailored for mobile devices, making it more of a live game with seasonal events and characters to earn, along with microtransactions and even a Battle Pass-like subscription for extra rewards. On the whole we found that it has some good ideas that Nintendo could borrow for future console Mario Karts.