Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi confirmed today that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will receive future updates.
According to Nintendo Actu, a French Twitter page that follows Nintendo news closely, Shinya Takahashi said, “There will be further updates for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe so please look forward to it.”
Alongside this Tweet, Nintendo Actu posted a picture of what appears to be Takahashi talking to a camera, likely for a stream, with the translation of what he said below.
This news is particularly interesting because of who it’s coming from: Shinya Takahashi. For those unaware, Takahashi is the General Manager of the Entertainment Planning and Development Division of Nintendo. He also serves as the Supervisor of the Business Development Division and the Development Administration and Support Division. Previously, he worked for Nintendo as one fo the producers and Deputy General Managers of Nintendo Software Development and Design Group.
As of right now, the only news surrounding these updates is the news that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will be receiving further updates at all. It’s unclear if “further updates” is referring to patch-like updates, meant simply to squash bugs and tweak gameplay, or if Takahashi is announcing that the popular kart racer will be receiving full-blown DLC updates, akin to the DLC packs the Wii U version received.
It’s easy to imagine the Switch version of this game getting DLC similar to the way the Wii U version did. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still one of the most popular Switch titles and adding new maps for players to race on would only benefit the title. Plus, there’s plenty these new map packs could draw on that wasn’t in existence when the original packs released: Splatoon, Arms and Breath of the Wild to name a few.
Only time will tell, though, what Takahashi meant when he said, “further updates.” Here’s to hoping the Switch kart race receives some new tracks, karts and maybe even characters.
