That Mario Kart World Direct was Dry Dry Desert dusty

So, Nintendo held a Mario Kart World Direct yesterday and it was as dusty as Dry Dry Desert.

Okay. So let me put this M logo emblazoned buggy in reverse for a sec. It’s not that the Direct itself was bad. But the timing of it resulted in it coming off as such. But, hey. At least the music in it was good. I’m really looking forward to the Mario Kart World soundtrack hitting the Nintendo Music app in 2039.

I am so confused as to why Nintendo even bothered with this Mario Kart World Direct, when it showed us stuff that we had already seen during the Treehouse livestreams. In fact, the Treehouse showed us a whole lot more. The entire time the hosts were playing Mario Kart World during the Treehouse, they kept plugging the Direct and telling us we’d get a ‘deep dive’ of more of the game — as though we were going to see something brand new in it. But, nope. The Direct was just a more formal introduction and overview of things we had already seen.

Nintendo really shoulda just slapped the whole video in the Nintendo Today app exclusively for 24 hours, with no heads-up, no warning and not branded it a Direct — I think it would have gone down far better. It also would have driven people to the app, that I assume Nintendo want people to use. I really do not see the point in that damn app, but that’s a whole other post.

That app and this Mario Kart Direct are just more strange decisions in what has felt like 2–3 weeks of Nintendo making strange decisions, which [turns and looks into the camera] direct people right back to the things they should be working to steer people away from. Pricing shenanigans and awful communication.

Toadette was expecting tea. But no tea was served.

What would have made far more sense, would have been for Nintendo to have made the Treehouse event ALL about Mario Kart World and shown off as much of the game as they could. But by creating a Mario Kart Direct and plugging it throughout the Treehouse events, they set up the expectation that more would be seen of the game and then massively under-delivered on that expectation. And it’s not that what was shown in the Direct was bad. It just didn’t show anything new or substantial. And it’s funny that Nintendo did this, especially in light of a story that former Nintendo of America employee Krysta Yang told on the Kit & Krysta podcast, about how Nintendo HQ berated her over a letter she had put in press packs sent out to content creators for E3, because they felt she had inflated expectations of their E3 presentation. But, wait a minute…[leans back and checks notes] is this not what Nintendo did by plugging the Mario Kart Direct throughout the Treehouse? Did they not inflate an expectation of what we would see in the Direct?

It really is unfortunate that Nintendo’s approach to the messaging and the timing of their communication is so raggedy, wonky and nonsensical that it’s pulling focus away from how good Mario Kart World looks. What should have been a joyous moment of ‘SHIT, A NEW MARIO KART AT LAUNCH’ has become ‘Why is this game $80?’. And what should have been a joyous moment for fans of ‘I’m so glad we got to see more of this game in a dedicated Direct’ has become ‘What did they even bother with that?!’ and ‘I still am not seeing why this game is $80’. And lo and behold, just as we saw during the Treehouse events, the Mario Kart Direct live chat was spammed with ‘Drop the price’ the entire time.

It’s easy to just blame the Internet and say that people are overreacting, and there is certainly some sensationalising which is happening around the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World — but it’s to be expected. Also, Nintendo are the ones that created this situation for themselves and us. And every single baffling choice they continue to make just makes the whole thing worse. This isn’t just fans and press ‘hating’.

One thing about Nintendo, every time they take two steps forward, they blue shell themselves and take two steps back.

Nintendo: New Mario Kart.
Us: YAY.
Nintendo: It’s 80 dollars.
Us: Oh.
Nintendo: We have a Mario Kart Direct to show you everything!
Us: YAY.
Nintendo: It’s just stuff we already showed you.
Us. Oh.

Like, damn Nintendo. HELP YOURSELVES.

Same Waluigi. SAME.

Ultimately, Mario Kart World is going to be fine. Mario Kart 8 is one of the best selling video games of all time, which just happened to release on one of the best selling video game systems of all time.

None of how I feel about this Direct is criticism of the game itself. I have a few concerns about the game modes and how Grand Prix works now. But these are all separate conversations. Mario Kart World does look good. And if I get a Switch 2, I will absolutely be getting a copy of this game. It’s just shitty that the game is caught in Nintendo’s own crossfire. Mario Kart World deserves better than this horrendous marketing and communications plan that it’s been given. But more importantly, the fans and consumers deserve better.

Nintendo is asking people to part with a lot of money during a time when a lot of people don’t have it, and they don’t seem to be cognisant nor understanding of that. But they absolutely know that their pricing is high, which is why they’ve chosen to bury it. But they aren’t doing enough to really show us all why this game is priced the way it is. Nintendo is giving us nothing but ‘IT’S A NEW MARIO KART’. And it sucks that because of the mammoth success of Mario Kart 8 and that Mario Kart World is a Switch 2 launch title, that ‘IT’S A NEW MARIO KART’ is the bare minimum Nintendo needs to do to sell the game, and they know it. But this doesn’t make it right. You would think that Nintendo would care more about this game and do the work to not only better showcase it, but really flaunt why it has a high price tag. I’m sure the team that made the game would want it to have a better time in the press right now than it currently has and will continue to have until the reviews drop. In fact, having the Direct feature a roundtable of people from the Mario Kart World team talking about how Mario Kart World became what it did would have been the move.

All this mess is a necessary reminder that at the end of the day, as beloved as Nintendo are, they always make stupid decisions. And that they are a large corporation in the business of making money. The whimsy and fun factor from the days of Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aimé being trotted out in Directs, in conjunction with their games did a great job of giving Nintendo an image which set it aside from that of Microsoft and Sony. But they’re just as bad.

Keep the Nintendo of America PR, press and communications teams in your prayers. I bet they’re fighting for their lives right now, and probably will be for months after the Switch 2 launches.