Nintendo Moves Toward Highly Anticipated Mario Kart Tour Release

(Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co. is taking concrete steps toward the release of highly anticipated mobile game Mario Kart Tour, and it’s sending shares of mobile partner DeNA Co. soaring.

The Kyoto-based gaming giant on Thursday confirmed that it has begun accepting applications for a closed beta test of the app that will run from May 22 to June 4, ahead of a full release in "Summer 2019," according to a company spokesman. The title had already been delayed once and Nintendo has yet to reveal even a single screenshot, which raised concerns about whether development was on track.

DeNA, which is co-developing the title, jumped 5.7 percent on the news, the most since October 2017. Nintendo shares pared gains ahead of its earnings release later in the day.

The Mario Kart Tour test will be available only to Android phone users in the U.S. and Japan, according to the official website. That’s a reversal for Nintendo, which in 2016 released its first major smartphone game Super Mario Run exclusively for Apple Inc.’s iOS devices.

Analysts say the Mario Kart franchise is well suited for a mobile format, and some see it as as Nintendo’s best chance at achieving a billion-dollar-grossing app.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yuji Nakamura in Tokyo at ynakamura56@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Peter Elstrom

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