How Mario Kart World could become a big esports game

June 5 marked the Nintendo Switch 2 release date, the company’s follow-up to its hugely successful device, but it also marked Mario Kart World, the latest entry in the plumber’s racing series. This time, players can freely roam across the land, taking on missions and encountering different enemies to avoid, whilst collecting coins to earn new costumes and more.

Having both for launch day, Mario Kart World is a home run, drawing inspiration from other games like Burnout and Forza Horizon to create something entirely different for the Mario Kart series, making it one of its best entries. However, a new mode, called Knockout Tour, where 24 players must race across multiple courses, ensuring they’re not in last place so they’re not kicked out of the race. It’s incredibly fun, and while Nintendo inevitably enjoys the success the Switch 2 and World are getting, we think Mario Kart’s latest could be a natural fit for the esports scene.

Mario Kart World is a racing game developed by Nintendo, released alongside its Switch 2 console on June 5, 2025. It’s the latest in the series, which first began in 1992 on the Super Nintendo console. 24 players are pitted against one another in various modes, such as Grand Prix, Battle, and Knockout Tour. Food can be collected to unlock costumes for 50 playable characters, and a free roam mode allows you to drive anywhere in its world, encountering missions, enemies, off-road locations, and more.

Although the core gameplay of Mario Kart remains the same here in its latest entry, a new mode, Knockout Tour, could be the entryway for World to become a unique game for several esports tournaments worldwide.

For those unaware, Knockout Tour lets you choose eight rally courses with four tracks. Across the six laps, 24 players must battle it out to not being in last place, otherwise they’ll be at risk for finishing the rally early. Having played this mode repeatedly, it’s fantastically fun, ramping up the tension as your character gets hit repeatedly with red shells, lightning, hammers, and more, all to get a high a position as possible before the lap ends. A course typically ends after 20 minutes, but it means that there’s no break — it ends when you win, or you finish in last place. With so many courses to choose from in this mode, it feels like Mario Kart World gameplay has stumbled across a unique opportunity to feature in esports.

As it stands, there aren’t that many racing games in the category, apart from Rocket League, F1, iRacing, and a couple more. There’s also the factor that F1 esports is facing a decline lately, seemingly causing a ripple into how racing games fit into the esports industry. This is where Mario Kart World could come in and seemingly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Nintendo has not been committed to esports in a big way before, merely dipping its toe into some events, with caveats. For example, back in November 2023, the company limited the number of players that could enter non-licensed events, as well as setting a prize pool limit of $10,000, which drew pushback from the esports community. But having a new focus on these esports events, starting with featuring Mario Kart World, could give the company a great entry point into the scene again, and could restart a relationship with organisers of big tournaments like EVO and the upcoming Olympics Esports Series in 2027.

A Knockout Tour at an esports event like the above would be perfect, as it’s got the ideal blend of tension, fun, and camaraderie that a six-lap, four-course can offer that previously mentioned racing games don’t. 20 minutes is the perfect length for esports too, as it’s not too long, nor too short, and commentary could feature throughout to keep viewers engaged. However, with the manic gameplay that Mario Kart World offers, there’s a very low chance of being bored with what can happen during six laps of Knockout Tour.

Overall, Mario Kart World is a triumph for the Nintendo Switch 2, and with the modes and gameplay it provides, it is a perfect launch title. Although we’re in the early throes of the launch, we’re expecting both the console and the game to be one of the biggest sellers of 2025.

Nintendo has looked at what works in the Mario Kart series, while looking at other games for inspiration, and has come up with a game that’s arguably the best in the series. However, Mario Kart World seems perfect for esports events, especially with Knockout Tour. Granted, it doesn’t need to reach out to esports organizers, nor does it need to offer the game — but we suspect that its many players will see the potential for how the game mode are ideal fits for esports, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the game inevitably featured somewhere, sooner than later.