Games like Among Us or Hearthstone have shown it - in order to be noticed in esports, a game does not necessarily have to be designed for a hardcore community, as it has always been the case for Starcraft. A fundamentally simple game principle, which is aimed more at fun than competition, can still be ideal for exciting games in tournaments or for real money challenges. A perfect example of this is Mario Kart.
Huge player base already exists
In order for a game to be considered for esports competitions on a larger scale, it needs an adequate player base. And Nintendo's successful Mario Kart series has absolutely nothing to worry about.
The latest installment in the series, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch, is the best-selling racing game of all time, beating other games with expensive licenses and realism down to the smallest detail. In total, the games of the Mario Kart series have sold over 100 million times.
The fascinating thing about it: Whether Nintendo Wii, Switch or 3DS - Mario Kart was able to prove itself on almost every of Nintendo's many platforms and has always been one of the most popular games among fans of the Japanese consoles. One reason for this is certainly that the game principle can be perfectly played both on the television at home and on the go with one of the many handhelds from Nintendo. In contrast to many other game series, Mario Kart does not suffer from the slightly smaller screen of a 3DS or a switch and the fast races are the perfect pastime for short waiting times at the bus stop or during lunch break.
The recipe for success does not wear off even after many years
The gigantic success of the fast racers in the Super Mario universe impressively shows that the game principle, which has hardly changed since the first part of the series in 1992, is timeless.
Hardly any other game triggers such thieving joy as Mario Kart when you blow your best buddy with a red shell off the track shortly before the finish line or when your girlfriend slides with her kart because she drove over a cleverly placed banana peel.
Dodging the meanness of the competitors and using the power-ups that are distributed along the route to your advantage, that is the most important aspect of being successful in Mario Kart in addition to driving skills - and also one of the most fun components of the whole Game.
Lots of players and an exciting multiplayer - perfect for esports?
Mario Kart undoubtedly has all the ingredients for an interesting esports game. It has proven that its game principle also works across generations and can excite people of almost all age groups. The game from Nintendo also has a large fanbase who has been loyal to the racing classic for more than 15 parts or various offshoots. And then there is the amazing multiplayer part, the core component of any potential esports game.
So have all criteria been met so that Mario Kart could become a really big thing in esports? Not quite. As good as the game may be, there is still no basis for a really large esports scene, like there is for games such as League of Legends or Counter-Strike.
There are still no major tournaments with lucrative prize money. Star players with millions of fans, like Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev in CS:GO or Martin “Rekkles” Larsson in RIOT’s MOBA, do not yet exist in Mario Kart. The extensive broadcasts of tournaments are also missing. While the established games of the competitive scene regularly make it onto television or attract hundreds of thousands of viewers on Twitch and YouTube, the competitions in Mario Kart are mainly running on small community channels or are streamed directly by the players from their perspective.
How to play Mario Kart for real money
Thanks to MaxiPlayers, those who want to monetize their skills in Mario Kart or make the competition with friends even more exciting don't have to live without it. Even if Mario Kart does not yet offer the amount of events that other esports games already have, the Challenges and Quick Matches on MaxiPlayers.com offer an excellent opportunity to compete in Mario Kart for real money. Thanks to the uncomplicated registration and practical deposit and withdrawal methods such as PayPal or Paysafecard, the start is also very easy for any player.
