Nintendo to gut Mario Kart Tour of grubby gacha elements

After two years of operation, Nintendo has decided to scrub Mario Kart Tour of its gacha-like elements.
Nintendo's smartphone version of Mario Kart currently allows you to dump currency into an in-game warp pipe in exchange for randomised rewards, such as characters and karts.
This will soon be replaced by a Fortnite-style rotating item shop, where you can exchange currency for items directly.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Courses Analysis: New Circuits Are Lacking In Quality Digital Foundry analyses the latest Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC tracks, many of which are taken from Mario Kart Tour.Watch on YouTubeNintendo confirmed the change this morning via Twitter and gave more details in an in-game message for Mario Kart Tour players, which stated these changes would arrive early next month, on 4th October.
Mario Kart Tour's previously-datamined Battle Mode will arrive slightly before then, in late September.
The removal of gacha elements from Mario Kart Tour marks a major shift from Nintendo, which has infested its most lucrative mobile games with gacha mechanics.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp lets users spend money on fortune cookies with random items inside, while Fire Emblem Heroes lets you splash out on randomised characters for your party.
3 Pulls on he Daisy Pipe - Mario Kart Tour #shorts Mario Kart Tour's warp pipe gacha in action.Watch on YouTubeNintendo did not comment further on its decision to remove randomised purchases, though this shift away from lootbox-style mechanics has been seen elsewhere in the video games industry.
While lucrative, lootbox or gacha-style mechanics have caught the eye of numerous governments and regulators, concerned around gambling.
Blizzard recently detailed how it would remove paid-for loot boxes from Overwatch, and run a straightforward in-game item shop and battle pass system in Overwatch 2.