Mario Kart World Is Getting A Free Update Later Today

Published Sep 9, 2026, 10:36 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Sign in to your TheGamer account This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.Mario Kart World updates were inevitable. Within a month, the Nintendo Switch 2's primary launch title sold 5.6 million copies worldwide, achieving a 96 percent attach rate, and that number has now risen to 14.7 million units. At launch, the game was missing several series favorites, sparking discussion about potential future additions. Now, more than a year after its release, during the September 2026 Nintendo Direct, the company gave us a new update, adding ten courses to the game. Mario Kart World Is, Unsurprisingly, Set To Receive Future Support Given Mario Kart 8's spate of DLC, which included a staggering 48 new courses (doubling the base game's amount) and eight additional characters, it was only a matter of time before more World courses were announced, and this Nintendo Direct was the opportune time to do it. However, what is surprising to see is that these new courses are completely free. The ten new courses will be available at no extra cost if you already have Mario Kart World. The update will add ten new courses from older Mario Kart releases into World. The following have been confirmed: Choco Island Vanilla Lake Ghost Valley Given that the update is dropping today, we won't have to wait too much longer to find out what other tracks are being added. It sounds like they're all from previous games, so expect to be racing around some very familiar courses. It remains to be seen if we ever get paid DLC for Mario Kart World. Admittedly, we only got it for Mario Kart 8 some time after launch, which is perhaps how Nintendo justifies it internally. Whereas Mario Kart World in realtively early in its lifecycle, and is exclusive to a console that much of its audience is still in the process of upgrading to. Picking up a Switch 2 with Mario Kart World is quite the investment already, so any free updates will be appreciated. Systems Released June 5, 2025 ESRB Everyone // Mild Fantasy Violence, Users Interact Developer(s) Nintendo Publisher(s) Nintendo Genre(s) Racing, Open-World