Mario Kart VR coming to Bandai Namco's VR Zone Arcade
Nintendo may not be ignoring VR after all; Mario Kart is being promoted for the VR arcade in Shinjuku, Tokyo
Nintendo's live stream kicks off in a little over an hour, and while we're not expecting the company to touch on VR at all, some interesting news concerning Nintendo's involvement in the VR arcade scene was found today, courtesy of Upload VR. As you can see in the trailer below, Bandai Namco's VR Zone Arcade in Shinjuku, Tokyo very clearly shows a group of people enjoying a round of Mario Kart using the HTC Vive. The offical website for VR Zone explicitly lists Mario Kart Arcade GP VR as well.
There's been no comment from Nintendo on its VR involvement just yet. That said, Nintendo is clearly branching out into other markets such as mobile and is not afraid to partner up with companies, as it's just done with Ubisoft for Mario + Rabbids, for example. Leveraging a popular IP like Mario Kart in VR arcades makes perfect sense for the company. It'll be interesting to see if this is the start of a trend for Nintendo and if it'll pursue any VR arcades in the West.