The first law of F2P mobile games is make your onboarding as smooth as possible.

Given the amount of competition on the app stores, ensuring you can convert as many downloads as possible into players is key to all developers’ financial success.

That means ensuring there’s as little friction - pop ups, log-ins etc - as possible from installation to actually getting a player into the game .

It’s a process called the First Time User Experience.

Failure to launch

Which brings us onto Nintendo’s latest game Mario Kart Tour.

Amazing as it sounds, this is a game you can’t play with having a Nintendo account.

Great for everyone with a Switch or 3DS and who can remember their details to enter. Not so good for the tens of millions of mobile gamers for who this will be their first experience of a Nintendo game.

Their attitude will likely be very similar to mine in the following video.

Significantly, Mario Kart Tour’s FTUE even makes Super Mario Kart’s pretty terrible FTUE seem inspired.

At least you could sign in as a guest for that game.