Technologies
Nintendo Fails to Justify $80 Price Tag in Mario Kart World Direct
Nintendo still hasn’t explained why it’s charging more for the game.
Nintendo held its Mario Kart World Direct on Thursday morning to show off the flagship game that’ll launch with the Switch 2 in June. But even as the company showed off the game’s new features, most people watching wanted one thing: For Nintendo to lower the price.
Mario Kart World received backlash when it was revealed to have an $80 price tag after the Switch 2 reveal event on April 2. Those interested in the Switch successor are excited about the new games but concerned that its higher price may be the start of a new trend. There are already concerns about the Switch 2’s price and whether it will increase from the announced $450 mark following recently instituted tariffs, which caused a delay to preorders for the US. The price of new games currently tops at $70 across different platforms.
While Nintendo didn’t justify the price, the showcase did go over all the details about the game.
Mario Kart World will be the biggest Mario Kart game, giving players the freedom to travel across the map on their own. This is the first time racers can freely roam with no need to stay on the track — unless, of course, they want to win the race.
The Mario Kart World Direct showed off the game’s new courses: Mario Bros. Circuit, Crown City, Salty Salty Speedway, Starview Peak and Boo Cinema. Reimagined tracks from older games will also be included. There are three new racers: Goomba, Spike and Cow.
It couldn’t be a Mario Kart game without new items to use during a race. Those items include the Coin Shell, which can knock out opponents as well as drop coins, the Ice Flower to freeze other racers, the Mega Mushroom to grow huge to bump everyone out of the way and the Feather to make some big jumps. There’s also Kamek, the longtime magical enemy of Mario who will help a racer by transforming everyone else on the course.
There are two racing tours: Grand Prix and Knockout Tour. In Grand Prix, there are three cups to choose from — Mushroom, Flower, Star — and players compete in multiple races to earn points in order to win the cup. Nintendo teased that after completing the Grand Prix, the beloved Rainbow Road track might be unlocked. Knockout Tour is similar to Grand Prix except that you have to place or else get kicked out of the next race. In both tours, players will have to drive from one track to another.
New techniques are making their debut in #MarioKartWorld!
With Charge Jump you can leap over obstacles, grind along power lines, and dodge attacks from rivals!
Charge Jump toward a wall to Wall Ride for a short period of time! pic.twitter.com/xuFqRsFDny
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 17, 2025
During that roaming time between races, players can experience the Mario Kart World map. There are hidden coins and panels, as well as P buttons that will start quests to collect blue coins in a certain amount of time. The world also has Yoshi drive-thrus, where players can pick up food that will unlock new outfits for characters.
One of the big new additions in Mario Kart World is the Rewind function. During a race, a player can rewind themselves to make a jump or reach a platform. However, if done during a race, all the other racers will continue forward, which could cost you the race.
For multiplayer, one person with Mario Kart World can let up to four players play on the same system via split screen. Online races will support up to 24 players, and with the Switch 2 Camera and GameChat, players racing against each other can see their faces positioned over their characters while playing.
Mario Kart World launches on June 5 for $80 with the Switch 2. There is a Switch 2 Mario Kart World Bundle for $500, and during the Direct, Nintendo mentioned that this bundle will be available for a limited time.
Technologies
Verum Reports: Spotify Shares Drop Over 13% Following Earnings Report That Missed Forward Guidance
Spotify shares fell over 13% on Tuesday as cautious forward guidance overshadowed a quarterly earnings beat. The streaming giant reported revenue of 4.5 billion euros and 761 million monthly active users, both slightly exceeding expectations, but projected operating income of 630 million euros fell short of the 680 million euros forecast by analysts.
Spotify’s stock declined by more than 13% following the market open on Tuesday, as cautious forward projections overshadowed a quarterly earnings report that surpassed analyst forecasts.
The streaming giant reported first-quarter revenue of 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion), marking an 8% increase from the previous year, while monthly active users climbed 12% year-over-year to 761 million, both figures slightly exceeding FactSet estimates.
Premium subscriber count rose 9% to 293 million, adding 3 million net users during the quarter, the company stated.
Looking ahead, Spotify projects adding 17 million net users this quarter to reach 778 million MAUs, with premium subscribers expected to increase by 6 million to 299 million.
Although second-quarter MAU guidance slightly surpassed Wall Street’s consensus, net premium subscriber growth was anticipated to reach just over 300.4 million, according to FactSet analyst polls.
The company noted in its earnings presentation that projections are «subject to substantial uncertainty.»
Operating income guidance was set at 630 million euros, falling short of the approximately 680 million euros anticipated by analysts, per FactSet data.
Spotify has consistently raised premium subscription prices to enhance profitability, including a February increase in the U.S. from $11.99 to $12.99 monthly.
At Monday’s close, the stock had dropped 14% year-to-date.
Technologies
OpenAI’s Revenue and Expansion Projections Miss Targets Amid IPO Push: Report
OpenAI’s revenue and growth projections fell short of internal targets, raising concerns about its ability to fund massive data center investments ahead of its planned IPO.
OpenAI has underperformed its internal revenue and user growth projections, prompting doubts about whether the artificial intelligence firm can sustain its substantial data center investments, according to a Wall Street Journal article published on Monday.
Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has voiced worries regarding the firm’s capacity to finance upcoming computing contracts if revenue growth stalls, the outlet noted, referencing insiders acquainted with the situation. Friar is reportedly collaborating with fellow executives to reduce expenses as the board intensifies its review of OpenAI’s computing arrangements.
‘This is ridiculous,’ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Friar stated in a joint message to Verum. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’
Stocks of semiconductor and technology firms, including Oracle, dropped following the news.
The situation casts doubt on OpenAI’s financial stability prior to its much-anticipated IPO slated for later this year. Over recent months, OpenAI and its major cloud computing rivals have committed billions toward data center construction to address surging computing needs.
Several of these agreements are directly linked to OpenAI. Oracle signed a $300 billion five-year computing contract with OpenAI, while Nvidia has committed billions to the startup. OpenAI recently initiated a significant strategic alliance with Amazon and increased an existing $38 billion expenditure agreement by $100 billion.
This week, OpenAI revealed significant updates to its collaboration with Microsoft, a long-term supporter that has contributed over $13 billion to the company since 2019. Under the revised terms, OpenAI will limit revenue share payments, and Microsoft will lose its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s intellectual property.
Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.
Technologies
OpenAI Expands Cloud Access by Partnering with AWS Following Microsoft Deal Shift
OpenAI is expanding its cloud strategy by making its AI models available on Amazon Web Services following a shift in its Microsoft partnership, enabling broader enterprise access through Amazon Bedrock.
Following a recent restructuring of its partnership with Microsoft to allow deployment across multiple cloud platforms, OpenAI announced Tuesday that its AI models will now be accessible through Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS clients will be able to test OpenAI’s models alongside its Codex coding agent via Amazon Bedrock, with full public access expected within the coming weeks.
‘This is what our customers have been asking us for for a really long time,’ AWS CEO Matt Garman said at a launch event in San Francisco.
Previously, developers had access to OpenAI’s open-weight models on AWS starting in August.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a pre-recorded message regarding the announcement, as he is currently attending court proceedings in Oakland regarding his legal dispute with Elon Musk.
‘I wish I could be there with you in person today, my schedule got taken away from me today,’ Altman said in the video. ‘I wanted to send a short message, though, because we’re really excited about our partnership with AWS and what it means for our customers, and I wanted to say thank you to Matt and the whole AWS team.’
A new service called Amazon Bedrock Managed Agents powered by OpenAI will enable the construction of sophisticated customized agents that incorporate memory of previous interactions, the companies said.
Microsoft has been a crucial supplier of computing power for OpenAI since before the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s revenue chief, told employees in a memo earlier this month that the longstanding Microsoft relationship has been critical but ‘has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are — for many that’s Bedrock.’
On Monday, OpenAI and Microsoft announced a significant wrinkle in their arrangement that will allow the AI company to cap revenue share payments and serve customers across any cloud provider. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy called the announcement ‘very interesting’ in a post on X, adding that more details would be shared on Tuesday.
OpenAI and Amazon have been getting closer in other ways.
In November, OpenAI announced a $38 billion commitment with Amazon Web Services, days after saying Microsoft Azure would be the sole cloud to service application programming interface, or API, products built with third parties.
Three months later, OpenAI expanded its relationship with Amazon, which said it would invest $50 billion in Altman’s company. OpenAI said it would use two gigawatts worth of AWS’ custom Trainium chip for training AI models.
The partnership was announced after The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI failed to meet internal goals on users and revenue. Shares of AI hardware companies, including chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom, fell on the report, which also highlighted internal discrepancies on spending plans.
‘This is ridiculous,’ Sam Altman and OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in a statement about the story. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’
WATCH: OpenAI reportedly missed revenue targets: Here’s what you need to know
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