Mario Kart World Built by 300 Developers, Twice the Size of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Team

With Mario Kart World, Nintendo has created the most ambitious chapter in its famous racing series, and this is reflected in a production scale never seen before.

According to Automaton, the development team was significantly expanded compared to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe from 2017, increasing from 163 to about 300 members. The most noticeable growth occurred in the artistic department, which saw the number of artists rise from 73 to an impressive 192. This increase was essential to support the new open-world mechanics introduced in the game and the enhanced visual complexity made possible by the technical leap of the Nintendo Switch 2.

The Structure of the Expanded Artistic Team

According to sources, the Mario Kart World artistic team was divided into two main sections: the Field Design Team, with 88 members responsible for creating the freely explorable world, and the Character Design Team, with 57 artists dedicated to characters and animations. Despite the large size of the team, most of these developers are new to the series, with only a handful having worked on previous titles, marking a strong internal renewal. In contrast to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, where about 80% of the team consisted of veterans from Mario Kart 8, the latest installment relied on new figures, probably to bring a fresher and more innovative vision.

To support this expansion, Nintendo engaged a record number of external partners. In addition to Monolith Soft, which is already known for its technical support on first-party productions, Bandai Namco, Imagica Geeq, and 1-Up Studio also contributed to the artistic component. In the past, only Bandai Namco had worked alongside Nintendo on the series, but with Mario Kart World, the Kyoto-based company has built a much wider co-development network.