Elon Musk Claims Nintendo Wouldn’t License ‘Mario Kart’ for Teslas

By Liz Lanier

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Elon Musk claimed that there was an attempt to include “Mario Kart” in Teslas, but that Nintendo wouldn’t license it in a tweet on Thursday.

Telas have large navigational screens built in to the electric vehicles. The Model S, for example, has a 17-inch screen, which would be more than enough space to enjoy “” or other games on.

Twitter user @rocketisfine replied to a tweet from Musk in which a new software update that is coming to the Tesla in December was being discussed.

“How about a version of Mario Kart where you can play against random people who are also charging their car at the moment?” @rocketisfine tweeted.

“We tried. won’t license it to us,” Musk replied.

While built-in “Mario Kart” would certainly be a fun feature, perhaps Nintendo was worried about the safety aspects of installing one of their properties in a vehicle.

The company has taken extra precaution in the past in the name of player safety. Nintendo even applies denatonium benzoate, a “non-toxic bittering agent” to its Nintendo Switch cartridges to prevent young children from putting cartridges in their mouths and potentially choking on them, the BBC reported last year.

It doesn’t appear Nintendo games will be coming to Teslas anytime soon, but it wouldn’t be surprising if this tweet sparks other game publishers to reach out to Musk with licensing offers.