Yesterday’s NPD Group report provided some startling sales numbers for December 2018, as well as the year in general. But there’s no question that Nintendo came out smelling like a rose, between huge Nintendo Switch console sales, as well as record sales for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate within its first month of release. And then there’s a real surprise that came roaring out of nowhere- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe‘s peak performance.
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The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella recently reported some startling information about the game on Twitter, outside of the five million-plus copies it already sold. He noted that it’s now become the second best selling racing game of all time, although an exact figure wasn’t given. We wouldn’t be surprised if it already cleared ten million copies on the Nintendo Switch alone- not including what it sold on the Wii U version.
Said Piscatella in his tweet, “Mario Kart 8 finishes 2018 as the second best-selling Racing game of all time, trailing only Mario Kart Wii in lifetime dollar sales.”
Keep in mind that Mario Kart Wii has cleared 36 million copies sold through its release, so it’s unknown whether Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will catch up. Hopefully, Nintendo will provide better sales data once it preps its Q3 2018 report, in which it’ll break down sales of games like that, as well as other popular favorites like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Still, this spells amazing news for Wii U ports on the Switch, between Mario Kart and the numbers that are stacking up for the just-released New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. Hopefully, we’ll see what the company has planned in the months ahead. Between that and sequels for games like Animal Crossing and Metroid Prime, they’ve got a firmly stacked lineup.
Anyway, congrats to the Mario Kart team on the sales success. Sooooo…what can we success from Mario Kart 9?
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is available now for Nintendo Switch in physical and digital form via Nintendo eShop.
Do you think Mario Kart 8 Deluxe can beat Mario Kart Wii? Let me know on Twitter at @TheDCD!
