Mario Kart 8 was always a great game, but most people never had the chance to play it, what with it being stuck on the Wii U, and all that. With it being out on the far more popular Nintendo Switch, the game is now setting records- Nintendo of America has confirmed that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the fastest selling game in the franchise’s history, with 459,000 units sold in the US on launch day alone.
This beats out the previous series record holder, Mario Kart Wii, which sold 433,900 units. Incredibly enough, Mario Kart Wii launched on the Wii, which by that time had a global install base of over 20 million- while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has to contend with the Switch’s far smaller install base.
It’s not just in the US that the game has set records, however- you may already know that the game topped charts in the UK, too. What you may not know, however, is that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe‘s sales for its debut week were more than debut week sales for either Mario Kart 7 on the Nintendo 3DS, or Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U.
This makes me very happy- Mario Kart 8 was always a great game, and a bona fide modern multiplayer classic. It’s so good to see it get the success it deserves. It will be very interesting to see where lifetime sales for this game end up- after all, Mario Kart Wii was the highest selling game of all time, before GTA5 shattered its records.