Being one of the launch titles for the Nintendo Switch 2, Mario Kart World has already done quite well for itself. According to Japanese video game publication Famitsu, Mario Kart World, since its release on June 5 alongside the new console, has been selling better than the 2017 Switch release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Famitsu, according to VGC, has reported that 782,566 physical copies of Mario Kart World have been sold in the first three days of its launch. It is worth noting that this figure also includes copies of the game that were sold as part of the Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle, and that it doesn’t otherwise include digital sales of the game.
As noted by BlueSky user Stealth40k, these sales figures have surpassed the sales of both Breath of the Wild, as well as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – both of which were also launch titles for the Switch back in 2017. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for instance, had sold around 284,000 copies in the same time period, while Breath of the Wild had sold around 186,000 copies.
Alongside Mario Kart World, the Nintendo Switch 2 itself has also been an incredible success worldwide. The company’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, revealed through a message on the official Nintendo website that more than 3.5 million units of the Switch 2 had been sold all over the world in the span of just four days.
A follow-up to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart World ups the ante over its predecessors by bringing in a massive world that players can explore and race through. However, producer Kosuke Yabuki revealed earlier this month that the development team doesn’t like to call the title an “open-world” game because of a lack of clarity associated with that label.
“We, on the development team side, we don’t call this world an open world,” said Yabuki. “Because in our view we don’t feel that the term open world is clear in terms of its definition.” Yabuki also mentioned that there Mario Kart World has a bigger world for players to explore. “We do have this expansive world, and we’ve placed therein the Mario Kart Circuit or the Bowser Castle, or the Choco Mountain, and tried to build a new Mario Kart,” he said.
Revealing more details about the game leading up to its release, Yabuki also spoke about how the more open structure of Mario Kart World was a big change for the franchise. “Looking back on the entire history of Mario Kart, we do feel that this is a major change.” He continued, saying that “we wanted to ensure that [at] its core the new Mario Kart would still retain the classic fun that you would gain from the Mario Kart franchise.”
For more details about Mario Kart World, which is exclusively available on the Nintendo Switch 2, check out our review, where we called we referred to it as the first must-play game for the console. Also check out our review of the Nintendo Switch 2 itself.
For comparison…Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 284k units sold at launchBreath of the Wild – 186k units sold at launchWith Pokémon Legends Z-A and Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake being holiday games for Switch 2, Japan will get two more of it's favorite series right away.
— Stealth40k (@stealth40k.bsky.social) 2025-06-12T14:16:44.005Z
