Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch sold over 459,000 copies in the U.S. on its April 28th launch day, making it the fastest selling game in the long-running racing series.
The previous franchise record was held by Mario Kart Wii, which sold approximately 433,900 copies when it launched on April 27th, 2008 in North America.
Despite being out for a mere three days, this means that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — an enhanced version of Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U — has an attach rate of 45 percent in the U.S. It’s worth noting that Canadian or overall worldwide figures have not yet been revealed.
Meanwhile, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which launched alongside the Switch on March 3rd, has an attach rate of over 100 percent.
The strong Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sales figures follow the release of Nintendo’s quarterly earning report last week, with the Japanese game giant announcing 2.74 million Switch units have been sold since release. As a result, the Switch is already on track to surpass lifetime sales of its underperforming Wii U predecessor in only its first year on the market, though it’s possible sales could slow.
Going forward, there are several other Nintendo Switch-exclusive titles set for release this year, including Arms on June 16th, Splatoon 2 on July 21st and Super Mario Odyssey in the winter.
MobileSyrup‘s review of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe said that being able to play the game on the go with Switch “is a tantalizing proposition for any Mario Kart fan.”
Source: Business Wire
