Pole position
In racing, a strong start is a good thing but ultimately meaningless if you can’t also finish strong. No one remembers the first off the starting line, they just remember who took the checkered flag. In games sales, a strong start is reason enough to pop the champagne.
By Nintendo’s account, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe had the strongest start of any Mario Kart game ever. In a press release, Nintendo calls it the “fastest-selling game in the franchise.” Its 459,000 day-one sales in the United States handily beat out Mario Kart Wii‘s 433,00 from 2008.
Probably more impressive is the percentage of Switch owners who ended up immediately getting Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Nintendo reports a 45 percent attach rate in the US, which means that nearly half of the people who own a Switch also bought Deluxe on the first day it was available.
That a port (albeit, a very good enhanced port) can do these kinds of numbers speaks to both the quality of the game and the circumstances surrounding it. Dead-horse-beating as it may be, there aren’t a lot of high-profile Nintendo names for the Switch yet. It’s the reason Zelda: Breath of the Wild somehow has an attach rate of greater than 100 percent. This being the first Switch game with Mario in the title makes it an instant buy for Switch owners who are thirsty for Nintendo exclusives.
Nintendo News: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Nintendo Switch is the Fastest-Selling Mario Kart Game in Franchise History [Business Wire]
