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Mario Kart 8 Sells More Than 1.2 Million Units Worldwide Over First Weekend

zeopower6 said:
On most of the children/tween networks, yes. Nintendo seems to advertise just about all their first party stuff lately on there. I remember seeing a Tropical Freeze commercial on Cartoon Network a while back and just in the last few weeks I remember seeing Tomodachi Life/Mario Kart 8 commercials any time commercials were on. :|

I suspect the usual games will probably also have increases for Wii U hardware (Smash, Zelda) but who knows if the effects will be long lasting.
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nah they're getting the commercials around to more than the children's networks. I see them every week day on TBS when I watch Seinfeld (2DS commercials too) and I also saw a Mario Kart 8 commercial during the NBA Playoffs on Saturday night. I thought I had changed the channel or something but nope, Nintendo was advertising during the playoffs.
 
phanphare said:
nah they're getting the commercials around to more than the children's networks. I see them every week day on TBS when I watch Seinfeld (2DS commercials too) and I also saw a Mario Kart 8 commercial during the NBA Playoffs on Saturday night. I thought I had changed the channel or something but nope, Nintendo was advertising during the playoffs.
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In the UK, I was seeing it through high rated TV shows including repeats of the Simpsons, Big Bang Theory, new episodes of Modern Family, Agents of Shield etc.

It's definitely getting a push
 
So do we have anyone working in retail that can say at least anecdotally if they have seen any increase in hardware sales? We have the 666 thing from UK, but I have not seen anything else.
 
I'm glad it's selling well, but I really have to wonder what would have happened if they had marketed some of their other titles like this too. It is stupid how much they sent out to die, but hopefully it's all rediscovered by new people picking up the console. And hopefully they continue heavy marketing with future releases.
 
Showmeyamoves said:
mario_kart_pie_chart.jpg


What this chart really means?
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Why the hell they used a pie chart for that?
 
One thing I'm wondering is how the free game promo is affecting the sales margin. Also are people buying it because they want it or because of the value?

Would it have sold nearly as well without the free games?
 
Damn it. I have enough eShop credit to buy this now but I'm platinum for the year on Club Nintendo already. Just have to hold out for a few weeks...
 
Squozen said:
Has there been much competition?
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Only game this year that has a shot is Smash. But even then not only will MK have a big headstart over the Wii U Smash, but MK games are usually the better sellers (unsure about Double Dash and Melee sales so it could be 100% better in MK's favour).
 
Smiles and Cries said:
why are you guys pretending Racing Transformed did not have "This is better than Mario Kart" hype around here?

Sonic seemed pretty well know for me because I guess Sega fans were really vocal early on. I feel bad that Sonic is not as strong as it use to be never owned anything Sega but still. Sonic Boom and all those WiiU exclusives don't even seem to matter.

So anyway would Mario Kart 8 on PS4/X1 have gotten GTA level numbers because of the popularity?
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Than a game is better for some people doesn't mean that will sell better.

I always had this idea, sonic racing transformed is a better game than MK for a competitive aspect, in the sense you really need to master it to be good at it.

In the other hand, mario kart is a way better multiplayer game because is more accesible that sonic racing transformed and people knows it better.

Both games are awesome, I think that we should be happy to had 2 great kart/arcade games in the same generation
 
Probably already discussed: Hmm so if the upper bound of UK physical is true then UK is 8% of world sales? Lower bound is about 4%.

robjoh said:
So do we have anyone working in retail that can say at least anecdotally if they have seen any increase in hardware sales? We have the 666 thing from UK, but I have not seen anything else.
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Not anecdotal at all but:
Numbers for America will be NPD and last days of the month suggest the push will be pushed (ugh) into June and not come out for weeks.
Japan on the other hand Media Create etc numbers should come shrotly.
 
KojiKnight said:
It's actually fairly common practice to announce day one or weekend sales if a game launches on Friday, so I wouldn't read too much into it. In fact, I also wouldn't be surprised if on Saturday they release first week sales numbers as well.

The point is, Nintendo wants to ride the momentum, and one of the ways you do that is you make your product seem desirable. If 1.2 million people bought it in a weekend, then it MUST be something worth looking into. They don't just announce these numbers to pat themselves on the back :)
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I think that's probably the most reasonable explanation for why they released the weekend figure.

The point I was trying to make is simply that number releases like this are a form of PR, and thus they will always be slanted in a way to make the company seem most favorable. Shipped versus sold, "fastest selling" versus actual sales numbers, etc. I agree with your conclusion, but it's still fun to speculate as to what this might mean.
 
Tripon said:
Currently #1 on Amazon proper. (AKA, MURICA'S SITE).
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still selling copies huh? Polygon said stop

sibarraz said:
Than a game is better for some people doesn't mean that will sell better.

I always had this idea, sonic racing transformed is a better game than MK for a competitive aspect, in the sense you really need to master it to be good at it.

In the other hand, mario kart is a way better multiplayer game because is more accesible that sonic racing transformed and people knows it better.

Both games are awesome, I think that we should be happy to had 2 great kart/arcade games in the same generation
Click to expand...

I agree 100% Mario Kart 8 is more forgiving. I tried to unlock the final car in Transformed because it looked so dame cool with the Afterburner Jet but I could not get pass some of the frustrating checkpoint timed out stages. The ones you have to race perfectly while the timer counts down. I know I suck the game did not have to rub it in.

So I do believe Transformed does force you to master it.

Mario Kart 8 has its challenges tho
The charm and visuals are deceptive because the AI can get really tough in 150cc for me at least, I have not even beat the full 100cc yet. I suck too hard since I have not played MK for many years. I have not gotten seriously into MK since N64.

Played the DS version but the tiny screen was hard on my eye issues.

The point is as I raced against GAF online and getting murdered it helped my single player so I was able to unlock all that I needed.

Both games are seriously awesome but it is disappoint to see the sales for Sonic just because it is not as popular. Many devs tried to create a Kart Clone and Transformed became something different, to me that is special special. I do think you have to be a Sega fan to get the most out of it most of the stages had no meaning for me since I never played those games they featured.

--- Note: sorry at the hospital so I can't fix errors I might have typed
 
Guymelef said:
Problem with that Amazon best sellers captures you post is that game is doing well but Wii U is even below XBO.
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Remember though that Amazon doesn't sell the Wii U (and 3DS I believe) directly. It's third party sellers. People are (hopefully) buying the console elsewhere.
 
Scoops said:
thatsthejoke.gif

Actually, it's not a terrible pie chart it just doesn't show what they were intending. It's basically showing the lifetime attach rate of the MK series.
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Not really.

The whole pie represents Nintendo Hardware Sales + Mario Kart Sales.

The individual slices are Nintendo Hardware sales, and mario kart sales.

Last I checked, the attach rate isn't Sales / (Sales + Hardware) :P
 
Tripon said:
Currently #1 on Amazon proper. (AKA, MURICA'S SITE).
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more than that, after 3 days of release it's the 18th best seller of the year on Amazon. Third best selling title released this year on the chart after infamous and titanfall. Will clearly pass infamous.. we'll have to see if it passes titanfall.

Also Wii U NSMBU bundle is #44 on the amazon best seller chart (despite you know, not being carried by amazon itself)
 
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