Mario Kart 8 Deluxe achieves another amazing milestone for Nintendo

Only Nintendo could take an already great game, tweak it, add in a few new features, and make it better than the original.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of two must-have Switch titles along with Breath of the Wild, and the two games have helped drive encouraging growth in video game sales across the globe.

If ever you needed proof of just how important Nintendo is to the industry, then NPD analyst Mat Piscatella has you covered.

Piscatella has revealed in a recent report that Switch’s sales have led the first period of month-on-month industry growth since November 2015.

Part of that encouraging growth is due to the success of both Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, with the former’s sales impressing due to the fact more Switch versions of the game have been sold than actual Switch units in total. That means some people are buying multiple copies of the same game.

Nintendo has reached all sorts of milestones with Switch. MK8 Deluxe is the fastest selling in franchise history; the console had the best launch weekend in company history; and the PS4 is now firmly in Nintendo’s sights, with the Switch outpacing Sony’s own pace-setter.

It doesn’t end there: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe‘s release has established yet another impressive milestone for Nintendo.

“Video game software dollar sales grew 6 percent versus year ago to $304 million, driven by the launches of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Persona 5, along with a strong second month for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” said Piscatella. “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the month’s top-selling title. As a property, Mario Kart is the all-time best-selling racing franchise in the U.S.”

You read that right: Mario Kart is now the all-time best-selling racing franchise in the US.

That puts it above Forza, Gran Turismo, and Need for Speed.

EA’s NFS franchise, which has lost a bit of ground over the past few years but will see a new entry this year, was the previous No.1 in the genre, having sold 150 million units by the end of 2013.

That wouldn’t have changed much with the most recent entry, which underperformed and forced EA to rethink its approach to the franchise.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold more than 459,000 copies in the U.S. on its first day on sale (via Nintendo Everything), with that figure representative of both digital and boxed sales.

That puts the attach rate at roughly 1 in every 2 Switch owners, which is mighty impressive for Nintendo and Switch.

The sales figure trumps the previous first-week sales record achieved by Mario Kart Wii back in 2008, which sold 433,900 copies on its first day.