Mario Kart 8 Keeps the Crown: Outsells Mario Kart World Two Months Running in the US as Switch 2 Bundles Leave Little Room to Catch Up

Mario Kart World was supposed to be the big crowd-pleaser for Switch 2. And it is... until you look at the US sales charts and realize the old warhorse, Mario Kart 8, has been lapping it for months. Here is the twist, and why it makes sense once you see the fine print.

June made sense. July and August got weird.

When Switch 2 launched in June, Mario Kart World debuted as the top-selling Nintendo-published game in the US. That tracks. This is all based on Circana retail data shared by analyst Mat Piscatella on Bluesky, and a quick reminder: Circana only covers the US, and Nintendo does not report digital sales to them, so we are talking physical copies only.

Then things took a turn. By July, Mario Kart World slid down to No. 6 on Nintendo's chart. The top spot belonged to Donkey Kong Bananza (and, yes, I still think that is the best year-one game on the system). The eyebrow-raiser? Mario Kart 8 landed at No. 4. In August, Kart 8 stuck around at No. 7, while World didn’t even crack the top ten.

• June (US, physical only): Mario Kart World was the top-selling Nintendo game when it launched alongside Switch 2.
• July: Mario Kart World fell to No. 6; Donkey Kong Bananza hit No. 1; Mario Kart 8 placed at No. 4.
• August: Mario Kart 8 ranked No. 7; Mario Kart World missed the top ten entirely.
• Methodology caveats: Circana covers the US market only, and Nintendo does not share digital sales, so this is retail/physical data.

So why is the new game getting dusted by the old one?

Because most people who buy Switch 2 are getting Mario Kart World in the box. The bundle that includes the console and World is doing the heavy lifting, which kneecaps standalone physical sales and makes the game look weaker on the charts than it actually is.

"The bundle accounts for over 80% of Switch 2 hardware sales," Piscatella wrote on Bluesky, "so the math from there kind of makes it impossible for standalone physical World sales to chart."

Also, Mario Kart 8 simply refuses to quit

Mario Kart 8 is 11 years old if you count its Wii U origins, and it is still camped out on sales lists like it pays rent. Evergreen is an understatement. A new entry launching does not automatically unseat a game with that kind of momentum, especially when the new one lives inside a hardware bundle and its standalone retail footprint is tiny by comparison.