Weirdly Mario Kart World is only the third best selling Switch 2 digital game

Surprising sales data suggests Mario Kart World isn’t doing well digitally, but there’s a simple explanation for why.

Debates about its pricing aside, there’s little denying that Mario Kart World is a fantastic game and a smart pick for a Nintendo Switch 2 launch title.

Nintendo still hasn’t shared any formal sales figures, but considering the Switch 2 itself keeps breaking sales records since its June launch, it can be assumed Mario Kart World is performing strongly too.

Intriguingly, though, it’s reported that Mario Kart World hasn’t sold as much as you’d expect on the Switch 2’s eShop. It’s not even the second best performing digital game, with two others overtaking it in June.

Instead, the best-selling digital Switch 2 game is episodic role-player Deltarune, the successor to the beloved Undertale, with it’s newest two chapters launching the same day as the Switch 2.

Shockingly, second place goes to Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, the boring instruction manual masquerading as a minigame collection. If you’re curious, fourth and fifth place go to the Switch 2 ports of Minecraft and No Man’s Sky.

This is according to Newzoo, which compiled sales data from the Switch 2’s eShop across six key markets: the UK, the US, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

As strange as this may seem, this data doesn’t mean Mario Kart World has sold worse overall. The data doesn’t account for physical sales so, if those were included, Mario Kart would comfortably take the top spot.

It also likely doesn’t account for anyone who downloaded Mario Kart World as part of the bundle Nintendo’s selling. As a reminder, the bundle comes with a Switch 2 and a digital copy of the game for £429.99.

Since the console and a digital copy of Mario Kart World individually cost £395.99 and £66.99 respectively, you’re essentially getting the game for £34, making it a very attractive offer.

It’s hard to imagine most Nintendo fans wouldn’t go for this bundle unless they simply don’t care for Mario Kart or specifically wanted a physical copy of the game despite its higher price tag of £74.99.

Combined with Deltarune and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour being digital only games and costing much cheaper at £20.99 and £7.99 respectively, it makes a lot of sense why they’d outperform Mario Kart World on the eShop.

Despite this, Newzoo reports that when looking strictly at the eShop’s revenue share in June, Mario Kart World reigns supreme at 34%.

The game also had the most monthly active users that month across both the Switch 2 and original Switch, beating other heavy hitters like Fortnite and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

All this is to say that while it’s interesting to see Mario Kart World not be number one at something, it’s hardly indicative that the game’s in trouble despite what some fans disgruntled with how Nintendo’s handling the online multiplayer will say.

We’re more curious to see if Mario Kart World can ever match the lifetime sales and longevity of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which launched in 2017, remains the best-selling Switch 1 game at 68.2 million units, and is still being regularly played today as evidenced by Newzoo’s monthly active user data.

Mario Kart World could start to struggle selling once Nintendo stops selling the Switch 2 bundle. Although no exact date has been given, Nintendo has said that the bundle will see a limited-time production until autumn 2025, at which point it’ll only be available while stocks last.

While we don’t foresee the game ever seeing a price cut (first party Nintendo games rarely, if ever do), but Nintendo could introduce a new Mario Kart World bundle afterwards for the Christmas season or to coincide with the Super Mario Bros. movie sequel in April 2026.

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