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Mario Kart Becomes 2008’s Global Best-seller
Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii was the biggest-selling game of 2008, according to the most recent Top Global Markets report.
Data from the report – sourced by compiling research from GfK Chart-Track, Media Create, and the NPD Group – shows that Nintendo’s Wii release of the flagship series amassed global sales of 8.94 million. Those sales only attribute the three biggest game retail markets across the globe, meaning that sales from other European, American, Asian or Australasian regions could dramatically affect the results list.
Driving Mario Kart’s success was its North American sales, which accounted for around 5 million units, while both Japan and the UK attributed 2 million unit sales each.
Beyond Mario Kart’s position at the top of the chart, Nintendo has enjoyed dominance in the top five, with Wii Fit holding second and Super Smash Bros Brawl sitting in fourth. Wii Fit took global unit sales of 8.31 million, of which 4.55 million came from North America while 2.15 million sales were made in Japan.
Smash Bros, however, picked up a relatively small 404,000 unit sales in the UK, while Japan picked up another 1.75 million sales. The US, however, carried global sales of Smash Bros to a total of 6.3 million.
In third was Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto, a title which was the UK’s second best-selling game (1.85m) and North America’s single best-selling game in 2008. Relatively slim sales in Japan, which sit at around 256,000, prevented the game from achieving on a global scale what it had done in the West.
Activision’s World At War was also hit by Japanese sales, in that the Treyarch title hasn’t been released over there. 1.43 million UK sales and 4.46 million US sales take the game to fifth.
Full list according to Chart Track, Media Create, and the NPD Group:
(US/JP/UK)
1. Mario Kart Wii - 8.94 million (5m/2m/1.94m)
2. Wii Fit: 8.31 - million (4.55m/2.15m/1.61m)
3. Grand Theft Auto IV - 7.29 million (5.18m/256k/1.85m)
4. Super Smash Bros Brawl - 6.32 million (4.17m/1.75m/404k)
5. Call of Duty: World at War - 5.89 million (4.46m/0/1.43m)
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Indeed! Goddamn it EDGE! What kind of a scary-ass headline is that? Bleedin' Mario Kart...
I find it to be poor journalism to have a title that says ".....Global best-seller," and then, in the first full paragraph, list all the parts of the globe that weren't included in the information and how that could "dramatically affect the results ," thus contradicting the headline in the very first paragraph. Very misleading.
Maybe, but is there any doubt if other regions not included in this list were to be included that it wouldn't effect the outcome? I can't imagine any of those games being knocked off the list by some game that only sold well in a handful of locations but did NOT sell well in the major regions.
No you're right, it probably won't affect the TITLES in the top, but might affect the ORDER. With less then 2 million units separating first and third, other regions could easily re-shuffle the list. As was mentioned, some titles that sold big in UK and US, hardly sold in Japan, and vice versa. A few other regions with similar buying habits could easily move this list around.
I agree with you, but headlines on this website are like that all the time. I wasn't surprised.
"Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii was the biggest-selling game of 2008"
It was also the most frustrating game of 2008!
how so? I thought it was great after I put down the wiil.