Mario Kart 8 has fallen from the US Top 20 Best-Selling Games List for the first time since 2017. Read on to learn the details, the likely cause, and what's to become of our favorite racing game.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Dethroned From the US Top 20 Best Selling Games
A 6-Year Streak Comes to an End
A game’s fall into and out of grace is usually considered a part of its life cycle, but not for games that have stayed at the top for so long. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo's golden child from their Mario Kart series, has finally been knocked off the Top 20 Best-Selling Games list for October 2023 after a hot streak that started from its initial entry in April 2017.
According to Circana (formerly NPD Group), who created the list, entries were tracked by their dollar sales. As shown in the list today, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's sales just didn't make the cut, and the game was promptly excluded from the Top 20, surprisingly being beaten out by new entries like Lords of the Fallen and Sonic Superstars.
Mat Piscatella, an analyst for Circana, corroborated the discovery and confirmed that, indeed, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe didn't make enough to reach their Top 20 Best-Selling Games List. When asked about Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's streak and its likelihood of being the longest ever on their list, Mat was unable to provide a conclusive answer, but said that "technically it likely is."
He did note, however, that if Take-Two hadn't ceased reporting their dollar sales to Circana in 2020, Grand Theft Auto V could take the cake as the longest consecutive inclusion in their list. Still, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's 78-month streak was nothing to sneeze at.
Could Technically Still Be Part of The Top 20
While its fall from the list is a notable one for sure, that might not be a good indication of the game's sales performance. Considering a few factors, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe might still technically be a part of the Top 20, just in a rather indirect way.
An important thing to note about Circana's Top 20 Best-Selling Games List is that their dollar sales tracking may or may not include a game's digital sales, depending on the publisher's reports. Nintendo often opts to exclude their digital sales from their reports, as shown with their most recent addition to the list, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This means that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe held its position on the list for 78 months in a row without declaring its digital sales.
Factoring in said digital sales, it's likely that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe could still be a part of the Top 20. Of course, that would apply to the other entries too, so it's hard to tell for sure.
What's to Become of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?
Mario Kart fans would be relieved to know that this likely isn't an early indication of the game's decline. Its exclusion from the list likely stemmed from the sheer number of new entries for October that managed to pique interest, including chart-topping titles like Spider-Man 2, Forza Motorsport, and Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros Wonder.
It should be noted that Mario Kart Deluxe 8 managed to reach the top half of the Top 20 as recently as August 2023, so it's no wonder that it took an overwhelming number of new entries to remove it from the list entirely.
Considering its status as the second-best-selling Nintendo game ever, the release of its Wave 6 DLC earlier this month, and an imminent Black Friday Sale, we're likely to see Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's return to the Top 20 Best-Selling Games List by November.
