• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.

Discussion Is Mario Kart really a System Seller?

Do you have MK8DX on your Switch,? Was it one of your main reasons for purchasing the console?

  • I have MK8, and yes, it was the main reason that I bought a Switch

    Votes: 6 3.7%

  • I have MK8, it wasn't the main reason, but was on the top 3.

    Votes: 40 24.4%

  • I have MK8, but it wasn't in the top 3 main reasons that I bought a Switch

    Votes: 97 59.1%

  • I have a Switch, but I didn't buy MK8DX.

    Votes: 20 12.2%

  • I don't have a Switch.

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Total voters
    164
  • Poll closed .
LinkURL

LinkURL

Bob-omb
Pronouns
He/him
A while ago we had this discussion in the hardware thread, I thought it would be interesting to get some more concrete data.
 
I dunno. Pretty much most people here has the game, so i'm not sure if the pool results amout to something.

But it IS a proven system seller, proof is, Nintendo features it anywhere they can, and from DS onwards there isn't a console they haven't released bundled with a a copy of the game at some point.

It was heavily featured in the european Switch showcase tour alongside Breath of the Wild and Arms, too. First step after entering the truck was playing a full roster multiplayer race.
 
Reinhard Schneider said:
I dunno. Pretty much most people here has the game, so i'm not sure if the pool results amout to something.

But it IS a proven system seller, proof is, Nintendo features it anywhere they can, and from DS onwards there isn't a console they haven't released bundled with a a copy of the game at some point.

It was heavily featured in the european Switch showcase tour alongside Breath of the Wild and Arms, too. First step after entering the truck was playing a full roster multiplayer race.
Click to expand...
I believe that for most people, MK8 is most likely the second game they pick up when buying the Switch (hence the strong sales even after so many years), but I don't see it being a game that really moves Switch units out of the market stock. In general, it's a game that's always on the must buy list, but people tend to wait for something more "concrete" like Mario or Zelda to leave home and come back with a new console.
 
I don't expect people here to buy a switch because of Mario Kart, however I expect them to buy the game.

But Mario Kart is certainly a system seller in the sense that there are probably lots of people outside of Nintendo forums who buy their console to play Mario Kart with friends. By a warm summer night on a rooftop. With beautiful people only.
 
I think a poll on this forum would get skewed results. My anecdotal evidence is that of the ten or so people I would classify as “casual” gamers (by which I mean they have at most five games for Switch), all but two have bought Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and it’s a constant favorite at get-togethers.
 
People buy the switch to play Mario Kart in the same way that they buy a PlayStation to play FIFA and/or Fortnite. It absolutely is a system seller.
 
LinkURL said:
I believe that for most people, MK8 is most likely the second game they pick up when buying the Switch (hence the strong sales even after so many years), but I don't see it being a game that really moves Switch units out of the market stock. In general, it's a game that's always on the must buy list, but people tend to wait for something more "concrete" like Mario or Zelda to leave home and come back with a new console.
Click to expand...
It might not be the primary reason people go out and buy the Switch but it certainly assists the decision to buy. Not many people are gonna buy a console just for one game. For a lot of people it's gonna be something like "I really want to play BOTW. But does that justify 300 $? Oh I know, I get the current Mario Kart with it, then I can play a game with my partner or hook gthe Switch up at the next get together! That's totally worth it!".
 
I've always said no. It's definitely one of the games most people will pick up when they get a console but I don't see it as the reason too many people buy one.
 
How can you even argue that the 2nd best selling Nintendo game of all time is not a system seller?
 
neil said:
Probably not for people on this forum, since a lot of us had it on Wii U and like a broad range of Nintendo games. But generally speaking I believe it is a system seller.
Click to expand...
I had the game and the DLC, and it was really hard for me to justify the purchase, but ended up getting it anyway lol.

Skittzo said:
I've always said no. It's definitely one of the games most people will pick up when they get a console but I don't see it as the reason too many people buy one.
Click to expand...
Oh, i've seen it several times. We're jaded now thanks to Mario Kart 8 DX, but i've seen it happen each generation now since N64 with some members of my family, own sister included.

For some consoles, they waited until Mario Kart was out, while they purchased others under the premise that the game was going to be released sooner or later.

LinkURL said:
When this game was on the Wii U for years, it failed to save it from its terrible fate.
Click to expand...
I love the console, but i need to say it:

It was the Wii U, nothing was going to save it.
 
Somehow I just buy every Mario Kart even if I end up only playing it for a little while. For me it's the other way around: Mario Kart is not a system seller but a obligatory game to buy on launch, as in: As a Nintendo fan I will buy 3 games without any hesistance: Mario Kart, Mario mainline games and Zelda games.
 
Anecdotally, most regular folk I know bought a Switch because of positive word of mouth, not for any particular game. Once they had it, then they picked up Mario Kart because you have to have Mario Kart, amirite?
 
Skittzo said:
Because system sellers and mass sellers are too very different things.
Click to expand...

Can you name any other game that would sell 20m+ copies while not being a system seller?

I can't name a single one in the history of gaming.
 
Joseki said:
Can you name any other game that would sell 20m+ copies while not being a system seller?

I can't name a single one in the history of gaming.
Click to expand...
Mario Kart Wii :)

Actually what about Diablo 3? It sold like 30M by now I think, and I really doubt it was the main reason many people picked up a PS3/360/Switch.
 
Hello Famiboards.com, did you buy a Wii for Wii Sports?

Oh, you got it for Twilight Princess instead... guess Wii Sports didn't move any systems after all...
 
Skittzo said:
Mario Kart Wii :)

Actually what about Diablo 3? It sold like 30M by now I think, and I really doubt it was the main reason many people picked up a PS3/360/Switch.
Click to expand...
Mario Kart Wii was a system seller, yeag. And probably a good. number people did buy a console for Diablo III.
 
hey-cool.gif
 
Definitely.

From a general audience perspective, Mario Kart is one of the most popular family multiplayer franchises, and families will buy systems to play it. Every casual Switch owner I've talked to mentions how much they love Mario Kart, sometimes as if its the only reason they own the thing.
 
It is a system seller for an specific target audience and "a game you pick up because you gotta have Mario kart" for another specific target audience.

It didn't save the wiiu because the specific target audience #1 didn't even know the WiiU existed.
 
Clov said:
Hello Famiboards.com, did you buy a Wii for Wii Sports?

Oh, you got it for Twilight Princess instead... guess Wii Sports didn't move any systems after all...
Click to expand...
The Wii would've been way more successful if it had a SMRPG remake and they used money for that instead of wasting it on Wii Sports.
 
It's not gonna sell a console for people on this forum, but for regular people? Absolutely, it'll be the first game that sells them on it.
 
I’m not really sure it’s possible for a first party game that sells 52m copies, is a regular pack-in title and one of the best-selling of all time to not be a system seller. I mean, lots of Nintendo titles are evergreen sellers, and there’s a difference between an evergreen title that a large portion of customers pick up sooner or later and a system seller that’s the first game they get, but I think there’s a massive crossover too for anything with Mario on the cover.
 
Dusa said:
Being a system seller doesn't mean that it'll make anything it's on succeed. If the standard for system seller is "it'd have saved the Wii U," then there's no such thing as a system seller.
Click to expand...
Its the best selling game for WiiU so probably a good percentage of the non hardcore audience bought the system for MK8.
 
Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
Its the best selling game for WiiU so probably a good percentage of the non hardcore audience bought the system for MK8.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that it was a system seller for some, but my thinking is that the non-hardcore audience didn't realize it was a new console.

Important q: does the Wii U sell 20 million if it was called Wii 2
Yavga said:
I see people talking about these "Regular people"? What kind of animal is that?
Click to expand...
No offense intended, but are you actually taking issue with the designation?
 
Joking about slavery and waving it aside as "just a joke" is unacceptable. - PixelKnight, Irene, Red Monster
Yavga said:
I see people talking about these "Regular people"? What kind of animal is that?
Click to expand...
I’d love to show you some but unfortunately it’s now illegal to own them
 
For your poll specifically OP, we aren’t the crowd to ask.

It is 100% a system seller provided the system has good appeal alongside it.
 
Dusa said:
I'm sure that it was a system seller for some, but my thinking is that the non-hardcore audience didn't realize it was a new console.

Important q: does the Wii U sell 20 million if it was called Wii 2

No offense intended, but are you actually taking issue with the designation?
Click to expand...
No, I am just kidding around ;)
 
LinkURL said:
When this game was on the Wii U for years, it failed to save it from its terrible fate.
Click to expand...

OK.

So were smash bros, 2D and 3D Mario,2 Zelda remakes and eventually BOTW, Splatoon, Pikmin, Bayonetta, Donkey kong, Starfox and probably some other prominent first party titles I'm forgetting.

Are you also going to argue that all of those need to be discounted as system sellers? What games do you actually think Nintendo has that are system sellers then?
 
You don't need a poll. It's the best-selling game on Switch with a near 50% attach rate; of course, it is a system seller for the general public. It is the Wii Sports of the generation.

With that said, this poll is fairly biased/designed to support your hypothesis. You're asking on an enthusiast forum if the re-release of a Mario Kart was the reason they bought the system over, you know, the brand-new Zelda game (or other new games in other major series, if purchased after launch). What answer did you expect to get? Of course, folks here are gonna say it was not the main reason, which is obviously the answer you want.
 
As a wiiu owner, for me MK8D wowed me more in those first few months over BotW. BotW was a game I played only on Switch, and while being able to take it portably was very cool, MK8D hit different. MK8 had been a console ass console game that I'd put 100's of hours into on WiiU. To get an even better version of that experience on the go was just mind blowing.

That said for me it was new Nintendo hardware that would get new Zelda, new Mario (mainline 2d or 3d), new Smash, etc. New Mario Kart is for sure in my top 10 reasons to buy a new Nintendo system, but it's not top 3.
 
0
Yes Mario Kart 8DX is definitely a system seller. I have a group of friends with kids that we always vacation together with over the Christmas holidays, and it invariably becomes a Mario Kart battle, starting from 2014 with the Wii U, and last holiday they still all wanted to play Mario Kart. Two bought a Switch a few years ago with Mario Kart as their first game.

The reason why the poll is skewed is probably because we're this self selecting group of very special boys and girls that already bought it for the Wii U, so it didn't factor in the purchase of the Switch. Damn sure if Mario Kart 9 is Switch 2 exclusive it factors into my purchase.
 
It’s more of a momentum driver. Zelda was the real main attraction of the Switch. It played on the tv and portably and was a huge open world innovator too. It had all the right ingredients. Once the word caught on Mario Kart did a fine job of making the hardware even more attractive.
 
I like Mario Kart but it certainly wasn't why I bought a Switch

I didn't even buy it until the DLC was a thing because until then I didn't want to buy what was essentially the same game I bought on Wii U
 
meatbag said:
Just to be clear, it was a joke
Click to expand...
No, I think you support slavery, and I'll never forget that

rickyson33 said:
I like Mario Kart but it certainly wasn't why I bought a Switch

I didn't even buy it until the DLC was a thing because until then I didn't want to buy what was essentially the same game I bought on Wii U
Click to expand...

I bought it for proper Battle Mode
 
0
Let's not be silly. It's a system seller, no spinning in the world can change that fact.

Heck, I am a living example of it, it got me back in the console game. It sold me a frikkin Wii U.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top Bottom