UK Wii U Sales Up by 666% After Mario Kart 8 Launch

Mario Kart 8, meanwhile, turned up comfortably in second place. Nintendo's racer earned the company its biggest Wii U game launch in the UK to date, and the second best launch for a Mario Kart title ever in the UK.

Wii U console sales skyrocketed by a devilish 666 per cent this week, of which 82 per cent were the Wii U Mario Kart 8 bundle.

Amazing. Looks like the game has done its job in at least one out of three territories. Now to see how it does in Japan and the US. It was also the second best launch for a Mario Kart game ever in the UK- which, considering the sheer insane retail performance of the series till date, coupled with the fact that Kart 8 launched on Wii U, a console dead as rocks in the UK, makes this an insanely impressive showing all said and done.

SOURCE

so they sold 12 and a bit wiius....i will get my coat :P.

its good to hear but percentages dont mean a whole lot. was it the ebst selling console over the weekend in the UK? actual numbers would be more useful.

An increase of + 600%...wow so now they sold more than 10 Wii U's?

Lol of all numbers couldn't be 665 or 667.

someone beat you to it :o

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/system-wars-314159282/uk-charts-watch-doge-destroys-mario-kart-8-wii-u-l-31308723/#26

Man PS4 is on the rise which is great

Good.

Game's fun.

Nah, his thread is focusing on the overall software charts, mine is highlighting the Wii U's hardware performance and MK8's performance as a whole. Note the differences, finalstar.

Iwata sold his soul in hopes of keeping his job.

On a more serious note, this isn't surprising. Wii U sales are abysmal in the UK, so sales increases measured in percent can be misleading. We'll need sales numbers to know if the system is selling at levels that provide the impression that it has a pulse in the region. The boost is a good sign, though. At least Mario Kart is doing something.

So,it sold 7 instead of 1?

Good for Nintendo. My friends are big fans of Mario Kart, so I'm glad people that enjoy those games have gotten another good game to play.

So then...what's 666% of...practically nothing?

I played a couple hours of it so far, and it's definitely great and well worth the money.

good for them, they need console sales.

Mmm, that's really great.

So they sold like, what, only a small sum rather than a measly small sum!?!?

If everyone else was making the joke I thought why can't I?

The game is a ton of fun. While there are plenty of criticisms to be had, like the character roster and that damn Battle Mode, the game plays like a dream and has some amazing track design. I've had a ton of fun playing it and I'm happy that those who are finally jumping in with the Wii U are getting a quality title like Mario Kart 8 (plus another quality title through the free game deal.)

So now Europe , Australia and Canada are not territories ... Its only US/UK and Japan.... right ...

Either way , good for Nintendo

Mario Kart 8 is #2 on Amazon.JP, right behind Persona Q.

It's also #2 here in the US Amazon, and #1 in Amazon.CA

Anyhow, I'm loving it, the online play is a lot of fun. Can't wait for some DLC so they can bring back some more older maps, maybe add new characters from other Nintendo franchises, and new vehicles, I prefer the motorcycles.

Is that like 50 wiiu?

Game is amazing it's been a big party game over here.

It just keeps getting funnier.

Wii-U is for pimps. If you don't have a Wii-U, you ain't got no game.

lol sure does Valerie.

The wii u comeback begins.

This is the most accurate description of the console that I have come across to date.

Satan likes Wii-U confirmed.

So which console is for us good Christians?

Nice, that means they sold 12 WiiUs this month. Amazing really.

Up from last week's sales, right? I wish we had numbers, I couldn't find any (in my admittedly lazy search -- at work, afterall). I'm not sure how impressive this is.

Also, the highlight reel might be the best part of this game. It's lulz.

@charizard1605: You've offended my Christian values

So, they've sold 666 Wii U's then?

I heard that the WiiU sold 11k this week in the UK..So the wiiu must have sold a couple thousand under 10k before last week.

Announced by NoE's Satoru Shibata: MK8 has sold 1.2 million worldwide

Welcome back Wii U.

1.2 million copies already!

Because I'm lazy at the moment, I'm just going to copy and paste what I said on the GS article:

Everyone was waiting to play this game (as I found out over this weekend at my BBQ). So yeah, lots of folks finally pulled the trigger and bought a Wii U for it.

But will it sustain? Because as I also found out this past weekend, people are STILL CONFUSED between the Wii and the Wii U. Everyone who left here yesterday vowed they were going to buy Mario Kart 8 for their Wii but asked if they needed to buy a Gamepad in order to play it. SO... I had to explain to them all that it's completely different hardware. For the ones who didn't quite get it, I just told them "YES, you need a Gamepad to play it. It'll come with the correct system you need to play it on, too."

I strongly believe that Nintendo needs to drop the Wii name from any future platforms they are planning. That's the only way the confusion is going to end.

LMAO!! You're evil, lol.

@Micropixel: I don't remember that being an issue with nes to snes or gameboy to gameboy advance or DS to 3ds. Maybe slightly but it wasn't enough to slow sales of those systems.

It was an issue at first with the DS to 3DS. I noticed that my local target just threw all of the games on the same shelf in alphabetical order. They didn't even separate them by system.

That's because it wasn't an issue, with any of those. But all of those systems were clearly distinguishable just by appearance alone. That's not the case with the Wii and the Wii U. Those two platforms at first glance look very similar and are easy to confuse.

EDIT: Actually, the DS and 3DS had some of the same issues in the beginning and DID struggle at launch until Nintendo dropped the price and cranked out all the right games.

@Micropixel: yea I know it struggled at launch I got a lot of free games cause of it. It wasn't the name I don't think though it was price and library. The DS had way more going for it and when you go over 200 for a handheld your in trouble it seems.

But that tells me it's not so much the name ( though wiiu isn't really a good one anyways)

Wii U comeback has begun, PS4 and Xbox792 owange confirmed.

@linkdarkside said:

@Desmonic said:

Well..............shit......

Nintendo got so desperate they decided to summon the forces of the underworld :P 666%!? The hell Ninty? XD

I didn't know it at first, but that devil is... Dave motherf***ing Grohl.

This doesn't mean anything without an actual sales figure.

No doubt.

@tonitorsi said:

@nintendoboy16 said:

Announced by NoE's Saturu Shibata: MK8 has sold 1.2 million worldwide

Welcome back Wii U.

LMFAO!

Well deserved. MK8 is amazing, and SSB is around the corner.