Mario Kart 8 Sells Through 81% Of Shipment In Japan

In Japan, Nintendo released Mario Kart 8 on May 29th. The game sold 325,892 copies, and Japanese sales tracker Media Create reports that it sold through 80.90% of its initial shipment.

Mario Kart 8 saw the strongest debut of any Wii U game in Japan, but Media Create points out the same thing we did earlier in the week—that it didn’t do much to help Wii U hardware sales. Wii U sales for the week were limited to 19,312 units, despite TV commercials creating demand for Mario Kart 8 itself.

Nintendo games and hardware tend to pick up during holiday periods, so Mario Kart 8 will probably move more Wii U consoles at different points throughout the year, but thus far, the game’s effect on Wii U hardware in Japan is rather disappointing.

In the months ahead, Nintendo will release Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. At E3 next week, the company has pledged to show off more games that make use of the Wii U’s GamePad controller.