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Forums - Nintendo - Is Mario Kart Currently Nintendo's Biggest Franchise?

the_dengle on 11 February 2013
newwil7l said:
irstupid said:
newwil7l said:


Well actually Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii sold around the same amount combined, and they are only 2 games compared to 5

What he is saying is that there is only 1 mario kart game on each system. 

Meanwhile pokemon has multiple and more frequent.  Thus people may skip a gen, or wait till the 3rd one comes out ect.

BUT if they want mario kart there is no other way to get it than to buy the one versoin.


That is true, but it still doesn't explain why 2 Mario Karts outsold 5 Pokemon games

Nonononono. You're looking at it the wrong way, in terms of games. Let's look at it this way -- which is bigger, Mario Kart or Call of Duty? Call of Duty doesn't come anywhere near the 33 million of Mario Kart Wii, certainly not on a single console. But Call of Duty sells in the 20 millions every year. If Mario Kart had a new game release every year, would each game still sell 20-30 million? Probably not, since they are so reliant on their legs. They'd be lucky to average 10 million apiece; more realistically, they might average 5-7 mil apiece.

Pokémon is somewhere in-between, with a new main-series game every 18 months or so. As opposed to the 6 years between Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart 3DS, or the 3 years between DS and Wii and 3DS.

Pokémon has more frequent releases, but it sells more games.



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newwil7l on 11 February 2013
the_dengle said:
newwil7l said:
irstupid said:
newwil7l said:


Well actually Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii sold around the same amount combined, and they are only 2 games compared to 5

What he is saying is that there is only 1 mario kart game on each system. 

Meanwhile pokemon has multiple and more frequent.  Thus people may skip a gen, or wait till the 3rd one comes out ect.

BUT if they want mario kart there is no other way to get it than to buy the one versoin.


That is true, but it still doesn't explain why 2 Mario Karts outsold 5 Pokemon games

Nonononono. You're looking at it the wrong way, in terms of games. Let's look at it this way -- which is bigger, Mario Kart or Call of Duty? Call of Duty doesn't come anywhere near the 33 million of Mario Kart Wii, certainly not on a single console. But Call of Duty sells in the 20 millions every year. If Mario Kart had a new game release every year, would each game still sell 20-30 million? Probably not, since they are so reliant on their legs. They'd be lucky to average 10 million apiece; more realistically, they might average 5-7 mil apiece.

Pokémon is somewhere in-between, with a new main-series game every 18 months or so. As opposed to the 6 years between Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart 3DS, or the 3 years between DS and Wii and 3DS.

Pokémon has more frequent releases, but it sells more games.



But it doesn't sell more games. Just look at last gen for example. Just because you sell more games in the first year or so compared to a game that has legs doesn't mean your a bigger seller.

the_dengle on 12 February 2013
newwil7l said:


But it doesn't sell more games. Just look at last gen for example. Just because you sell more games in the first year or so compared to a game that has legs doesn't mean your a bigger seller.

It does sell more games. Add the sales of main series Pokémon games in any given year to those of Mario Kart games, and most years Pokémon will come out on top. Kart probably takes it in '08 with the release of Wii, but that's about it.

You seem confused. We're not comparing sales of individual games here, we're comparing sales of franchises, as the title suggests. And Pokémon as a franchise sold more games last generation than Mario Kart did.



IsawYoshi on 12 February 2013
newwil7l said:
NintendoPie said:
The Wii Series is, I think, the best selling Nintendo series of last gen... I think.
But Mario Kart is growing quite fast and gaining quite a large following. It's really packed on those sales as of late.


Well we all know the Wii series has lost a ton of popularity

How? The wii u haven't gotten a game in the wii series.



Screamapillar on 12 February 2013
newwil7l said:
Flanneryaug said:
Umm, Mario Kart Wii was bundled.


Only for a while though


It was at least a year.  It was bundled starting with the price drop to $150 in May 2011 and I think continued through sometime last year.



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newwil7l on 12 February 2013
the_dengle said:
newwil7l said:


But it doesn't sell more games. Just look at last gen for example. Just because you sell more games in the first year or so compared to a game that has legs doesn't mean your a bigger seller.

It does sell more games. Add the sales of main series Pokémon games in any given year to those of Mario Kart games, and most years Pokémon will come out on top. Kart probably takes it in '08 with the release of Wii, but that's about it.

You seem confused. We're not comparing sales of individual games here, we're comparing sales of franchises, as the title suggests. And Pokémon as a franchise sold more games last generation than Mario Kart did.



I'm confused

sethnintendo on 12 February 2013
NintendoPie said:
newwil7l said:



It doesn't matter! It has still sold more and is still selling.

Many people act as if bundles automatically make a game not count for sales. 



It counts unless the game is Wii Sports. That game was never a system seller!