Nintendo has released some updated sales data for the Switch 2 and its big launch title Mario Kart World, unsurprisingly proving that the vast majority of people who picked up the new console also treated themselves to the racing romp. Honestly though, I'm more confused about the large number who didn't.
As per Nintendo's official "dedicated video game sales units" and "top selling title sales units" pages, by the end of June, the Switch 2 had sold 5.82 million units. In the company's latest financial results, it's clarified that, in the console's first seven weeks (which brings us up to last week), it sold over six million units, which is obviously very impressive, but also not the figure we're focused on right now.
That's because, with the data also running until the end of June, we can see that Mario Kart World sold 5.63 million units, including those sold via the Switch 2's popular Mario Kart bundle. There's no denying that's an impressive attach rate, but let's also think about this for a second – in the Switch 2's first month, there were around 190,000 users who didn't buy the big launch game.
Obviously, it's not that there wasn't anything else to play – 8.67 million Switch 2 software units were sold in that time frame, so 3.04 million non-Mario Kart sales were in the mix. I can't help but wonder what the system sellers were for those 190,000-ish Switch 2 owners who opted against the big racing game, though. Surely, surely no one had their sights set on Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour as their main reason to splash out $450 on a new console?
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Welcome Tour. GamesRadar+'s very own Rollin Bishop calls it "a fascinating tech demo" in his Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour review. But would you buy a console specifically for it? I cannot fathom that being the case, but you never know.
The more realistic answer probably comes in the form of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and their big Switch 2 upgrades, or even Cyberpunk 2077's impressive port – but Nintendo isn't providing those exact figures. So, the chance of a 190,000-person army of Welcome Tour mega fans is low, but not zero.
