Mario Kart World Starts with Platinum and Reveals Limitations of GSD Charts

Only one title met the criteria for a game sales award in June, but this highlights a glaring weakness in the Game Sales Data charts: Mario Kart World sold 200,000 copies but did not even make it into the top ten in the sales rankings.

It's a great, albeit entirely predictable, success for Nintendo. Unfortunately, however, it proves once again that Game Sales Data's sales charts do not reflect the market 100 percent. Unlike Black Myth: Wukong, which was not registered by the publisher last year and therefore did not appear in the ranking, Mario Kart World is included in the sales list compiled by Games Sales Data (GSD). However, as GSD openly states, digital sales in the Nintendo Store are not included. The same is likely to apply to bundles.

In any case, June shows how strongly the absence of sales from Nintendo's digital store can have an impact. According to industry association game, Mario Kart World exceeded 200,000 units sold in its launch month of June. Mario Kart World thus receives the first game Sales Award for a Switch 2 game, and in platinum no less.

Normally, this would easily be enough for first place in the sales charts. However, the title only ranks 17th.

As annoying as the obviously distorted picture presented by the charts is, no one can really be blamed for it. As already mentioned, GSD transparently states which sales are included and which are not. It is also quite common for digital stores not to publish or let others collect exactly sales data for all titles. As long as the industry itself does not want 100% transparency, as is the case in the cinema sector, for example, where box office figures are calculated and published to the nearest euro, we will have to live with a certain degree of uncertainty when it comes to extraordinary events such as the launch of a console.