Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Is Now the Best-Selling Mario Kart Game

It seemed to be a foregone conclusion, but Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has now become the top-selling game in the history of the Mario Kart series. The latest iteration of Mario Kart 8 has finally surpassed Mario Kart Wii to become the most financially successful game in the franchise. And while Nintendo hasn't formally announced Mario Kart 9 just yet, the success of the most recent installment all but guarantees that a follow-up will come about in the future. 

Updated on Nintendo's official website today, lifetime sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have now reached 38.74 million units in total. Previously, the best-selling entry in the series, Mario Kart Wii, reached lifetime sales of 37.38 million units. And while it's impressive that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been able to achieve this feat, what's even more impressive is that the original version of the game on Wii U sold an additional 8.46 million copies. As a whole, the total sales for Mario Kart 8 have surpassed 45 million, making it one of the biggest games in Nintendo history. Additionally, both versions of Mario Kart 8 are the top-sellers for Nintendo Switch and Wii U respectively.

As mentioned, the success of Mario Kart 8 essentially guarantees that Nintendo will one day end up making Mario Kart 9. However, what remains a mystery is related to when that title might launch. After all, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to sell at an incredibly high rate to this day, despite releasing over four years ago. As such, Nintendo certainly feels no pressure to quickly release a new Mario Kart game because of this. The disappointing news with this, though, is that many fans have been begging Nintendo to develop Mario Kart 9 for quite some time. And while it remains to be seen if Nintendo will end up surprising fans in the near future, the arrival of MK9 any time soon just doesn't make much sense. 

What do you think about Mario Kart 8 Deluxe becoming the top-selling Mario Kart game in history? And when do you think that Nintendo might end up releasing Mario Kart 9? Let me know your own thoughts down in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @MooreMan12.