3 years later, Mario Kart 8 is still one of Europe’s best-selling boxed games

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the third best-selling physical game in Europe last year, three years after its release on Nintendo Switch.

That’s according to information published by official charts and market research data supplier GfK Entertainment, which reveals that FIFA 21, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart were the overall best-selling physical games in Europe in 2020.

According to Nintendo’s own sales data, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Switch’s best-selling game with nearly 30 million copies sold on Nintendo Switch.

The racing game, which as its name suggests is a Deluxe version of the 2014 Wii U original, has sold continuously well since Switch launched in 2017.

According to GfK’s evaluation, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was one of the best selling games in seven European regions in 2020.

Overall FIFA 21 “posted outstanding sales everywhere” and was the most successful game in 2020 in 16 of the 19 countries surveyed.

This follows the sales success of FIFA’s previous instalments 20, 19, 18 and 17, which also dominated the European market in their release years.

The two Nintendo titles Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ranked second and third in the annual European games charts, according to GFK.

Animal Crossing was the most successful video game in France in 2020 and reached the top three in almost half the 19 countries GFK analysed, it said.

Evergreen titles GTA V and Minecraft also continued their sales success, according to GFK’s data. GTA reportedly performed strongest in eastern Europe (Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Hungary) as well as in Denmark and Portugal, while Mojang’s game performed well in southern Europe (Italy, Portugal and Spain) and Finland.

PlayStation exclusive The Last Of Us Part 2 took top chart positions in the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden, GFK said.

The basis for GFK’s data evaluation were physical market sales in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and the UK.

FIFA 20, Animal Crossing and The Last of Us Part 2 were Europe’s best-selling physical games in the first half of 2020, while FIFA 20 was Europe’s best-selling game of last year.