Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury was comfortably the biggest game in the UK boxing store last week, and is the fastest seller of the year so far.
The Switch platform game is an updated reissue of the 2013 Wii U title, complete with a new side-adventure. Its launch is almost three times as big as the original game, which launched at No.14 at the end of November 2013 (on the same day as the PS4 launch). It is noteworthy that the Wii U installation base was then small compared to the Switch.
This is actually the third biggest launch for a Mario platform game on Nintendo Switch, ahead of the 2D games – Super Mario Maker 2 (June 2019) and New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe (January 2019) – but behind the 3D titles – – Super Mario Odyssey (October 2017) and Super Mario 3D All-Stars (September 2020), which seems somewhat appropriate for a game that is a cross between Mario’s 2D and 3D adventures. The physical sales of the title are more than 2.5 times larger than the New Super Mario Bros. U, but a third smaller than the Super Mario 3D All-Stars.
Overall, it looks like a good performance. A number of Mario games are currently being marketed, including last year’s All-Stars game. The 3D collection (No. 12) had an 11% increase in sales this week and Super Mario Odyssey (No. 14) achieved a 28% increase in sales. With Mario Kart 8: Deluxe at No. 5, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe at No. 16, Super Mario Party at No. 18 and Luigi’s Mansion 3 at No. 19, there are seven games on offer in the Mario universe in the box Top 20.
It wasn’t just Mario this week, with Bandai Namco’s Little Nightmares 2 debuting at number 7. The boxed version of the game sold best on PS4 (43% of sales) followed by Switch (37%), followed by Xbox One (18%) and PC (2%). This graph does not apply to digital sales.
Elsewhere, FIFA 21 rises five places to number 3 after a 140% sale, driven by discounts that dropped the game to below £ 30. The arrival of new PS5 consoles also gave Spider-Man: Miles Morales a boost, finishing eighth in fourth place with a 264% selling price. PS5-exclusive Demon’s Souls also re-ranked this week, rising 401% week-on-week, reaching number 17.
In total, 270,000 boxing matches were sold in the UK last week, up 44% from the previous week.
Here is the GfK Top Ten for the week ending February 13:
| Last week | This week | Title |
|---|---|---|
| New entry | 1 | Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Wrath |
| 1 | 2 | Animal crossing: new horizons |
| 8 | 3 | FIFA 21 |
| 12 | 4 | Spider-Man: Miles Morales |
| 2 | 5 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe |
| 3 | 6 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War |
| New entry | 7 | Little Nightmares 2 |
| 5 | 8 | Minecraft (switch) |
| 10 | 9 | Assassin’s Creed Valhalla |
| 4 | 10 | Ring Fit Adventure |