Nintendo’s “Mario Kart Tour” racked up an estimated 90 million downloads in the week following its debut, says a Wednesday report. That makes the launch of the racing game the Japanese gaming firm’s best mobile launch ever.
App analytics firm Sensor Tower says “Mario Kart Tour’s” launch week numbers put it way ahead of any previous Nintendo mobile game debuts. The title’s 90 million downloads are divided between the Android (53.5 million downloads) and iOS (36.5 million downloads) platforms.
Sensor Tower says Nintendo’s previous top performer, “Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp” was downloaded 14.3 million times in its first week, and “Super Mario Run” scored just under 13 million in its first week of availability. Those “Super Mario Run” numbers are up for debate however, as Nintendo has previously said the endless runner was downloaded 40 million times in four days as an iOS exclusive.
U.S. gamers downloaded the Mario-themed racing game 13.2 million times, followed by 10.7 million installs for Brazil and 5.8 million for Mexico, Sensor Tower estimates.
Despite the huge lead in downloads, “Mario Kart Tour” is Nintendo’s third-largest game in terms of launch week revenue, bringing in an estimated $12.7 million spent for “freemium” content. The free-to-play “Fire Emblem Heroes” and free-to-play “Super Mario Run” brought in a respective $28.2 million and $16.1 million in revenue over the same one-week period.
iOS players accounted for the majority of Kart Tour’s first week revenue, spending $9.6 million, or 75.5%, while Android paid out $3.1 million, or 24.5%. The U.S. led spending with $5.8 million, followed by Japan’s $4 million and France’s $752,000.
“Mario Kart Tour” was announced in January 2018 and launched last week after multiple lengthy delays.
