While it may be Cyber Monday currently, many people are wondering what the results of Black Friday were, given all the sales that occurred during it. The gaming space is often one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Black Friday “holiday” due to gamers getting titles on sale or parents using the deals to get future Christmas gifts for their children. But, as always, there has to be a “winner.” Or, in this case, winners. According to sales data from the day, the two best-selling games were Sonic Frontiers and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Many would consider this ironic, given both the timing between the titles and the fact that Sonic and Mario are rivals.
But while the celebration is deserved, context must also be given. For example, with Sonic Frontiers, its sales from the previous week went up 203%, an astounding number. But part of the reason for that insane jump in sales was the game being dropped by almost half at some retailers, given the game’s “buggy” state upon launch earlier this month. That says much about how gamers wanted to wait for a sale before picking up the title.
As for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the best-selling Switch title, it had a boost of 226%. That was due to it being bundled with the Nintendo Switch, which also had sales going on hardware-wise. That led to the game getting a big jump in sales. It also helps that the game has the Booster Pass, which brings more tracks to the game than ever before.
Another title that had a major lift during Black Friday was Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, which also had a Switch bundle that increased numbers.
Given all this, you might expect to hear that this was an “incredibly successful” Black Friday for the gaming space. But that’s not exactly the case. Instead, the sales figures point to Black Friday being down 15% in overall sales.
Before you panic, the United States has been going through a rough period of inflation. That may have made buyers a bit gun-shy about what they spend their money on, even with all the sales.
Still, it’s good to see that video games are a best-seller on the “holiday,” and it’ll be interesting to see if the hardware sales line up with the boost in the software. When that information comes out, we’ll let you know it.
Source: VGC
