Donkey Kong Bananza’sfirst sales numbers are in, and they’re early evidence that our favourite gorilla’sSwitch 2debut is hardly monkeying around. Even so, they aren’t apingthe development team’s previous project, coming in at under half of whatSuper Mario Odysseyachieved in the same market and relevant modifiers. But there are a lot of asterisks attached here, the kind that ultimately paints the picture of a strong showing for DK’s first big adventure in far too long a time.
Veteran industry sales analystChristopher Dringhas revealed some fascinating statistics about the relative performance of Donkey Kong Bananza during its first few days on sale at UK storefronts. It’s clocked in at three times what Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze’s launch accomplished when it was ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020, which was - in turn -53.7 percent higherthan that same game’s original release on Wii U.
A Strong Showing For DK
Since “nowhere near Super Mario Odyssey” is likely a talking point that some will race to discuss, catapulting past crucial context, we should break things down bit by bit. For starters, this is a terrific launch for almost any 3D platformer! Donkey Kong isn’t Mario. The red-capped plumber is always going to be a few steps ahead of his oldest rival.
Super Mario Odyssey also had the benefit of launching during the holiday season, and it did so seven months after the Switch’s own March 2017 arrival, whereas the Switch 2’s only been around for a bit above a month. What’s more, while the split between physical and digital video game purchasers was already somewhat close even for Nintendo games eight years ago, it’s likely climbed at least somewhat higher in the interim.
We’ll have more precise sales figures for Donkey Kong Bananza in the coming days, not just in the UK, but in other parts of Europe - not to mention all-important Japan. For now, this is a very solid start for,as our editor-in-chief Stacey Henley puts it in her review, a pretty a-peeling" new adventure!
