Nintendo Reveals Super Mario Bros. Wonder Is Fastest-Selling Game In The Series
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Yesterday, we learned that the Nintendo Switch had surpassed 132 million units sold on the heels of great results from recent first-party releases like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4. Now, Nintendo has revealed that its latest first-party release, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, is the fastest-selling game in the Super Mario series. It achieved this record after selling more than 4.3 million units in two weeks.
"Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which was released worldwide on October 20, achieved global cumulative sales of 4.3 million units within the first two weeks," Nintendo's financial briefing reads. "This makes it the fastest-selling Super Mario related title. Super Mario related titles also tend to sell consistently over a long period of time. We anticipate this title will be an appealing choice for consumers during the upcoming holiday season and will continue to sell next year onwards as well."
Nintendo highlights the caveat that it has only been collecting sell-through data since the Nintendo DS and Wii generation, meaning Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the fastest-selling Super Mario game since collection began during the Wii and DS generation. This could mean prior Super Mario games sold faster, but that remains unknown. Nonetheless, 4.3 million copies sold in two weeks is an impressive feat for the first new entry in the side-scrolling Super Mario series in 11 years.
Nintendo attributes part of the game's sales success to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which hit theaters in April and quickly achieved the best opening of all time for an animated film. It comes as no surprise that Nintendo is following that success with a live-action Legend of Zelda movie, which it announced yesterday.
Alongside news of Super Mario Bros. Wonder's sales, Nintendo also highlights that the Mario success will likely continue soon with upcoming Mario-related releases like this month's Super Mario RPG remake, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, its remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Princess Peach Showtime, and its HD remaster of Luigi's Mansion 2.
For more, read Game Informer's Super Mario Bros. Wonder review and then check out the strange reward for beating Super Mario Bros. Wonder's hardest challenge. Read Game Informer's Super Mario Bros. Wonder Flower Coins and Wonder Seeds guide after that and then check out our Super Mario Bros. Wonder Search Party guide.
Have you played Super Mario Bros. Wonder? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below!
Nintendo Hints It Will Continue Extensive Switch Support, Even After New-Gen Hardware Release
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Nintendo isn't quite ready to say goodbye to the Switch, its second best-selling console ever. According to a new financial briefing from the company, it plans to support the Switch seemingly long after the release of rumored new-gen hardware expected to launch next year.
It's been a big week for Nintendo, with the company revealing that Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the fastest-selling Super Mario game in the series and that a live-action Legend of Zelda movie is on the way. We also learned yesterday the Switch has surpassed 132 million units sold on the heels of great results for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4. Now, Nintendo has pulled back the curtains a bit on its approach to the Switch platform moving forward.
"Nintendo Switch will be entering its eighth year in March 2024," the financial briefing reads. "We will continue to release new titles and content for Nintendo Switch without being bound by the traditional concept of the platform lifecycle."
That last line above indicates Nintendo might continue to support the Switch, even after the release of its next console. This isn't too surprising, considering the Switch has sold so well, continues to sell well each financial quarter, and has a string of great releases in its future including a remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Nintendo goes on to say that it "would like to continue to see many consumers play Nintendo Switch, and to maintain our business momentum." Sunsetting the Switch a second early would likely end that momentum, and Nintendo seems highly aware of that.
Elsewhere in the financial briefing, Nintendo reveals over 330 million Nintendo Accounts have been created as of September 2023, noting that "even in regions where Nintendo Switch is not sold, our mobile applications have brought the Nintendo Account system to a wide range of users around the world." It says it will "strive to further spread Nintendo Account and grow it into a vital business foundation for Nintendo heading into the future."
Within those 330 million Nintendo Accounts, 38 million members have subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online, and 117 million users play their Switch annually, highlighting the Switch's legs as it enters its eighth year on the market.
For more, read Game Informer’s review of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and then check out these Zelda and Ganondorf Amiibo figures that are now out. After that, read Game Informer’s list of the top 10 best games on Switch.
How long do you think Nintendo will support the Switch after it releases its next console? Let us know in the comments below!
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Written by Matti RobinsonRockstar Set To Release First Trailer For Grand Theft Auto 6 Next Month
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Rockstar Games will release the first trailer for its highly anticipated sequel to 2013's Grand Theft Auto V, which became the most profitable entertainment product of all time in 2018, next month. As of August, Grand Theft Auto V has sold more than 185 million copies since its release 10 years ago.
Official news of this trailer from the Rockstar Twitter account comes less than a day after a Bloomberg report that states Rockstar will reveal the sequel, presumably titled Grand Theft Auto VI or Grand Theft Auto 6, this week with a trailer for it arriving sometime next month; Since the release of this report yesterday, Rockstar has confirmed a trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto will, in fact, be released in December.
We are very excited to let you know that in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto. We look forward to many more years of sharing these experiences with all of you.
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) November 8, 2023
Thank you,
Sam Houser
Game Informer has reached out to Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive to ask about this report and reveal and will update the story if more information is learned.
The journey to the reveal of the next Grand Theft Auto has not happened quietly. In September of last year, unprecedented leaks gave fans a potential look at the sequel in over 90 videos showcasing secret in-development footage of the open-world crime sequel. We also learned last year that the game reportedly stars a female protagonist. Bloomberg says this Grand Theft Auto V sequel is set in a fictional version of Miami and features the aforementioned female protagonist as well as a male protagonist.
While waiting to learn more about Rockstar's next game, read Game Informer's Grand Theft Auto V review and then read our thoughts on Red Dead Redemption II. After that, read Game Informer's ranking of every single Rockstar game.
What do you want to see most in the next Grand Theft Auto? Let us know in the comments below!
New Mass Effect 5 Trailer Teases Original Trilogy, Andromeda, And Maybe A New Protagonist
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
BioWare, the developer behind EA's Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises, has released a new trailer for its next Mass Effect game and it teases a connection to the original trilogy and the Andromeda sequel, and maybe even a new protagonist. Since yesterday was November 7, known as N7 Day in the Mass Effect community as a reference to the N7 Systems Alliance military in the series, BioWare launched a countdown on a special Mass Effect "Epsilon" web page.
A decoded message says the following on the site now:
/////ACCESS CODE: EPSILON
/////ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED
/////SECONDARY ENCRYPTION DETECTED
/////VJBSVU-XXXX-XXXXXXXX
/////ANDROMEDA DISTRESS SIGNAL DETECTED
/////YEAR SENT: [REDACTED]
/////AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: ALTHOUGH THEY SHOULD KNOW BY NOW NOT TO UNDERESTIMATE HUMAN [REDACTED]
As you can see, this transcription mentions a distress signal from the Andromeda galaxy, which was the setting of the fourth Mass Effect game that took place more than 600 years after the events of the original Mass Effect trilogy. Then, following this teaser, BioWare released a new 30-second trailer that hints at a connection to those original games.
Watch the N7 Day 2023 teaser trailer for yourself below:
As you can see in the trailer above, the person in it is clearly wearing something with the N7 insignia, harkening back to the first three Mass Effect games. And, while we don't yet know who this character is, given the way BioWare is hyping them up, we wouldn't be surprised if they were the next Mass Effect protagonist. Here's a better look at them, from BioWare's official Twitter account:
BioWare revealed its next Mass Effect game during The Game Awards 2020, with a teaser that featured the original trilogy character, Liara, and a broken relay message. We got another hint in 2021 with a special N7 Day image, and another clip of the game the following N7 Day in 2022 that featured a hidden audio message to decode. Yesterday's N7 Day tease marks the third year in a row we've learned just a little more about BioWare's next Mass Effect.
This tease follows news from August that BioWare was laying off 50 employees, many longtime veterans of the studio, as part of a studio restructure.
What do you want out of BioWare's next Mass Effect game? Let us know in the comments below!