Everyone knew that Mario Kart 8 was going to be very important for the ailing Wii U, but now that actual numbers are out and they are pretty darn impressive. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that Mario Kart 8 has quadrupled that sales of the Wii U since it released last week.

Speaking with Polygon, Reggie said the following:

“It’s one of the things I have to do with certain media, remind them, look, for us, the drive toward the holiday began a couple of weeks ago with Mario Kart 8. And that’s off to a fantastic start. For us, on a global basis, and certainly here in the United States, it’s driving hardware, which is great to see.”

Sounds like ol’ Reggie is optimistic about the future, though after an E3 that failed to tout any new big games for the rest of the year I wonder if this momentum can continue. The big names that are coming the rest of this year are Bayonetta 2, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Super Smash Bros. Wii U. I don’t see Bayonetta 2 being a big hit due to its more mature themes that are at odds with the family-friendly Wii U, and Captain Toad: Treasure Hunter sounds like a download title that might do reasonably well. That leaves Smash as the one huge game Wii U will have for the rest of the year. That is a bit unfortunate.