Smash Ultimate Exceeds 12 Million Worldwide Sales, Top Ten Best-Selling Switch Games Revealed

They needed two million copies sold to break even on BotW. I imagine they've made quite a bit of dosh here.

I guess Nintendo didn’t need to develop a new Mario Kart. They made bank on MK8.

Wow, that is amazing. And only including numbers till the end of the year! That must have shifted a lot of consoles too.

@shaneoh Source?

1-2-Switch !!! 😆
Never underestimate that game.

Surprised by Kirby's sales....a little low...

Very very impressive to sell 12M in less than a month.

Ultimate is definitely going to become the best selling Smash ever. Might even become the best selling overall game on Switch soon.

@LUIGITORNADO Yup, first party ports from Wii U sell well and are low hanging fruits. Tropical Freeze, Captain Toad, Pokken, Hyrule Warriors, MK8... hopefully they'll port Windwaker and 3D World. Fingers crossed.

That number is incredibly impressive. It's selling like a Call of Duty or Fifa game which comes out on multiple systems with big install bases. Nintendo makin' some cheddah!

How about Super Mario Party .... over 5 million in 3 months? Gives me hope we'll see Super Mario Party 2! Really enjoy that game.

@tangram
Delicious sauce:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/06/zelda_breath_of_the_wild_needs_to_sell_2_million_copies_to_make_a_profit

These are crazy numbers over the holiday period. 12m for Smash, 10m for Pokemon, 5m for Mario Party. Astonishingly, another 3.5m for Mario Kart 8.

@Joe-b

I'm not, it was a seriously short game that was incredibly easy. I don't mind a game being six hours long, but it better be difficult or replayable.

As for Smash, holy cow! The game just came out! As a guy who stuck with the Wii U and defended it adamantly, it's wonderful to see its successor speaking for itself. I never thought I would put a console on a pedestal right there with the coveted Super Nintendo, but that's where the Switch is for me. The best gimmick of any platform I've ever seen and an incredible library to boot.

@tangram Hopefully they won't port Wind Waker because I'd buy it for the 3rd time
I'd be much more interested in a HD remaster of Skyward Sword (I know it's not a Wii U game, but still...)

Man, after Kirby doing so well for an above average game I hope the next game will have more to it just like how Triple Deluxe, the robot one, Adventure and Yarn all had. It could easily sell better with better critical and gamer reception.

@Spudtendo I defended the Wii and WiiU myself. In fact I thought the Wiiu was an awesome system. People who didn't play it missed out.

@Joe-b those Kirby sales are really good. Kirby isn’t a huge seller.

@Joe-b Really? I think those are impressive for a Kirby game that has an overall image of being "its ok".

Wow that is incredible especially considering the user base, I did eventually pick Smash up and it really is an amazing game as is Mario Kart 8. To be honest though once again I'm playing Mario Odyssey from the beginning and it is one of my all time favourite games and would be the best if it had even a couple more of those end game levels and a Boo stage.

Hopefully we'll get some DLC for Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 at some point in the future with those and Smash lasting me a very long time. As for Wii U ports, top of my list would be Mario 3D World and Windwaker HD

I thought that page on the Japan Nintendo site used to show all million sellers, rather than just the top 10. Shame.

Nintendo needs to hurry up and port Super Mario Maker on the Switch. That's a game I believe would destroy Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's sale. Especially if they finally add SLOPES!!!

So if we say they have ROUGHLY sold 84 million titles at ROUGHLY $50 a pop that’s $4,200,000,000

A number so big I’m not sure how to say it? 4.2 billion?

Can someone with actual math skill help out here please?

What's probably the most surprising here is the performance of Let's Go Pikachu/Evee but at the time it shows the strategy of synergizing with Pokemon Go may have worked and may indeed result in stronger sales for even the next true "core" Pokemon game if it even moves by part of the folks who made the jump from Pokemon Go to Switch's Let's Go to then try the next core game.

@BensonUii it's surprising considering it was one of the first major releases during a time when we didn't have many major title to go at. You'd have thought that a good percentage of switch owners would have bought it.

Remember the comments when Nintendo announced that Smash and Pokemon Let's Go would be their big end of year releases? They said those games wouldn't be system sellers.

@BensonUii It was at 2.10 million last quarter in 7th place just behind Aces, so I would guess it's now in 11th place.

It's smash. I didn't expect any less from it! I'm guessing that the DLC might even bring in more players!

That's 12 million copies in 23 days up until the 31st of December.
If we count sales for January when they are announced, it's not that much of a stretch to say nearly half the Switch user base has bought Smash Bros.
And Pokemon selling 10 million units about one and half months, considering the hate leveled at that game, shows the strategy worked. Expecting colossal Pokemon 2019 sales.
Great news all around.

A lot of great games on this list and Let’s Go. IDK what it is about Pokémon fans rushing out to buy mediocre games in droves.

The Wii used to get bashed a lot for its "poor attach rate", its audience's seeming refusal to buy "core games" and that for most people it was just a "Wii Sports machine".

But looking at this, I kind of feel like they were right. I mean, a lot of these core Nintendo franchises on Switch are outselling their Wii counterparts' lifetime sales already, on a system with (at the time of writing) just under 1/3rd the install base and just under 2 years on the market. Smash Ultimate has almost already outsold Brawl's lifetime sales in a month, Mario Odyssey has already outsold Mario Galaxy's lifetime sales, Breath of the Wild has already outsold Skyward Sword's lifetime sales (by like x3!)

Jesus Christ Wii...

@Joe-b Well, missed out until Switch came out.

@Bolt_Strike Nothing mediocre about it for casual Pokémon fans. The pokeball also feels fantastic to “throw” and the grindiness is greatly reduced. Also, holy crap, Pikachu is adorable when you play with him

@patbacknitro18 And weather based level themes (snow, desert, rain)

@carlos82 They have been releasing DLC for Odyssey; it’s just awesome costumes though

12 million copies in barely 2 months.

That is practically unheard of even for games released on several platforms. For a console exclusive, it is absolutely amazing.

@Joe-b It's apparently one of the best selling Kirby games so the sales are actually quite good.

12 m in two months? That's insane.

Nintendo keep them coming

@Antraxx777 Yeah I meant new levels, though the costumes are nice but I rarely take off the Mario 64 costume

@liljmoore @Heavyarms55 well it's better than that as it's only until the end of December, so about 3 weeks worth of sales

@shaneoh thanks, I guess we can extrapolate how BOTW development costed

Here's hoping they're working on Odyssey 2, and BOTW 2, Super Mario Party 2, Mario Maker 2, Mario Kart 9, and a 3rd Splatoon game. Sometimes Nintendo can be a little sparse with releasing two games in a franchise on one system. But I'm really hoping that they realize that people would be more than happy with them releasing follow ups to all those games with the same engine.

Heck for Breath of the Wild 2, give me the same Hyrule map, put new stuff in it, and put in a way to flip between the Light and Dark worlds, and give me a bunch of new dungeons and shrines and I'll be more than happy! (Oh also show that the world is actually being rebuilt.)

For Odyssey 2, people loved the cappy mechanic. I know Nintendo might not want to do it again, but it was a fantastic game. (Even if I personally didn't love how easy so many moons were.) I'd also be happy with a remastered Mario 64, or a reimagined Mario 64 done in the Odyssey engine.

I also really hope that the port Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3. I don't know if I'd buy Pikmin 3 again, but it was a fantastic Wii U game. Mario 3D world simply has to come to the Switch, it was a great game that was way better than New SMBU, tons of fun to play with other people. Plus the campaign felt long and satisfying. I feel like since sales weren't great for it they might avoid a follow up, but it and 3D Land were so much fun. I'm not saying they should do a follow up -instead- of a sequel to Odyssey, I'm saying they should do both.

Windwaker HD feels like a no brainer, and if they're smart they'll drop it and Twilight Princess HD between now and the next mainline Zelda game. (The only reason I can think of for them not having done that already, or announced them already is that they might have a 2D Zelda in development that was planned to be able to run on the 3DS or Switch depending on whether or not the Switch flopped.)

I'm thinking with Prime 4 being held back they're probably going to rely more heavily on ports for part of this year to fluff out the first party side of things, given that they still have a ton of great games they can bring over and they'll probably want to hold some of their non-ports for the holiday quarter. (What big games do we have already announced for this year? Luigi's Masion, Animal Crossing, Demon Ex Machina, Fire Emblem) All of those sound like they're going to be good games, and Animal Crossing is a big seller, but I don't think any of them are really games you want to bet your holiday sales on.

I can't dispute how important Smash Bros. seems to be for the Switch, even if it's one of those "hugely popular game that I just don't get", even as a fan of fighting games. I must be the only one out there. Or part of a select club of "fighting game fans that don't like Smash Bros." lol!.

Now that's a phenomenal top ten., All amazingly fun titles.

@King-K-Rool And how many people slept on Super Mario Party which could sell 8 million lifetime?

@Antraxx777 Casual Pokémon fans also buy anything with the word “Pokémon” in the title, and that’s the problem, no standards of quality from that segment. The rest of Nintendo’s IPs are all elevating their series and Pokémon’s headed in the opposite direction and still selling. That says a lot about this series, most of it bad.

@tangram Miyamoto once said that on an investor's meeting in January, just before the release of BotW.

@joe-b It's the 3rd best selling Kirby game of all time, behind only Super Star Ultra (possibly, we don't have accurate numbers on that game) and the original on Gameboy. I think you are underestimating just how good 2.4 million sales is.

@Bolt_Strike

Eh, I played through Let's Go and while I'd give it a 7, I don't regret my purchase. Actually my problems aren't with the new things they've added (wild Pokemon on the overworld, catching mechanic though they need to refine it, etc.), my problem is how barebones it is. If we get a feature-rich Let's Go Pokemon game in the future (like B/W 2), with a good endgame and a focus on competitive online battles, I'll be completely fine with the Let's Go stuff.

Let's Go Pika/EV just felt... Rushed. Game Freak needs to calm down and not try to push these games out annually, especially when the Switch gives them way more horsepower to work with than ever before.

@Heavyarms55 This list only tracks sales until December 31st, so it means the game sold that much in only three weeks.

Obviously, Smash Bros Ultimate and Pokemon were absolutely massive successes...

But those Super Mario Party sales...5.3 million copies shipped in 3 months makes this by far the fastest-selling Mario Party entry in series history. It will easily cross 10+ million copies sold when all said and done.

Pretty remarkable achievement for what is considered a "B-tier" game.

Game copies sold between September 30th-December 31st:
Kirby Star Allies: .32 million (2.1 million →2.42 million)
Mario Tennis Aces: .37 million (2.16 million→2.53 million)
1 2 Switch: .22 million (2.64 million→2.86 million)
Super Mario Party: 5.30 million (0→5.30 million)
Splatoon 2: .80 million (7.47 million→ 8.27)
PLG: 10 million (0→10 million)
TLOZ: BOTW: 1.4 million (10.28 million →11.68 million)
Smash Ultimate: 12.08 million (0→12.08 million)
Super Mario Odyssey: 1.59 million (12.17 million→13.76 million)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 3.31 million (11.71 million→15.02 million)

So the switch have now 5 games than exceeded 10 million sales!!!! And with Pokémon and Animal crossing coming this year this number will become 7 (and maybe more, who know)
The ps4 have 8 games that sold that sold above 10
The Xbox have.... none

Good going Nintendo!!!! I can’t believe let’s go actually hit 10!!!!

The mear fact BoTW is number 4 on the list tells alot how good it is. And for naysayers they need to break even - that's just NintenDoomed whinning again.

@Joe-b Kirby with 2,42 million seem low to you? Really?

@shaneoh source, because Nintendo never said that.

@Spudtendo yeah, it's a good thing Switch is also the successor for 3DS by getting Pokemon and other 3DS exclusive franchises, otherwise a home only system would have flopped like a fish without Pokemon.

> 1-2-Switch - 2.86 million

We may all say Nintendo doesn't know what it's doing, but this is proof that sometimes they do, against all odds.

That's some crazy good numbers. Seems like MK8D, is near a 50% sell through rate. That's nuts, and it's even a port!

I'm liking the way that list looks, except for one game: 1-2 Switch is still too high.

12 million sold in three weeks on a console with an install base of a little over 30 million. That's just absurd and pretty much unheard of. As incredible as SSBU's performance and sales are, I think Pokemon 2019 (and possibly even Animal Crossing) will smash (sorry) these records. It's going to be a monster. And just imagine if there's a cheaper Switch revision to go along with it. Oh, boy...

With all the news on Smash's success, which is outstandingly impressive, I wasn't sure on how successful Pokemon and Mario Party were. I knew they had sold well, but wow. 10 million for LG is really solid and Super Mario Party is standing in a great position.

I’m a bit shocked Zelda isn’t up higher, but I guess Mario appeals to a bigger audience just by being more “casual” in its theme.

'no one buys Pokemon Let's Go, it is a watered down baby game with boring mechanism'

Random Thoughts:
1 2 Switch will probably be off this list by October of this year.
SMP did surprisingly well, currently the third best selling Mario Party and is a game that I imagine will be an evergreen.
PLG had decent sales, what really matters is that it shows interest for a new Pokemon title compared to the 3DS (US and UM despite being less hated by the community by large sold less copies than PLG)
Ultimate might be able to outsell Brawl by the end of the fiscal year and 3DS and Wii U by the end of 2019.
MK8DX I imagine might be able to outsell DS by the end of the next fiscal year (April 2020) and maybe get close to touching MKW's sales by the end of the Switch's life.

Poor ARMS.
It is better than half of the games on that list.

@shaneoh I think that game was in development for like....5 years too right? They must keep costs pretty low O_O

Granted, I thought I heard somewhere that members can work on multiple projects at a time, so perhaps that's what balances all the costs out

@cyrus_zuo It's a good game, but saying it's better than HALF of these is straight up lying. It's better than Labo and 1-2 Switch. Well, I'll also say SOMEWHAT better than Kirby Star Allies.

@tangram I really want the three underdogs to get ports: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE needs it the most, followed by Xenoblade Chronicles X and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. I can confirm that TMS and KatRC are excellent and deserve more recognition. Considering the insane sales of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Nintendo would do well to re-release that for the new audience.

While this is surely impressive, the highlight for me is MK8 Deluxe being confirmed to have passed 15 million.

If only @SLIGEACH_EIRE could've been here with me today.

85% of the all Switch sales are first party titles... so far for third-party loveland

@nintendosage
Sauce already provided in post #10

1-2 switch should've been a pack in game

@roboshort Yeah, Super Mario Party was dismissed by a lot of people too. It's that attitude of, "I'm not interested in those games, so that means nobody else will be".

And yet, combined sales of the three titles were over 27 million by the 31st of December.

@Gravitron I'm not interested in 1-2-Switch either, but:

2.86 million x $50 = $143 million in sales.

That's why it wasn't a pack in game.

@Pod The Wii U version of MK8 was better. Deluxe only sold more copies because the Wii U didn't have the success it deserved. The Switch is just an overpriced Wii U port machine, anyway. It owes all its success to the Wii U.

If I say 'Wii U' enough times, eventually it will be remembered as a great success.

@koekiemonster For the Switch about 56% of software sold is published by Nintendo.
Nintendo Software: Above 90 million
Total Switch software sold: 163 million

At it's current rate BOTW might approach 20 million by the end of the Switch's life span. Probably speaks of both the strength of its enduring success and innovation that the series peak would happen 31 years after the first game.

@King-K-Rool Say Wii Sports wasnt a pack in. I dont think the Wii would've sold as well. Also Wii Sports was a good introduction to motion controls and new features for the Wii. 1-2 Switch would've been similar showing you how HD Rumble works and so on.

Our family finally cracked open Let's Go Pikachu with the Pokéball controller.

I'm happy for its success with 10 million sold — that bundle was such a great Holiday gift. It is great for us latecomers to Pokémon: I only played the original gameboy version a bit here and there and only one of the kids got really into Sun and Moon.

No reason for anyone to complain about that game with the deeper one on its way to Switch. This one is a gateway to the deeper games but also a fun different take on the whole original — a gateway for Pokémon Go players and those who are more familiar through the show or card game.

As for Smash, I was surprised by how incredibly popular it was with some college students back in the Wii U days, so while I'm still impressed, I'm not surprised anymore!

@Gravitron The Wii needed that introduction a lot more than the Switch did. Motion controls defined the Wii. You couldn't play some of the biggest games (such as Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Skyward Sword) without them.

The HD rumble is a nice feature, but we're nearly two years into the Switch's life and how many games have really utilized it? It's usually quite subtle when they do. At the end of the day, it's still just rumble - which we've had since 1996.

It would be nice to see the list including third party software sales as well.

@King-K-Rool well you got like the ice cube game and stuff that's entirely new, it's not just shaky shakes like n64. Obviously it worked out for them, just think it's a neat game that a lot of people will never play until it gets put on sale. The game clearly isnt worth 60 dollars but that's a whole different argument

@King-K-Rool
Thank you, it's like he's really here.

@westman98 5+ million for mario party is amazing. I need to read back on some of the comments from our resident experts about this game...

@koekiemonster
85% of the revenue that Nintendo earned from software sales is from first party games.

Which makes sense...Nintendo makes 100% of the revenue from most of the games they publish, while they only earn 25-30% of the revenue from 3rd party published games.

In terms of actual numbers, 90 million out of the total 163 million Switch games sold were published by Nintendo. This would include 3rd-party developed games like Minecraft, Fire Emblem + Hyrule Warriors, and Octopath Traveler.

@Pod Now I just need to copy and paste that into the comments section of every single article, then we'll be back in the golden age.

@Gravitron Yeah, I couldn't spend that kind of money on it either. The list of Switch games I want is already too long...

By the way, as a Lions fan it was nice to see the Browns do well this year!

@King-K-Rool I'm actually a Lions fan 1st, from Westland Michigan. I have adopted the Browns as my AFC team because they are the only other team to go 0-16 and we know how it feels to be the butt of that joke. Gotta cheer for the underdogs.
(Sorry Europeans and non football fans)

Clearly people are buying it but just seems hard to justify. I'm shocked it's in the top 10 honestly.

@Gravitron Awesome. Always feels like there aren't many of us, probably because we don't get any national media coverage so there's nothing to comment on. Too many bandwagon fans.

Yeah, I remember seeing the sales figures last summer and being surprised that it was one of the best sellers. Six months later and it's still in there.

Cumulative global software sales for Nintendo platforms after 25-27 months on the market.
> Switch (Mar 2017 - Mar 2019): 179 million (Projected)
> Wii U (Nov 2012 - Dec 2014): 53 million
> 3DS (Feb 2011 - Mar 2013): 95 million
> Wii (Nov 2006 - Dec 2008): 312 million (!!!)
> NDS (Nov 2004 - Dec 2006): 154 million
> GCN (Sep 2001 - Dec 2003): 95 million
> GBA (Mar 2001 - June 2003): 119 million

Switch software sales are outpacing that of every other Nintendo platform outside of the Wii.

Those smash numbers are Insane!! 12 mil in less than 2 months is crazy!

@BensonUii No it's about the same as those last 3. All bad underwhelming titles.