Metroid Dread
Image: Nintendo

Following on from the February news that Metroid Dread had sold 2.74 million units from its October launch to the end of 2021 β€” a figure which put it behind only GameCube's Metroid Prime in the series' best-seller list β€” Nintendo's end of year financial results have confirmed that MercurySteam's 2D entry is now the best-selling Metroid game ever.

The life-to-date sales of 'Metroid 5' now stand at 2.9 million according to Nintendo's report, putting it approximately 60,000 copies ahead of 2002's Metroid Prime, as per estimates gathered from Nintendo's own data. It was previously known that Dread was the best-selling Metroid entry in the UK, but this new reported figure puts it top of the list worldwide.

Sales of Metroid Dread have reached approximately 270,000 in Japan to date, with the remaining 2.63 million sales coming from overseas β€” another clear indication that the West's appetite for Samus' adventures is larger than that of Nintendo's domestic market.

Metroid Prime 4 is currently in development, of course, although it has no release date attached at present. Rumours persist that Nintendo has a Metroid Prime 'remaster' in the pipeline, and with the strong sales of Dread, it would certainly make sense to keep the Morph Ball rolling with a re-release in the long lead up to MP4.

Let us know below what you think this means for further 2D adventures with Samus in the future.

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[source nintendo.co.jp]