Here Are The Top Ten Best-Selling Nintendo Switch Games As Of December 2023

BOTW > TOTK.

Breath is such a better game.

I know the sales mean nothing since they were years apart but I truly feel that Breath of the Wild is by far the better gaming experience.

Ocarina was my all time favorite game until BOTW came out and knocked Ocarina to the #2 spot on my list. I don't think Tears even makes my top 10.

Surprising how Tears of the Kingdom had one of the greatest launches in Nintendo history only to fall off a cliff immediately afterwards...

Because everybody interested in TOTK was already playing Switch, and buy it quickly.
For some newcomers, BOTW is an "obligation" before doing TOTK.
For me, TOTK is better, but BOTW has a revolutionnary aura.

Great to see TotK already at 20M. Pretty remarkable that only two Zelda games can combine for 50M+ in sales.

Three of those titles were on Wii U. Yay Wii U..

@jedgamesguy Honestly, I'm not surprised. Tears of the Kingdom is a great game, but it's also very similar to what Breath of the Wild was so it lacked some of that "oomph". Sure, it had stuff in the sky and the ability to fuse items together, but I don't think that matched the excitement people had when first seeing an open-world Zelda game.

I'm glad we got TotK and how it turned out, but I think that's absolutely a sign that Nintendo has to change it up for the next entry.

@jedgamesguy How is selling 20 million copies in 8 months "falling off a cliff"?

@jedgamesguy It’s not too surprising. TOTK had incredible hype prior to its launch considering it was a direct sequel to a game widely lauded as one of the best of all time. It was was always going to be more front loaded.

Nintendo were in a much different position with the launch of BOTW coming off the back of the Wii U with expectations a lot more muted.

Either way it’s good to see Zelda has truly cemented itself as one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises this generation.

@JHDK I agree. In Tears of the Kingdom, the developers forgot that just because they could add an interesting mechanic, it doesn't necessarily mean they should.

@jedgamesguy I think we call that ‘front loaded’. Hugely so.

If this were an earlier point in the Switch’s life it would pick up consistent sales from here on in, easily hitting 25m+ and we’d be having a different reaction across the board.

There’s no doubt it’ll take down Mario Party soon; being the seventh best selling game on the console, with heavy hitters that have been out for years in comparison, is undoubtedly a big hit.

I think, I am not the only one who totally lost any interest in TOTK relatively early in the game (and who usually hides the deep and hurting disapointment) and who wouldn`t recommend it to anyone (while BOTW had/has great word of mouth).

@Polvasti They sold ten million in three days and another eight million in three months, and another one million in four more months. Plotting a sales chart will show that relatively speaking, TOTK's sales nosedived like crazy.

@jedgamesguy
Not too shocking to see the sequel of a highly acclaimed predecessor have a far bigger launch but then taper off quicker as the hype was centered around the launch window rather than spread throughout a long period like with BOTW (a Switch launch title).

Note that these are also shipment figures so the low sales of TOTK during the holidays is more to do with Nintendo letting existing supply sell-through before shipping additional copies than the game "tanking."

all the people who said Tears of the Kingdom was going to surpass Breath of the Wild in sales what you got to say now? Never going to happen

@KBuckley27 Did anyone say that?

@jedgamesguy Are those kind of front-loaded sales figures that different from most other hotly anticipated sequel games? Unlike with the first installment (which Breath of the Wild is in practice, since it completely changed the Zelda formula), with the second game most people already know in advance what they're going to get. So it makes sense they're more likely to buy the game right away instead of waiting for word-of-mouth information on whether it's any good.

@JHDK

I agree with this.

Tears (and BotW -to a lesser degree, at least after the initial surprise of the large world ) is a total chore to play and a boring end to Aunoma's reign (we can all hope). I regret spending the overhyped price gouging rate of $70 on it and wasted over 50 hours trying to enjoy myself. I sold it just weeks later on ebay and there were so many others, like myself, selling it that I they were going for under $30 resale already.

Zelda needs OUT with the old tired rich guy and all his hangups and insecurity with the series IN with new blood!

Wonderful numbers all around. TOTK is particularly impressive given how short of a time it has been on shelves.

I'm surprised TotK is so low down in the sales chart considering how much hype there was around it - its been out 9 months and still sits below mario party, very interesting. Guessing Zelda is more a 'niche' franchise of Nintendo's?

Animal Crossing New Horizons is about to surpass the 46 million sales of Gen 1 Pokemon. All the other evergreens continue to pump out 0.5-1million sales consistently. These are good strong sales numbers.

I'm more curious about the top 20-30. Much of what's been in the top 10 has remained unchanged.

@Polvasti the TOTK haters on this site will do anything to justify their ridiculous claims lmao

Out of curiosity is 12 mil good for a Mario game? Like how does it compare to other Mario platformers not listed in the top 10?

The spiteful attitude towards TOTK astounds me. It's better than BOTW In almost every way. I liked the shrines in botw though, and the beasts.

@Overzeal if each copy of it nets Nintendo 50 dollars, then they will make over half a billion dollars on a game which maybe cost 50 million to make and came out less than six months ago. That probably counts as good.

I was hoping the brilliant CAPTAIN TOAD TREASURE TRACKER would sneak into the Top 10

@Toads-Friend I would enjoy it, as I try to convince everybody to play Captain Toad Treasure Tracker.

Damn, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold as many copies as the NES sold consoles.

@Ade117 Nice funfact! Here's mine, Mario Kart 9 CONFIRMED! I heard this from my Uncle that works at Nintendo. It will be on the Super Nintendo Switch.

@Elbarbo You are a great friend to the Toads ❤

@Toads-Friend Thank you, Toads special messenger ! I admit I dream of Captain Toad TT being bundled with any kind of Switch model, and even being directly implemented ! Like Astrobot for PS5. It's a game that needs to fill the hearts of all livings things on earth !
Maybe the Astrobot Messenger will talk to me too...

Interesting. Have any "sequel" Zeldas sold better than their "prequels"? It seems like the first of a generation of Zeldas always trumps their follow-ups...

I see several comments about not liking TotK, which is fine of course, it just compelled me to say, I absolutely love TotK, as well as BotW. Both of them were game of the year for me when they came out. Looking forward to the next Zelda game, as always. 😄