Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door topped the charts in the UK and Japan when it arrived on the Switch in May 2024, and some new data about its release in the US has now been shared.
According to Circana (formerly NPD) via industry analyst Mat Piscatella, it debuted in second place right in the "Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games" right underneath Ghost of Tsushima and just ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023).
"Ghost of Tsushima generated a slightly higher consumer spending total across physical and digital game sales than did physical-only sales of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo is not a digital data sharing publisher)."
The one other first-party Nintendo game represented in the top 20 best-selling games in the month of May was Mario Kart 8 in 15th place.
In terms of the "top 10 best-selling" Switch games for the month of May, Paper Mario debuted in top spot, with Mario Kart 8 in second and Princess Peach: Showtime! dropping down to third spot.
On the hardware front, video game hardware spending reportedly declined by 40% year-over-year, with Switch also showing "the most significant drop" in double-digit percentage declines year-on-year in 2024. One major difference last May was the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:
"The May 2024 Console spending declines versus a year ago across hardware, content and accessories spending can be partially attributed to the strength of the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in the May 2023 comparable period... May video game hardware spending declined 40% when compared to a year ago, to $202M, and is now 30% lower YTD. Through May, all current generation hardware platforms are showing double-digit percentage declines year-on-year in 2024, with Switch showing the most significant drop."
If you haven't played Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door before, the Switch release is a great chance to give it a go. You can learn more about this GameCube classic and how it's been updated in our full review here on Nintendo Life:
Did you pick up Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in the month of May? Let us know in the comments.
[source x.com]
Comments 33
Wonder what this will mean for the next PM game.
Will Ninty continue to innovate the gameplay formula or go back to the traditional RPG system
Without any digital sales includes, TTYD might as well be the best selling game of May all systems considered, but we'll never have those numbers to know it for sure
As for hardware sales numbers, I don't think it's expected to remain high 7 years into the system's life. I know there are a lot of aspects to be considered, but as much as the Switch can be considered old, all system sales dropped, so...
Looks like the Zelda effect continues. I'm still pleased TTYD did very well though. If only we had the digital sales numbers as well.
Regarding the Switch's slight decline, I suspect this is also a mix of market saturation and the fact everyone's anticipating the Switch 2/Neo/Next/New Nintendo Switch Pro HD XLT.
I literally have never heard of the Ghost of Tsushima before, but whatever it is I am surprised it beat all of the other games on the list
That’s really good to hear! Glad to see that ttyd is having the effect that the classic paper mario fans thought it would. Played it for the first time with this remake and even though I knew the ending before playing (I got spoiled RIGHT BEFORE the game came out I hate yt thumbnails so bad), it was still a top-tier experience that was kind of hard to believe that came from nintendo.
@YunoboCo It's a first party Sony title, and I think it was on its first major sale this month?
@link3710
No, it's because the PC version launched back in May.
TTYD is selling very well, #2 is great considering digital purchases aren’t counted. That means realistically TTYD is probably #1!
Still, no matter what, TTYD will feel underrated. It’s a game I think every Switch owner should try!
It is a good game just didn't feel like revisiting it. To me an RPG lives or dies on the story, and if I know the story kinda ruins it for me to double dip. It is rare that I reread a book or buy an rpg twice. For those who didn't play it many moons ago I say play it.
It's cool that Mario RPGs seem to be back in full force. Super Mario RPG remake sold super well, and now TTYD is off to a strong start. And now Mario and Luigi is coming too. Definitely an intininal move on Nintendo's part to release all these revivals shortly after the Mario Movie. And personally, I'm very glad to see it!
@link3710 Oh okay, that is probably why I have never heard of it before now. Thanks!
Of course it isnt the best selling game if digital sales aren't counted. Have you guys seen the amount of AAA games on sale at Steam and PS Store? I'd be surprised if TTYD even crossed 1.3 million in US
Love to see it. My favorite game of all time deserves to be a financial success. Sometime well before its release (maybe even before the remake was even announced), I hypothesized how TTYD on Switch could potentially surpass 10 million units, which I knew would be unheard of, but given how passionate the fanbase is, I think the word of mouth and trending Twitter results can go a long way. Plus, all the people who watch streamers playing the game because they've heard about the hype and deciding they want to get it for themselves.
Sure, it's a turn-based RPG, but so is Pokémon, the single largest IP in the world. And look at how much of a cultural impact Undertale had and continues to have. Mario is such a household name, too. If Pokémon can sell 30 million+ units, surely Mario RPG's can pass the 3 million threshold and make it up to 10 million if the game has a strong enough reputation. I don't think that's completely unrealistic.
I beat Paper Mario TTYD for the first time ever and I can't believe I missed out on such a great game for so many years. Never had a GameCube as a kid so I'm glad I got a chance to experience this classic.
Hopefully Nintendo takes note of it's success and returns Paper Mario back to it's traditional turn based gameplay style.
@Brianst0rm It definitely didn't cross 1.3m, Matt said it did similar to princess peach showtime in the US, which only reached 1.3m worldwide after 3 months.
Its done well but It seems TTYD will sell closer to the original release than over 3mllion like Super Mario RPGs remake or TOK.
Did ghosts get some new content or something? That’s a big step up from 71st place
@Alpha008 thinks its probarbly due to the PC release bud. Glad it sold well tho on PC. Its a fantastic game and is pure eye candy.
Great news for Paper Mario, and the Switch decline isn't terrible by any means given the age of the hardware.
This will be my only playthrough, so I find myself taking my time with each chapter to make sure I catch as many of Goombella's comments as possible. Aside from her lines, the smack-talking in chapter 4 is especially entertaining.
That does remind me I need to pick up the PC version of GoT. Happy to see Showtime hanging in there.
@link3710 It's had major sales before. A sale wouldn't make that much of a difference anyways. It launched on Steam, that's why it's at #1.
@Brianst0rm 1.3 million? How did you even come up with that number? If Ghost of Tsushima is only slightly higher than TTYD's retail sales when including digital, then TTYD should pretty obviously be higher if it's digital sales were also included. These games on sale would have charted here already higher if they had actually sold that much.
@Dr_Lugae After three months? Where did you get that from? Princess Peach Showtime sold 1.22 million in 10 days. Nintendo's fiscal year report in May reports number up until March 31st, the end of the 4th quarter and fiscal year, not until the exact day the report takes place. That wouldn't make any sense. Nintendolife's writers also sometimes make the same mistake you did.
@Not_Soos Missed the game back in the day and enjoying the heck out of it.
That said, I think Mario, as a brand, is too saturated to make any of its spin-off titles too big of a success, regardless of their individual quality. I'm not familiar with Pokemon, tbh, but I don't think it has many spin-offs that stray from its core formula.
Well everybody has their favourite and that's fine. TTYD and Origami King are the best for my taste, though I don't really remember the original Paper Mario, might have been just as good. As was Mario RPG. The only games I liked less were Super Paper Mario (too wordy and kinda unpolished, but still good) and Color Splash, which I stopped playing because I found the painting and cards gameplay really tedious. That entry is the low point from my perspective. Didn't even try Sticker Star because it sounded even worse than Color Splash.
On a sidenote, each of the current re-releases will easily outsell their respective original releases
"Most significant drop in hardware sales year on year" probably because Nintendo told us their next generation is not that far away so people are waiting for that announcement
Love to see TTYD being the best-selling Nintendo game and in second overall for May!
As mentioned before and even more so considering it's "video game hardware spending" in general and not just Switch that declined, I think the biggest reason is that people have less money to spend on non-staple goods including videogames although obviously Tears of the Kingdom did increase the sales last year and of course there's also the Switch 2 announcement coming this fiscal year.
Impressive seeing TTYD so high, it's really nice to see more turn based RPGs outside of the inevitable Pokemon releases be higher up for a change.
@YunoboCo Ghost of Tsushima is very well liked game. Everyone seems to love that game and the studio. The devs even got appointed ambassador's of the island in real life and they won some super hard to get cultural awards or something too
Please let the success of this title show Nintendo that we want more Paper Mario games like TTYD
Ghost of Tsushima is really good! It had a fairly hefty discount on the PS Store last month so I was one of those sales.
I got the game the second day it came out. Also its the first time I actually beat the boss in the Pit of 100 Trials. I got through to the halfway point before giving up in the original. Still one of the best Paper Mario games imo.
As someone who never played this game and isn't into the rpg style, I've put about 30 hours into it and it is FANTASTIC for anyone on the fence. The writing is phenomenal, I wish they'd do a TTYD 2
I never got that far in the original release as I was a dumb child who didn't splurge for items or saved the game, years later on the Switch release I do those things & I have yet to dip my toes in the post-game content. I love the game & hope to see the next Paper Mario follow TTYD's formula because according to the fans every game after TTYD was atrociously bad from Super on Wii to the Origami King on Switch.
I never knew that Nintendo was publishing Minecraft, that is only for the Switch version, right?
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