Nintendo has confirmed that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now the console’s new fastest-selling title, having sold a record number of copies in a record amount of time.
With all of the hype surrounding the cartoon social sim since it launched in late March, this news probably won’t come as a surprise to many, but it’s nonetheless impressive. Today, Nintendo released its latest end-of-year earnings report, which summarized the company’s sales up until the end of its fiscal year on March 31. This confirmed that New Horizons sold a hefty 11.77 million copies in just its first 11 days on sale, making for “best start ever for a Nintendo Switch title.”
The report also touches upon the sales for the game beyond March, revealing that the game has gone on to sell 13.41 million copies total in its first six weeks of availability. While that means it saw a significant sales dropoff over the course of April, it’s still enough to make the game the best selling entry in the Animal Crossing series, beating out Animal Crossing: New Leaf’s 12+ million copies sold across its entire lifespan.
As for some of Nintendo’s other most popular games, it still has a ways to go before surpassing them. Here’s how Animal Crossing: New Horizons ranks on Nintendo’s official chart of best-selling Switch games (which, it should be noted, currently only accounts for physical sales up until the end of March):
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 24.77 million
- Super Smash Bros Ultimate - 18.84 million
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 17.41 million
- Super Mario Odyssey - 17.41 million
- Pokemon Sword/Pokemon Shield - 17.37 million
- Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu!/Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee! - 11.97 million
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 11.77 million
- Splatoon 2 - 10.13 million
- Super Mario Party - 10.10 million
- New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe - 6.60 million
All in all, not bad for a game that came out so recently, and while the sales have slowed down in the last few weeks, they’re in a good position to pick up throughout the coming year. As of now, Nintendo has yet to confirm any major new games for the rest of 2020, and it’s possible that with the coronavirus situation being what it is, there might not be that many ultimately. Odds are New Horizons won’t have much competition attracting new Switch owners for the time being.
It also helps that the game is constantly receiving new content and seasonal events to keep its growing playerbase coming back for more on a daily basis, even if many players feel there are plenty of ways to improve the game.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for the Switch.
Source: Nintendo 1, 2, 3