The past year has been massive for Nintendo, with the games industry giant seeing a massive boost in sales for its hardware and software fueled by quarantine and isolation periods. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, one of Nintendo's most successful titles, has been a big driver of that success, and according to recent UK sales figures, that success won't be stopping anytime soon.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons topped the UK's boxed sales charts for the week, the fourth time this year. Launched last year right as mandatory quarantine announcements rose to a crescendo, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has offered players a respite from real-world issues, full of distractions from day to day troubles and isolation-induced anxiety. The game has played a major role in fueling Switch console sales.
Luckily for Nintendo, Animal Crossing: New Horizons wasn't the only first-party game to land on the UK boxed games sales chart. Including Animal Crossing, four Nintendo first-party games managed to make it onto the list. Mario Kart, Ring Fit Adventure, and Super Mario 3D All-Stars all landed on the chart, being the second, fourth, and ninth spots, respectively. Ring Fit Adventure almost grabbed the third best selling slot for the week, losing out to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War by just 52 units.
So far, the only major triple-a release has been Hitman 3, which may explain the continued dominance of Nintendo properties. However, considering how well the Nintendo Switch has been selling recently, both in the UK and the rest of the world, there's a good chance that even a packed release calendar would still boast some of Nintendo's games on the top charts, with some differences. The week's complete list was:
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Ring Fit Adventure
- Minecraft (Switch)
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Just Dance 2021
- FIFA 21
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla
With a mostly clear release calendar throughout February 2021, there's a good chance that Animal Crossing: New Horizons will keep one of the top 10 spots. With Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury releasing soon, there's a good chance that it will also make its way to the sales charts, giving Nintendo an all-around impressive number of slots. Nintendo believes the Switch could outsell the Wii, and if it continues selling hardware and software at such massive volumes, that goal isn't far-fetched.
For now, Nintendo fans can sit back and look forward to the new games coming to the Switch. With heavy-hitters like New Pokemon Snap coming this year and more in the works, there are plenty of avenues for Nintendo to keep its games appearing on top sales charts throughout the year.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Switch.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz