The Shrine

Nintendo released their financial results for the first quarter of the Switch’s sixth year on the market. It’s still selling ~300k a week, very impressive for a console that’s been around for that long. Can it pass the DS and PS2? Who knows, but it has the best shot at any console since. It’s close to passing the nearest runner up, the PS4 which sold about 116m units total.

Software continues to push into record breaking territory:

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 46.82m
Animal Crossing: 39.38m
Smash Bros Ultimate: 28.82m
Zelda BOTW: 27.14m (Switch version only)
Pokémon Sword/Shield: 24.5m
Mario Odyssey: 23.93m
Super Mario Party: 18.06m
Pokémon BD/SP: 14.79m
Pokémon Let's Go: 14.66m
Ring Fit Adventure: 14.54m

New games for this quarter:
Switch Sports: 4.84m
Kirby and the Forgotten Land: 4.53m
Mario Strikers Battle League: 1.91m

So, the Wii era software is officially a mainstay, with the new Switch Sports selling nearly 5 million and Ring Fit at over 14.5 million (closing in on the original Wii Fit which sold 22.67m).

Breath of the Wild continues to push ahead of the latest Mario game and approaches 30 million units after selling another 1.35 million units in the first half of 2022… probably over 30 million if you’re counting the Wii U version (I’m not). This is a crazy high amount considering the previous peak of Zelda had Ocarina of Time selling 7.6 million, and Twilight Princess selling 7.42 million on Wii, it’s nearing double those two combined.

Animal Crossing joins Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in surpassing the highest selling retail game for a single platform that wasn’t primarily distributed through bundles… and to be fair, Gran Turismo is left in the dust, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has surpassed Super Mario Bros and Tetris, leaving only Wii Sports ahead on the bundled side… granted it’s very far ahead at 82.9m. But for other games on a single platform, Mario Kart Wii sold 37.38 million units and held the record until Mario Kart 8 Deluxe surpassed it.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is popular for obvious reasons. It’s also probably the main driving force on the Switch, currently. People like to socialize, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe allows them to play local multiplayer. And now with the covid thing, it’s one of those games people can play locally and social distance all at once. Their co-workers see each other playing and say “Hey, I don’t wanna spend an hour drinking this stale tasting Keurig coffee and virtue signalling on Facebook, I’m gonna play some Mario Kart and call my co-worker a cunt!” (I live on the east coast, the word has a different meaning over here… I won’t be making the same mistake of using that word West of Quebec ever again).

Nintendo Switch outsold both the PS4 and Gameboy. 122.55m sales—about 19.5 million for the calendar year. It currently ranks in distant third with Playstation 2 and Nintendo DS in the top two spots with 155 and 154 million, respectively.
Software wise, Switch finally topped both Wii and DS by selling 1 billion pieces of retail level software.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 52 million
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 41.59 million
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 30.44 million
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 29 million
Pokémon Sword / Pokémon Shield – 25.68 million
Super Mario Odyssey – 25.12 million
Pokémon Scarlet / Pokémon Violet – 20.61 million
Super Mario Party – 18.79 million
Ring Fit Adventure – 15.22 million
Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! – 15.07 million

Some other highlights:
Pokémon Legends: Arceus – 14.63 million
Splatoon 3 – 10.13 million
Nintendo Switch Sports – 8.61 million
Kirby and the Forgotten Land – 6.12 million
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – 1.81 million
Bayonetta 3 – 1.04 million

The problem with RPGs on Switch is that it’s a highly saturated market and there are so many high end ones that have crazy sales. The genre is one of the biggest on Switch, but there are literally hundreds of RPGs on Switch from newer ones to classics. It’s hard not to recommend Witcher 3 Complete Edition on sale for 20 bucks over Xenoblade for 85 (my less valuable Canadian dollars, of course). Then, of course, the genre transcending juggernaut known as Pokémon that causes an insane panic almost every year - Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sold 21 million in 5 weeks.

Bayonetta, I don’t have a lot of experience, but it feels like a 3D on the beat ‘em up with lots of mashing—not my type of game, although I really like 2D beat ‘em ups with a similar concept.