In case you had any question whatsoever, the Switch has indeed been a megahit for Nintendo. The company updated its list of the ten best-selling games on the platform, and these numbers are pretty striking. To no one’s surprise, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been the best-selling game of the year, while The Super Mario Bros. Movie helped push Mario game sales. The full list of the best-selling Switch games as of September 30 is below:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 57.01 million
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 43.38 million
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 32.44 million
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 31.15 million
- Super Mario Odyssey – 26.95 million
- Pokémon Sword/Shield – 26.02 million
- Pokémon Scarlet/Violet – 23.23 million
- Super Mario Party – 19.66 million
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – 19.50 million
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 16.70 million
As noted above, Tears of the Kingdom is the best-selling game of 2023 for Nintendo by far, with nearly 20 million sold in its first six months on the market. Just ahead of its first holiday season, we expect it to easily pass Super Mario Party and potentially Pokémon Scarlet/Violet as well to land in front of Sword and Shield.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe still rose a few million sales in the time since this list’s last update, likely in large thanks to The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the game getting more content with the Booster Course Pass. This holiday, the main pack-in bundle for the Switch is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, so we should expect to see a jump in sales for that title instead of the arcade racer.
Here are some additional interesting notes in the financial report:
- While Pikmin will likely never get close to a list like this, Pikmin 4 is now the best-selling game in that series at 2.61 million.
- Of the 16 titles that sold at least one million copies in the last six months, 12 are made by Nintendo, with four coming from third-party.
- Nintendo Switch Online and digital content sales continue to grow, although Tears of the Kingdom sold comparatively more on the physical side than expected.