Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – it’s been pretty successful (pic: Nintendo)



Nintendo has released new sales numbers for its Switch games, with at least two being amongst the most successful video games of all time.



Unlike the movie industry, video game companies generally don’t like anyone knowing exactly how well they’ve done. Sometimes, if I game does exceptionally well, sales figures will be released but usually only at random, in occasional financial reports.



By coincidence though, today has seen two separate announcements, regarding Horizon Forbidden West and the best-selling Nintendo games. The former was because it’s the 20th anniversary of developer Guerrilla Games, who revealed that the latest entry has sold over 8.4 million copies .



Nintendo’s reveal is as part of its end of year financial report, which overall isn’t that great , but does show how incredibly well it’s top-selling titles do, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe now on 53.79 million lifetime sales.






Top 10 best-selling Nintendo Switch games
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 53.79M
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 42.21 million
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 31.09 million
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – 29.81 million
Pokémon Sword and Shield – 25.82 million
Super Mario Odyssey – 25.76 million
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet – 22.10 million
Super Mario Party – 19.14 million
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 15.41 million
Ring Fit Adventure – 15.38 million






The best-selling traditional console game of all time is Grand Theft Auto 5, with 175 million sales across three generations of hardware. The next is Wii Sports on 82.9 million, but that doesn’t really count because it was a bundled release everywhere but Japan.



After PUBG comes Mario Kart 8, and if you combine it with sales of the original Wii U version its total is actually more than 60 million, making it Nintendo’s most successful non-bundled game ever.







There are many complications though, with Minecraft selling more than even GTA 5 (and Roblox selling more than that, if you even count that as a game), and the question of whether to count mobile apps like Tetris.



You can see the other top-selling games on the Switch above, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons some way behind on 42.21 million, although it is a newer and still within Nintendo’s top 10 of all time.









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