The Nintendo Switch has now sold more than the NES

Since its launch in March the island life sim has sold in excess of 26 million units, making Animal Crossing: New Horizons the second best selling Nintendo Switch game ever. Only Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold more (although I'd wager that AC:NH will surpass MK8D this holiday).

To understand how much of a juggernaut Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been, we should look at the other top-selling Switch games. Also, for reference, the Switch itself has sold 68 million units.

The top selling game on Switch: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which has sold 29 million units in 3.5 years. It has been in the top 10 selling games for most of it’s lifetime, steadily picking up sales as more and more people buy Switches. Animal Crossing getting over 90% of that total in 6 months is insane.

And then there’s Breath of the Wild, aka the reason to get the Switch for years, which has sold 19.7 million units in 3.5 years.

Animal Crossing New Horizons was the perfect game at the perfect time, and while I know some see it as a fad, these numbers paired with a cursory glance at social media shows an absolute beast of a game that is going to have legs for years forward.

Header image via Sara Kurfeß