Luigi’s Mansion and Mario Maker were stars too
Nintendo has a lot of can’t-miss properties to its name, andPokémon is as bulletproof as they come. This is a series that prints money anytime a new game launches. That’s proven yet again as Nintendo has revealed sales data forPokémon Swordand Shield.
In its third quarter earnings release, Nintendo announces thatPokémon Sword and Shieldpredictably led the way in sales, racking up a cumulative 16.06 million units sold between its mid-November launch and the end of the 2019 calendar year. That’s broken down between 4.21 million sales in Japan, and 11.85 million sales throughout the rest of the world. It’s enough for Nintendo to single out the newPokémon, calling it a “huge hit.”
Swordand Shieldactually fared a bit better than the previousPokémon, Sunand Moon, did during its launch quarter. Sun and Mooncombined for 14.69 million copies sold on 3DS; it currently sits at 16.18 million sales, meaning that Sword and Shieldhas quite possibly surpassed Sunand Moon‘s lifetime sales once January’s total is figured in.
Nintendo also seems pleased with some of its high-profile games during the holiday quarter. Luigi’s Mansion 3(5.37 million sales) and Super Mario Maker 2(5.04 million sales) both got shoutouts for their performance. TheLink’s Awakeningremake weighed in at 4.19 million sales, which Nintendo might consider underwhelming for a new Zeldagame, even one as relatively niche as this one.
Elsewhere, Mario Kart 8 Deluxekeeps trucking along, as it was the second-best seller of the quarter, racing to another 6.27 million sales; its lifetime total is now at 22.96 million. Impressive when considering that the original Mario Kart 8on Wii U has 8.44 million sales to its name. Other newcomers to Nintendo’s vaunted one million sales list are: Fire Emblem: Three Houses(2.58 million), Ring Fit Adventure(2.17 million), Astral Chain(1.03 million), and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3(1.02 million).
Earnings Release for the Nine-Month Period Ending December 2019 [Nintendo]