Here Are The Top Ten Best-Selling Nintendo Switch Games As Of June 2024

Can some game finally kick NSMBUDX out of that list?

It’s incredible to me that Tears of the Kingdom is only 11.25m units shy of Breath of the Wild. I’m sure it’ll never catch up, but considering there’s six years between their respective release dates, that’s super impressive.

It’s also interesting that they both sold around the same 200,000 units last quarter. I’d have expected TOTK to have sold more than BOTW, but it was actually the other way around by about 10,000. Hence why I can’t see TOTK catching up.

Huh, if they have sold 143m switches and only 62.9m copies of MarioKart, there is still 81m consoles without it

@Croctopus I think that would be a massive shame if Odyssey did outsell BotW. Odyssey is a great game, but BotW is a genre-defining title, which pulled Zelda into the modern era whilst keeping that Nintendo/Zelda charm faithfully intact. Odyssey is more influenced by its predecessors, than any influence it has had on other titles/the industry since its release.

@Bunkerneath There’ll be a huge number of people/households that have bought multiple Switch’s over the years and thus don’t need multiple copies of games. I’ve bought 3 myself and I know someone who has bought at least 5 with upgrades to OLED and Switch lites for his kids

It heartens me to see that BotW + TotK combined have sold slightly more than the two Pokemon titles here combined (52.85m vs 51.64m) - I know that if you added all the Pokemon titles up vs. all the Zelda titles then Pokemon will very likely have sold more but it just feels good to see Zelda commanding such high sales figures after all these years of paling in comparison

Not this quarter in particular but I do own 5 of the top 10

@larryisaman

Very true, we have 2 x Switches in our house

My OG day one Switch and my daughter's Switch light.

We only own 1 copy of Mario Kart

Interesting that Breath of the Wild at this point sells better then Tears of the Kingdom. Is it because of discounts?

The Switch needs a price drop for momentum if it is to surpass DS and PS2 sales.

@mariomaster96 I recently picked up a second hand copy and tried to keep my expectations in check following SMB Wonder, but I couldn't believe how much worse it was. Probably my least favourite Super Mario entry.

@Bunkerneath It also doesn't count digital sales which account for about 60% of their sales now.

This just confirms that TotK is likely seen by the general audience as somewhat of an insubstantial DLC compared to BotW. That's a huge gap in sales that will never close, the time between titles is no excuse since BotW continues to outsell it. If a CoD or any other major franchise sold 10 million fewer copies than the prior release there would be a lot of meetings going on to figure out why. I wonder what they're thinking their approach will be for the next game now. 20 million is no slouch but 30+ is insane and with a 6+ year gap between them I doubt they wanted it to only feel like DLC to people, you know they wanted to catch lightning in a bottle again.

@KingdomTears "Genre defining" Uhu... if you call generic, run wherever you want with no clear goal and annoying weapon breaking mechanics, bad voice acting and a dull soundtrack ''genre defining''.

I still really don't understand what people see in BotW. I wish I could say it wasn't a bad game.. but I genuinly think it's one of the worst Zelda's out there.

Did they show numbers for Mario Wonder? I’d love to see that game having done well

Everything is going at glacial pace… except Mario kart, it still shifted roughly 1 million units!

@Maubari that's a totally fair opinion. For many of the things I love about BotW, there's also several big aspects about it's design that bother me that weren't fixed (and should have been) in TotK.

There will always be people for which the change in direction just didn't click, and I can see that it's painful to lose aspects of a series that you love (believe me, I've been there) - You can't deny however that it was critically acclaimed, loved by a large audience, and has had influence on titles that have come along since - and it's that influence that I'm referring to as "genre-defining" in a way that people will describe certain games as being botw-like, in the much same way you might describe a souls-like. Admittedly it's not as prevalent as that example, but never-the-less, it exists.

@Maubari I think genre defining is quite appropriate. I'll never forget the feeling I got the moment i left the shrine of resurrection only to see the vastness of Hyrule open before me. These games are beloved by many for a good reason. It's ok to not like something but the "i didn't like it therefore it's bad" is a bit trite a juvenile.

I could maybe see Super Mario Wonder sneaking in to last place down the road if it sells at a faster pace than NSMBUD, but otherwise I think this top ten is pretty well and thoroughly baked in at this point, with Mario Kart 8 the indisputable leader forevermore.

@SpaceboyScreams "Insubstantial DLCs" don't sell 20 million copies at $69.99 MSRP lol. Sony has to slash the price on even its biggest properties to hit those numbers.

It's a direct story sequel to BotW, so of course it's not selling as well. If I'm new to the Switch, I'd buy BotW first as well.

@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD Nintendo don't release digital sales numbers for charts etc, but for their own results I'm sure they do include them. MK8s numbers would be (even more) insane otherwise.

TOTK sales really fell off and it's a bit disappointing to see. 19 of the 20 million of those sales come from the launch period/first 6 months. I think the $70 price tag of the game seriously hurt its longevity.

Do these figures include physical and digital?

Questiin : Did you pick up any of the top ten best-sellers this quarter?

Me : Of course. I have played Animal Crossing New Horizons for more than 1,025 hours.

@JohnnyMind thank you

@SpaceboyScreams I feel like that take is jumping to conclusions a bit. That being said, I think you're close to the truth. I think what is far more likely is that BOTW reached a lot of casual players. Then, when TOTK came out, most of those casual players didn't purchase because they didn't see the point. Basically "I already have Zelda, why do I need another Zelda?" Is the tgouggt process I would think many casual players have.

@Tyranexx These results include both physical + digital sales. Come on, isn't that impressive enough! 😅

@Ralizah Wow that's some mega cope for explaining a 10 million difference in sales. What's another series where every direct sequel sells 30% less than its predecessor? lol

When people are new to the Switch they'e probably looking to buy the recent hot ticket item. I doubt many people are buying a Switch this late in its lifespan just for the 7 year old classics.

@Bigmanfan That might be some of it but 10 million is such a huge gap. I can't think of another series where that happens to a major sequel unless it really poops the bed. Many Pokemon fans are casuals but those games sell a consistent number. If a Pokemon game sold a whopping 10 million less than the last mainline entry they might actually start listening to the fans, but that ain't gonna happen.

@KingdomTears Mario is my favorite video game franchise and I completely agree with you. While Odyssey wasn't a bad game at all, BOTW is on a league of its own. It's the only Zelda game the blew my mind, I still have very fond memories while playing it.

@SpaceboyScreams "I doubt many people are buying a Switch this late in its lifespan just for the 7 year old classics."

LITERALLY three of the top five best-selling games on Switch are from 2017, friend. One is from 2018. Animal Crossing is the only one that was even released in the 2020s.

@SpaceboyScreams very fair, but I think the dlc thing had little to do with it. It was a vocal (and rather silly) minority making noise about that. I think the reason the dropoff was so large is that BOTW reached a lot of people that hadn't played Zelda before. Pokemon fans are used to buying a new entry every few years. They've been doing that for a while. But these new Zelda fans aren't used to buying new entries. But I admit, I could be way off. I know that. I think this will continue to be an interesting topic moving forward. I also believe that if they end up doing a totk deluxe edition for switch 2, that it could very easily catch botw in sales. Cause it really hasn't had much marketing post launch window.

@Papery0shi and just to be clear, that comment was never supposed to be a slight again Mario Odyssey, it's just games of BotW's calibre come along perhaps once in a generation - I would personally argue that Mario Galaxy 2 was the last game to hit that level prior to BotW, and no game has hit that level since (I'm sure many would disagree and that's fine also of course - it's all subjective)

Tears of the Kingdom!

@KingdomTears hahah no worries, understood! And yes!!! I agree, Super Mario Galaxy 2 I place in the same category as BOTW. I can't believe they didn't put it in the Super Mario 3D collection

Mad that the barrier to break through for a first party game in this top 10 is about 17.5 million now. Then when I saw 1.2 billion software sales. That is mindblowing how much Nintendo makes from software even in a slow quarter.

Looking at the entire list for each system I am a little sad at what the major sellers are. Not sure why I thought a 3rd party game or two would be at the top.

@JohnnyMind I think Pokemon Legends Z-A will end up getting in the top 10 considering Pokemon Legends Arceus got around 15 million despite being sandwiched between 2 other mainline releases (BDSP in November 2021, Legends Arceus in January 2022, Scarlet/Violet in November 2022).

With seemingly more breathing room between the mainline entries this time, I'd imagine that Scarlet/Violet overtakes Sword/Shield this Holiday and Legends Z-A overtakes NSMBU Deluxe by the time Gen 10 is announced.

@mariomaster96 New Supes refuses to give up. Weep away!

@JCWrites New Supes is a game that refuses to give up. Weep away, JC!

@Nintendoh 😭

@SpaceboyScreams Zelda MM sold about half as many copies as OoT on the N64, i.e. substantially bigger gap (proportionately) than TotK and BotW. Last of Us 2 has only sold a bit over 10 million, with it's predecessor standing at 30 (across different versions, the part 2 remaster might change the equation somewhat but hardly enough to catch up with TotK). A direct sequel selling less is normal. Is the BotW/TotK gap bigger than normal? Maybe, I don't know and you don't seem to either. Is the gap big enough to claim that the "general audience" thinks just like you? Come on...

@Grumblevolcano
Super Mario Bros Wonder will be the game that kicks NSMBU Deluxe off the chart, though it probably won't happen until 2025.

Pokemon Legends Z-A will be big, but to outsell NSMBU Deluxe, it would have to significantly outsell Pokemon Legends Arceus, which I just don't see happening given how late it will release in the Switch's lifespan.

@Aiwen Key word for MM being "proportionately", and we all know about TLOU2's controversies so let's not pretend that's not an outlier. Nobody even talks about TotK anymore, BotW content was popping off even a year after release all over social media meanwhile TotK didn't get GOTY over a tabletop rpg. It's a fun but tired sequel, reusing the same map was a bad mistake and releasing it on old hardware didn't help either. You can wave these things away but it clearly underwhelmed, or a bigger percentage of the people who bought the last game would have bought this one. I personally like it fine, I'm not trying to drag it, but it felt too safe.

@SpaceboyScreams Proportionately is the only, and correct, way to compare the two 😆 You're just making up your own rules as you go for the sake of argument.