Switch sales have a very merry Christmas as Animal Crossing continues to soar

It’s the 1st of February, and for financial stats nerds like me, that means it’s the first Christmas of the year! Nintendo’s Q3 report is here, with all its number-y goodness, and that means we finally get to see how well Nintendo did over the holidays.

Quarter 3 of Nintendo’s financial year for 2020/21 stretches from the first of October to the 31st of December — the prime holiday shopping season, and the quarter that Nintendo invariably does the best in, for obvious reasons.

This year is no different, with Switch console sales absolutely soaring off the back of a strong year with a few high profile releases like Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo has shipped 79.87 million Switch consoles to date, a huge jump of 11.57 million since the last quarter. The Switch Lite takes up 13.53 million of that LTD sales, a pretty sizeable increase from last quarter’s 10.36m. These big numbers also take the console hybrid well above the 3DS’s 75.94 million units, with the Switch next setting its sights on the Game Boy Advance, which has life time sales of 81.51m units — it likely won’t be long before the Switch surpasses that too.

Animal Crossing has also had a substantial jump in sales, with 31.18m units shipped to date, up over 5m since the last quarter — but still below Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the unquestionable king, which is currently sitting at a whopping 33.41m units. Pikmin 3 Deluxe has also had a reasonably strong debut, coming in at 1.94m units shipped in its first quarter on sale, making it the best-selling Pikmin title to date. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity got a ferocious debut too, with the Breath of the Wild-inspired musou spinoff netting 2.84 million units shipped in its first 6 weeks on sale.

We’re still trawling through the earnings release and its accompanying info here at Vooks, so we may update this article with any other findings we come across, but you can take a look at an overview of all the crucial numbers below.

Switch Hardware

Nintendo Switch total: 79.87m (Up from 68.3m)
– Nintendo Switch: 66.34m (Up from 57.93m)
– Nintendo Switch Lite: 13.53m (Up from 10.36m)

Switch Software Million Sellers

2020 Titles

– Paper Mario: The Origami King – 3.05m (Up from 2.82m last qtr)
– Super Mario 3D All-Stars – 8.32m (Up from 5.21m last qtr)
– 51 Worldwide Classics – 2.62m (Up from 1.81m last qtr)
– Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 31.18m– (Up from 26.04m last qtr)
– Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX – No new figure – (1.26m last reported)
– Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – 1.48m (Up from 1.4m last qtr)
– Pikmin 3 Deluxe – 1.94m
– Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – 2.84m
– Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit – 1.08m

Evergreen Million Sellers

– Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 33.41m (up from 28.99m last qtr)
– Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 22.85m (up from 21.10m last qtr)
– The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 21.45m (up from 19.74m last qtr)
– Super Mario Odyssey – 20.23m (up from 18.99m last qtr)
– Pokemon Sword and Shield – 20.35m (up from 19.02m last qtr)  
– Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee – 13.00m (up from 12.49m last qtr)
– Splatoon 2 –  11.90m (up from 11.27m last qtr)
– Super Mario Party – 13.82m (up from 12.10m last qtr)
– New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 9.82m (up from 8.32m last qtr)
– Ring Fit Adventure – 8.68m (up from 5.84m last qtr)
– Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 9.13m (up from 7.83m last qtr)
– Super Mario Maker 2 – 6.91m (5.48m last reported)

– The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – No new figure (4.38m last reported)
– Fire Emblem: Three Houses – No new figure (2.87m last reported)
– Astral Chain – No new figure (1.08m last reported)
– Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 – No new figure (1.08 last reported)