Nintendo has announced the current top 10 games of the Nintendo Switch. It turns out that the system seller Zelda: Breath of the Wild is not even the most popular game. Multiplayer games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. play a much larger role than expected.
What has Nintendo announced? The sales figures for the ten currently most popular games for the Nintendo Switch were listed in a Top 10. These figures are from June 30, 2020, and thus represent the most current data.
The figures were compiled at the end of Q2 2020. The next ones should be available by the end of Q3 and announced in autumn.
The 10 Most Popular Games on the Nintendo Switch – Sales Figures
What do the figures look like? Here we present the new top 10 Switch games:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 26.74 million
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 22.4 million
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 19.99 million
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 18.60 million
- Pokemon Sword / Pokemon Shield – 18.22 million
- Super Mario Odyssey – 18.06 million
- Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! – 12.20 million
- Super Mario Party – 10.94 million
- Splatoon 2 – 10.71 million
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 7.44 million
Multiplayer is Important for the Switch
What is special about it? The Legend of Zelda is generally regarded as one of the most important games for Nintendo. Breath of the Wild was the system seller for the console at its release in March 2017.
In the early years, it seemed from the outside that the Switch revolved almost solely around Zelda. Players without a Switch envied the clips showing what Link was doing.
However, it has become clear that multiplayer games have become significantly more important for the Nintendo Switch.
Rank 1 – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
The racing game focuses on matches with other players. With up to eight players, you can engage in heated races in local multiplayer mode and use sneaky tricks like banana peels or bombs to outmaneuver your opponents.
Online, you can even play with twelve in five battle modes like Balloon Battle, Bob-omb Blast, Renegade Roundup, Coin Runners, and more.
While it’s possible to race against bots alone in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the game is designed for fun with friends or online.
Rank 3 – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a brawler. It’s all about holding your own against other players in action-packed battles. You can choose one of the well-known Nintendo characters like Link, Mario, Princess Peach, or Bowser and battle online in 2v2 matches or locally with two players.
You can set different rules and arenas and even take part in online tournaments.
While there is also a single-player mode, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is most enjoyable in multiplayer.
Special Case Animal Crossing: New Horizons
In second place, we find Animal Crossing: New Horizons – and that’s despite the game only being released on March 20, 2020. Animal Crossing is not really a multiplayer game. The focus is more on building up your island and living there alone.
Nevertheless, Animal Crossing: New Horizons also has an online mode, where you can visit islands with other players and trade with them. This mode is very popular, making it a significant part of the title.
This also shows the top 10: Even the games Pokémon Sword & Shield at rank 5 as well as Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, Super Mario Party, Splatoon 2, and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe at least have a multiplayer component or are even online games.
Thus, the majority of the top 10 Switch games have some form of multiplayer.
What does this mean? In general, the top three positions in the new top 10 sales figures of Nintendo Switch games show that multiplayer games and titles with an online component have become important for Nintendo. They sell best, more so than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
They even represent the currently most popular games on the console. Therefore, it is to be expected that Nintendo will increasingly focus on such multiplayer titles in the future.
We also present you more exciting games for the console in the MeinMMO article “The 11 Best Free Games for the Nintendo Switch” that you can even play for free.
