It’s no surprise that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of Nintendo’s most popular games ever, but not many expected it to become the most sold title in Japan ever. At least, if we only count physical copies.

Physical games are seemingly becoming more and more rare. It seems only natural, then, that a classic title from the pre-internet era should be the one to have moved the most physical copies.

That honor went to Pokémon Red and Green, which had held the position in Japan for almost 30 years, reaching a total of 7.93 million copies.

This only makes Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ new record more impressive. Even with many players preferring to buy their games digitally these days, the latest entry in Nintendo’s life sim series recently surpassed 8 million physical copies, as reported by Famitsu.

It certainly helped that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been in circulation since 2020.

We currently do not know if a new Animal Crossing is in development, or if it is even planned. But who knows, with all the rumors about a new Nintendo console on the horizon, we might learn something sooner rather than later.

It’s hard to tell if Nintendo’s record of most physical copies sold could hold outside of Japan. It’s certainly possible that, taking into account other, larger countries, another game might surpass that record.

It’s already hard enough to discern how many copies any game has sold, let alone physical copies.

What we know for certain is that, while impressive, Animal Crossing’s 8 million physical copies sold pale in comparison to other games’ digital sales.

For reference, these are some of the best-selling video games of all time.

Minecraft, 238 million
GTA V, 170 million
Wii Sport, 83 million
PUBG: Battlegrounds, 75 million
Overwatch, 50 million

While it’s not in the top 5, New Horizons isn’t too far behind. With over 46 million copies sold across physical stores and digital platforms, the popular series is the second highest-selling game on the Switch, following Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Posted: Dec 31, 2024 2:28 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-sells-record-8-million-physical-copies/