Metroid Dread is now the third best-selling Metroid game of all time in the UK. Dread crossed the sales threshold last week when it re-entered the UK sales charts at number 14. The milestone for Metroid Dread puts it behind Metroid Prime 3 at number two and Metroid Prime in first place.
Metroid Dread taking the number one spot in the UK seems almost inevitable at this point. The current numbers don’t include digital at all, so it may already be the number one selling Metroid game in the UK. However, Nintendo doesn’t provide digital sales numbers for its games. Even not counting digital sales, Dread has only been available for a few months. Prime and Prime 3 sold for years to reach the numbers that they did.
Metroid Dread overtook Metroid Prime: Hunters for the number three spot. It’s clear that the Metroid franchise has made a strong comeback in the UK. According to GamesIndustry.biz, Prime 3 only sold 900 fewer copies than Prime. So it’s likely that whenever Dread’s physical sales do catch up to the two most popular games that it will leapfrog them both in the same week.
Metroid Dread is already the most popular 2D Metroid game in the history of the franchise. Not just in the UK. Metroid Dread has the top 2D spot for the franchise worldwide. According to VGChartz, it should become the best-selling game in the franchise worldwide soon. Dread currently sits at just 100,000 total sales fewer than series best Prime.
Meanwhile, fans are still patiently waiting for any news on the troubled development of Prime 4. Nintendo announced the game in 2017 but confirmed that development was restarted in 2019. Hopefully, the success of Dread motivates Nintendo to get the game out sooner rather than later.