Animal Crossing: New Horizons has always been a fan favorite, especially after Nintendo made the franchise very loved back on other consoles. Today, a tweet by Game Data Library, a website that shares Japanese sales data for video games, shared that New Horizons has now sold 10.45 million copies in Japan, which is more than the record-holding that was the original Pokémon for the Game Boy that were titles Red and Green which sold 10.23 million. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now the best-selling video game of all time in Japan.
The Nintendo Switch version of Animal Crossing released during the pandemic gave many players an even better excuse to purchase not only the game but a Switch, making Nintendo have many sales during those years. But it is worth taking note that all of the other titles in Japan’s top 5 had been released 20 years ago, including the games Pokémon Gold & Silver, as well as Super Mario Bros. The fifth best-selling title in Japan is Super Mash Bros. Ultimate, and this title was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2018. To get a more grant total, there are 6 Nintendo Switch games that are making up the top 20 games in Japan, also including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokémon Sword and Shield, Splatoon 2, as well as Splatoon 3.
A little deeper into the sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold 40.17 million copies globally as of September 30, 2022. New Horizons has now officially got tripled the lifetime sales of 12 million of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. During a discussion in 2020, the head of the Animal Crossing game series Hisashi Nogami and the New Horizons Director Aya Kyogoku mentioned how “while this is a real pleasure of developing a series, it is also the most difficult point,” Kyoogku said. While also mentioning that the Animal Crossing series can’t be sustained without change.
As of right now, after launching the last big Animal Cross: New Horizons update this time last year, also bringing us the DLC Happy Homes, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is no longer getting updates or DLC as far as Nintendo has announced. We are unsure what will be next for the Animal Crossing franchise but surely this isn’t the end. We are unsure whether or not Animal Crossing will expand to another game on the Nintendo Switch or wait for Nintendo to design a new console before developing a new game. Hopefully, we will know sometime in the near future what is in the future for Animal Crossing fans alike.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available on the Nintendo Switch.
