One of the things that you can count on with the Nintendo Switch 2 is that every time a big game is released, gamers are going to want to know how much it’s sold within a week of its launch. You can expect critics and journalists to want to know the same information, as the system remains the hottest thing in the industry, and the games that are on the Switch 2 will be a key part of its success going forward. Last week, Donkey Kong Bananza became the first major first-party single-player title to grace the Switch 2, which wasn’t a port or something of that nature.
Ever since the critical reception to it was shown to be “Game of the Year” worthy, fans went into their own “Bananza” in anticipation of it. Then, once it dropped, you kept hearing from fans that the game wasn’t just “Game of the Year worthy,” but something even greater in some respects. So, do we know anything about the game’s sales so far? Yes and no. No, we don’t have any “hard numbers” just yet, but things are a little early still. However, thanks to Chris Dring, we know that in the UK, the game is doing very well.
That’s a strong start in many ways, not the least of which is that the Donkey Kong title that Dring brought up was a port, and that port sold about 5 million units worldwide, making it a bigger hit than it was when it originally released on Wii U. Now, while it may not have compared to Mario’s title from 2017, there are some key differences that need to be understood here, not the least of which is that Donkey Kong Bananza, was out about six weeks after the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. Mario’s title was out seven months after the launch of the Switch. That’s a bigger gap in time. Not to mention, Mario is the “stalwart icon” of Nintendo, and everyone was expecting that game to be good, while Donkey Kong’s title was a bit more of a mystery before launch.
However, with positive word-of-mouth spreading, this could be one of the next “Evergreen” titles that Nintendo has for the Switch 2 that’ll continue to sell well throughout its lifetime. We’ll just have to wait and see. However, if it matches this sales progression across the other territories, then it’s likely over 1 million units sold already.
