Mario Kart and Animal Crossing Still Nintendo's Biggest Titles

With 48.4 million copies sold to date, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still in the pole position when it comes to lifetime sales of games for the Nintendo Switch, surpassing Mario Kart Wii's already impressive sales numbers of 37.4 million units. For two years in a row, the popular racing game for the Nintendo Switch sold almost ten million copies worldwide. As our chart shows, the title for the fastest-selling recent Switch game since release belongs to another.

With roughly 32.6 million units shifted between its release in March 2020 and March 2021 and an additional 7.6 million in the 18 months that followed, Animal Crossing: New Horizons sits firmly in second place among the most-sold Nintendo Switch games. The idyllic life simulation hit the market just in time for the first coronavirus lockdowns, which is one explanation for its tremendous rise in popularity. The rest of this top 8 list bears no real surprises, with games from the Mario and Pokémon series securing three and two spots, respectively, in total. The remaster of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl called Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl proved to be another certified hit and moved around 15 million units in its first year.

After a highly successful fourth quarter of 2021, in part owing to the seasonality of the video game market, Nintendo saw sales recede again throughout 2022. Nevertheless, year-over-year profits from April to September 2022 increased by around 11 percent for a net profit of $1.1 billion. The company's market cap currently stands at roughly $50 billion, making it the world's second-most valuable pure video game company.