Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 1.88M units in Japan

According to numbers from Famitsu, the recently released Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 1.88 million copies in Japan in the first three days on sale. This makes the latest Animal Crossing release the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game ever in Japan.

The last game to claim the title of fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game was Pokemon Sword and Shield. With both versions taken into account, the game sold 1.36 million copies over its first three days.

The last standalone Switch game to become the fastest-selling in the region was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which hit 1.24 million units sold in the first three days of availability.

The last game in the franchise, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, launched for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013 to the tune of 722,000 units sold in the first three days. Compared to this, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold 2.5 times better.

All of this is made more impressive by the fact that these figures are physical sales only. Nintendo does not share digital sales data, so no one knows how well the game sold on the Nintendo eShop.

Not only has Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold well in its own right, it has caused a surge in Nintendo Switch console sales too. In the last week in Japan, Nintendo Switch consoles have seen an increase in sales of 585 percent week-on-week.

392,500 units of Nintendo Switch base model consoles, and the Nintendo Switch Lite model, have been sold in the last week in the region. This has pushed the total number of Nintendo Switch consoles sold in the region to 13 million.

The launch sales for Animal Crossing: New Horizons have also broken records in the UK, making it the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game that the region has seen as well. With more and more people staying indoors as part of practicing self-isolation, games are becoming more important. Animal Crossing: New Horizons offers a lot for players to do, which is precisely why so many people are playing it right now.