Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the life simulation game developed and published by Nintendo for Switch consoles, has become the best-selling game of all time in Japan, according to a report by the Game Data Library. The previous sales record belonged to the Pokémon Red/Green/Blue game (for the Game Boy) with 10.23 million units. Now, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has surpassed the Pokémon game with 10.45 million units sold.
Nintendo and the Pokémon Company dominate the Japanese gaming market
In Japan, 18 of the 20 best-selling games of all time are published by Nintendo and the Pokémon Company, while the other two are published by Capcom (Monster Hunter Freedom 3) and Square Enix (Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies).
On the other hand, 19 of the top 20 games debuted on Nintendo platforms, while one remaining game was released for PSP (Monster Hunter Freedom 3).
Nintendo reported this week that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold 40.17 million units worldwide, making it the second best-selling game for the Nintendo Switch. That means about 35 percent of Switch users buy the game.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has become Japan’s all time best selling game. pic.twitter.com/yonNxSkBkd
— Game Data Library (@GameDataLibrary) November 8, 2022