Metroid Dread is about to become the best-selling game in the series

Metroid Dread was a hugely hyped reveal during Nintendo’s E3 2021 presentation, and there was a lot of excitement, praise, and awards surrounding the game following its release on October 8 (along with the Switch OLED model). But how did that convert to sales? Yes, follow a very strong start, the first official numbers were available and they Yes in terms of major first-party releases, but very sane from a franchise perspective.

As of December 31, Metroid Dread has sold 2.74 million units, accounting for nearly three months of sales. Although that number is not large when compared to giant multi-millionth juggernauts like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mule, it’s a very solid result for a series whose sales numbers don’t tend to align with the mindset it loves with Nintendo fans. In Japan, in particular, Metroid has never been a best seller.

In the context of the entire Metroid line-up, it is likely to be close to becoming IP’s best-selling product; prevent a disastrous loss of momentum, according to estimates obtained from Nintendo’s own data it only has about 100,000 units afraid to overtake Metroid Prime for that honor. It surpassed the original NES Metroid, has estimated lifetime sales of 2.73 million copies.

Given the series’ modest sales history, it’s perhaps not surprising that Dread doesn’t have one outstanding debut in Nintendo’s larger first-party canvas. The game wasn’t even mentioned in the company’s summary when accounting for year-over-year successes. In the list of millions of Nintendo sellers, it dropped to 11th place, breaking out of the top 10 by Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield. Of course, it’s had less time in the market than most of the games on this list and we would certainly say its sales numbers are decent, but it’s not a huge hit.

And here’s a humble thought, in Q3 alone (October 1 to December 31) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 4.61 million units.

Overall, Metroid Dread has excelled by its own franchise sales standards, even if its numbers still far exceed what you’d expect of a major new release in franchises like Super Mario, Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda, etc

Let us know what you think of Metroid Dread’s initial sales figures in the comments.