[North America] Top 20 most played games on Nintendo Switch since launch
Nintendo regularly shares various bits of sales data via the News feature on Nintendo Switch: weekly Top 20 for the Nintendo eShop in Japan, Monthtly Top 15 for the Nintendo eShop in Europe, etc.. And last week, the company revealed something pretty interesting: the Top 20 most played games on Nintendo Switch since launch, in North America.
There’s two main reasons this Top 20 is particularly interesting. The first one is because it doesn’t show “just” the games that sold the most, it’s about the games that were the most played. In other words, games that didn’t sell nearly as much as the best-sellers, yet have a highly dedicated fanbase that plays it regularly, have a chance to chart.
Also, unlike the various sales charts shared by Nintendo, this Top 20 applies to both games bought on the Nintendo eShop and those purchased at retail stores. This is particularly important, as the majority of sales for retail games do come from retail, not the Nintendo eShop (though the share of digital sales has been rising).
Unsurprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is at the top: it’s one of the best-sellers after all, and it’s also a game with a ton of content (completing it usually takes well over 100h, not including the DLC packs). There’s also many Nintendo games in the Top 20, which will come to no surprise: Nintendo did have some heavy-hitters last year!
As for indies, they do manage to have several games in the Top 20 (like Stardew Valley, despite releasing in October!).
Here’s the Top 20 most played games on Nintendo Switch in 2017, in North America:
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
- Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo)
- Splatoon 2 (Nintendo)
- Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Mojang)
- Stardew Valley (Chucklefish)
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft)
- ARMS (Nintendo)
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda)
- The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Nicalis)
- NBA 2K18 (2K)
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 for Nintendo Switch (Bandai-Namco)
- Fire Emblem Warriors (Nintendo)
- LEGO City Undercover (WB Games)
- Sonic Mania (SEGA)
- Pokkén Tournament DX (Nintendo)
- 1-2-Switch (Nintendo)
- FIFA 18 (Electronic Arts)
- Disgaea 5 Complete (NIS America)
- Rocket League (Psyonix)
Source: News (Nintendo Switch)
