Nintendo is in its end-of-the-year form, as it’s releasing, and is about to release, major games to help push the Nintendo Switch to a big 2018 finish. The big releases started this October with the release of Super Mario Party. But when it came to the release of the September NPD numbers, there was a bit of an oddity, for Super Mario Party was actually No.9 on the September list, and it was the best-selling game on the Switch for the month. So…how did that happen when the game released October 5th?
Simple, the NPD numbers often go into the next month to help get a grasp on what’s coming up and to preview what’s coming for the next month. That’s also why Assassin’s Creed Odyssey ended up on the list at No.3 despite coming out on the 5th as well.
Going back to Mario Party, to see the game being so high on the list despite only having a day or two of sales life before the NPD numbers were counted is impressive. Especially when you consider that this is only physical sales and not digital ones, as they weren’t included in the NPD list. This could mean that Nintendo’s attempt to go back to the classic form of Mario Party worked, and gamers were excited to try it out on the Nintendo Switch. It goes to reason that Super Mario Party could be the next million-seller on the Switch, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
The next big game for the Switch is Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, which comes out on November 16th.