Super Smash Bros. Ultimate becomes Nintendo Switch's fastest-selling game
It sold 3 million copies in 11 days in the US.
Plenty of gamers are jumping into the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate battle.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has brought the fight to 3 million US players in the 11 days since its release and become Nintendo Switch's fastest-selling game.
It's also the fast-selling game in the 19-year-old Smash series, according to US sales data that Nintendo released Tuesday. CNET staffers have found a few imperfections in the game but also definitely understand its popularity.
The Switch console itself sold more than 8.7 million units between its March 2017 launch and last month, putting it ahead of Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One at the same point in their life cycles. (Both of those consoles came out in 2013.) Nintendo is expected to sell 17.3 million Switch consoles worldwide in 2019.
Plenty of gamers are feeling the urge to catch 'em all too, since Pokemon Let's Go has sold 2 million copies -- this figure includes both the Pikachu and Eevee versions -- since its Nov. 16 release.
The company highlighted 1.4 million unit sales of Super Mario Party since it came out in October, while 2017's Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe hit sales of 4 million, 4.7 million and 5 million units, respectively.
Nintendo said that its hardware unit and dollar sales for 2018 are at their highest annual totals since 2011 -- the heady days of its Wii success -- and that eShop sales grew 105 percent over 2017.
"We are thrilled to see such a strong reaction from consumers in the second holiday season for Nintendo Switch," Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of sales and marketing and namesake of Mario's nemesis, said in the statement.
No mention was made of the Switch Online service, which launched in September and is required to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate online. Nintendo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on that.
As for Europe, Nintendo didn't offer sales figures for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate but said it's the fastest-selling game ever released for a Nintendo home console there. Total sales over the game's first three days were almost 30 percent higher than for Mario Kart Wii, which ended up shipping more than 37 million copies worldwide.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is also the fastest-selling game ever in the Europe eShop, Nintendo said.
First published Dec. 18 at 7:02 a.m. PT.
Update, at 7:55 a.m. PT: Adds European sales.
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