As everyone with their fingers on the gaming pulse will know, Nintendo Switch is pretty darn hot just now. The plucky little system has really come into its own as it approaches 🧸the first anniversary of its release on March 3, 2018.
What was it that really lit the blue touchpaper? The same thing that usually does for Nintendo systems, really: the Mario effect. Super Mario Odyssey arrived in October, the exclusive killer app that many had been waiting for. Needless to say, the game was a huge deal, sales-wise, and we’re only just now seeing how well it’s really done. That’s right, Odyssey has sold more copies than Star Wars Battlefront II has across all platforms.
In response to news that the Switch has already outsold Wii U’s lifetime totals in all regions, Tom Phillips of hit us with this second revelation via Twitter yesterday. Odyssey’s 9.07 million sales, as of the end of 2017, put it ahead of Battlefront II’s multiplatform total. That’s quite a feat from the House of Mario, whichever way you slice it. After all, Star Wars is 𒁏a franchise that has trans🐟cended movies, video games, and comics to become a pop culture force in its own right.
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How much more hype could The Last Jedi have been? There was Battlefront II, arriving right at the height of it on Nov. 17, 2017 (on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, to 💝boot), and the might of Mario still managed to prevail.
There are some important caveats to consider here, though. Firstly, of course, the elephant in the room: the follow-up to 2015’s Battlefront reboot was in a sorry st💧ate when it first launched. Players trying the beta version were horrified by the pay-to-win nature of the loot box system. The backlash was tremendous, and EA felt the need to temporarily remove microtransactions from the game in response. Understandably, the whole debacle really hurt the game’s popularity and potential sales.
As well as this, the old "there’s nothing else to play on the Switch" argument is probably going to come up as well. Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are far and away the biggest and most popular titles on the system, sure. In terms of AAA first party releases, there aren’t many non-ports that can match them (though Nintendo has created quite the line-up of first-party titles like Splatoon 2 and Arms ꦜon top of the two 2017 game of the year ꦫcontenders listed above).
Regardless, though, this is a testament to the power of Nintendo’s hybrid handheld🌃, and the enduring popularity of their big IPs. Considering the Switch’s dramatically smaller userbase, the fact that exclusive titles can compete with multiplatform heavy-hitters like this is impressive indeed. There was a lot of skepticism among gamers at the prospect of the Switch, especially in light of the Wii U’s failure, but fans are sure riding the wave right now.