In an unsurprising turn of events, Nintendo Switch ended out the year on victory in unit sales.
For hardware, it was revealed that Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in units sold, while Switch and PlayStation 5 tied for dollar sales in the month. Overall, Switch led 2021 hardware in both unit and dollar sales. Interestingly, Matt Piscatella of NPD goes on to say that December video game hardware dollar sales declined 3% when compared to December 2020, to $1.3 billion.
For software, Call of Duty: Vanguard was at #1 for the Top 20 of December 2021; however, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl was at #3. The rest of the Top 20 is as follows for Nintendo software: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at #6, Mario Party Superstars at #8, Animal Crossing: New Horizons at #10, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at #12, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury at #19, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at #20.
Third-Party Switch software includes NBA 2k22 at #9, FIFA 22 at #11, Minecraft at #13, Just Dance 2022 at #15, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy at #17.
Since 2021 is now over, NPD has provided the Top 20 best-selling Switch for all of 2021 in the U.S.:
- Pokemon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Monster Hunter Rise
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Mario Party Superstars
- Pokemon Sword / Shield
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
- Metroid Dread
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
- New Pokemon Snap
- Minecraft
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- Super Mario Party
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Ring Fit Adventure
- Mario Golf: Super Rush
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
Dave’s first Nintendo platform was the GameCube when he was age 7; however, he was introduced to Nintendo through Duck Hunt on NES.