Nintendo Reports Rapid Growth For Metroid, Xenoblade Chronicles, And More

Image: Nintendo

Nintendo is home to a smorgasbord of incredible evergreen franchises, though its safe to say that its often relied heavily upon the likes of Super Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon for those big sales figures.

According to the company's latest financial briefing, however, some of its more niche franchises have reportedly seen "dramatic sales growth" on Nintendo Switch. Specifically, the four IP highlighted are Metroid, Xenoblade Chronicles, Kirby, and Pikmin.

The accompanying chart displays sales figures for each franchise across the Wii U / 3DS (blue) and the Nintendo Switch (red), highlighting a drastic increase during the current Nintendo console generation.

Image: Nintendo

Now, there are a couple of things to consider with this. First, download-only titles are not factored into the sales figures. So games such as Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii U and Kirby's Dream Buffet on the Switch are conspicuously missing, amongst other titles. Therefore, while it's safe to assume that these particular titles likely wouldn't drastically alter the end results, it's nevertheless not a complete picture.

It also seems somewhat obvious, in a way. When you look at Xenoblade Chronicles, for instance, Nintendo launched Xenoblade Chronicles 3D on the New 3DS (one of very few exclusives to the New model) and Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Wii U, the latter of which launched on a console base that maxed out at just 13.56 million units. The Switch meanwhile, has sold nearly 150 million units and is home to Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Of course it's performing better, right?

You could say the same about Metroid, too. Nintendo launched Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Metroid: Samus Returns on the 3DS, but no retail titles on the Wii U. Meanwhile, the Switch has seen the release of both Metroid Prime Remastered and Metroid Dread, the former of which is arguably one of the best games in the entire franchise, and the latter the result of literal years' worth of fan anticipation.

We're not looking to diminish Nintendo's achievement here, but merely provide a bit of context around what are otherwise quite murky details from the financial briefing. It's nevertheless fantastic to see these franchises grow, and we hope it continues well into the future with 'Switch 2'.