The sales show how Metroid fits as a whole into Nintendo’s IP machine
The Metroid Dread best-selling question is now finally answered thanks to Nintendo’s new fiscal year financial results: it’s at the top of the mountain. The Metroid mountain that is.
As of March 31, 2022 (leaving some room for an uptick), Metroid Dread has pushed 2.9 million units, sales-wise. The two main contenders are Metroid Prime (clocking in at a staggering 2.84 million in sales), followed by the original Metroid (which hit a historic 2.73 million units sold). Naturally, the popularity of the Switch helped push Metroid Dread over that goal here, not to mention the positive word of mouth that the game enjoyed for quite some time.
One of the bigger takeaways from looking at the raw Metroid Dread‘s sales: at its peak, the series is knocking at the door of three million units. There’s a lot of gusto behind every Metroid game due to a hungry and loyal fanbase, but in the grand scheme of things, there are wells Nintendo is more eager to dip into.
And that’s fine! That number will climb since the game is still fresh. Plus, while Nintendo is a business, not every game needs to sell 10 million to be a success. And there’s that new Metroid Prime we hear about once a year if we’re lucky! The series’ future seems secure: or at least more secure than it did at one point in time.
