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Time for a Switch? Nintendo dominated Amazon’s best-selling games list for 2017

Nintendo dominated 2017, thanks to the new Switch console, as well as the plug-and-play SNES Classic, but it wasn’t just the hardware that sold like hotcakes. Amazon has released its list of the best-selling games from 2017, and Nintendo managed to take seven of the top 10 spots.

The top three games sold on Amazon in 2017 were Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, all for Nintendo Switch. Other Nintendo games in the top 10 include Splatoon 2, Pokémon Ultra Sun, Pokémon Ultra Moon, and the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild. Horizon Zero Dawn for PlayStation 4 and both console versions of Call of Duty: WWII also made the list.

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Lower down the best-seller list, we see games like Destiny 2 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, but several more Nintendo Switch games had strong sales figures as well. Ubisoft’s strategy game Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and the unique fighting game Arms were high on the list, and Nintendo fans haven’t abandoned their 3DS systems just yet, either — Metroid: Samus Returns had stronger sales on Amazon than Assassin’s Creed Origins and was just behind the surprise hit Nier: Automata.

Given the Nintendo’s Switch’s small internal storage space, it’s likely that games for Switch have sold better physically than they do on other consoles. With only 32GB of space without a microSDXC card, certain third-party games aren’t even playable digitally.

Still, one has to give Nintendo credit for supporting its new system with an awesome library of games in just its first year. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was Digital Trends’ game of the year in 2017, and we also loved Super Mario Odyssey and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle for their innovative takes on the Mario formula. Next year, PlatinumGames’ Switch exclusive Bayonetta 3 will release, as will new entries in the Fire Emblem, Kirby, and Yoshi series. New Metroid Prime and Pokémon games are also in the works.

Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Switch was also the best-selling console of the year on Amazon, despite issues with supply earlier in 2017. Both the gray and the neon versions sold better than the PlayStation 4, which sold significantly better than the Xbox One S.

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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