Just under ten months after its release, Nintendo Switch Sports has surpassed a significant sales milestone previously met by other notable first-party Switch games. While it did not meet the same level of prestige as its predecessor on the Wii, Nintendo Switch Sports experienced good commercial success as one of the most prominent sports offerings on Switch.
Nintendo Switch Sports was announced in the February 2022 Nintendo Direct and released later that April. It was billed as the next game in the Wii Sports series that started in 2006. While it received a relatively lukewarm critical reception, Nintendo Switch Sports sold well upon launch and gained enough traction among players and critics to be one of the nominees for Best Family Game at The Game Awards 2022. It continued to be supported through a number of updates which added a new sport, quality of life changes, and better optimization.
This added support helped the game maintain its sales enough to have it reach an important sales milestone. According to Famitsu, Nintendo Switch Sports was the seventh best-selling game in Japan for the week of February 6 to February 12. During this week, it sold over 7,000 copies which pushed it to over 1 million total units sold in Japan, the same milestone previously reached by other prominent Switch games like Mario Party Superstars, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, and Splatoon 3. Its placement on these rankings also put it in the top ten games sold that week alongside Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which are both now available in DLC bundles on the Switch eShop.
Gematsu states that this sales chart accounts for physical game sales which is relevant to Nintendo Switch Sports as its physical version came with a leg strap accessory. This accessory was first used for the 2019 Switch game Ring Fit Adventure but adapted to work with Soccer in Nintendo Switch Sports. Ring Fit Adventure also sold well upon release and was ranked second on the list of best-selling Switch games of 2020 in Japan.
In the eyes of many, Nintendo Switch Sports did not live up to the legacy of Wii Sports. This can be chalked up to it releasing later in the Switch's life, not having the same built-in audience a game gets by being bundled in with a console, or players having to wait several months to get Golf added to Nintendo Switch Sports through an update. Regardless of how Nintendo Switch Sports was received, its continued sales success gives some hope that Nintendo still sees the value in this series and will continue to support it in the future.
Nintendo Switch Sports is available on Switch.
