Metroid: Dread’s launch figures in the US have comfortably beaten records for the series, and could allude to a bright future for Samus after quite a dry spell.
Data published by the NPD Group offered an insight into the popularity of Metroid: Dread after its successful October 8 launch on Nintendo Switch. Following its release, the game debuted as October’s third best-selling game in the US. Despite being released over a week into that period, Metroid: Dread also came out as the highest-ranked selling game on the Nintendo Switch.
In doing that, it achieved the highest ever launch month sales of any Metroid game to date – dwarfing its predecessors by some margin. According to the Group, Metroid: Dread’s launch month dollar sales nearly doubled those of the series’ previous record holder, Metroid: Prime.
Metroid has been a quiet series for a long time. The last mainline 2D entry in the series was 2017 remake Samus Returns, with the last wholly original 2D entry arriving in the form of 2004’s Zero Mission. In terms of 3D games, we haven’t seen one since 2010’s Other M.
While good sales figures for Dread don’t necessarily confirm a busier future for Metroid releases, it does at least bode well that Nintendo can succeed with new entries in the series. The next Metroid game we know about is Metroid Prime 4, which was announced in 2017 but restarted development in 2019.
While Metroid finished in third in US sales in October, its NPD sales figures don’t include digital sales like the two titles ahead in the ranking, Turtle Rock Studios’ Back 4 Blood claimed second place and the best-selling game in the US across October went to Far Cry 6. Following Far Cry’s launch, Ubisoft recently confirmed that Vaas: Insanity – the first of its premium episodic expansions – will be launching on November 16.
If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of Metroid Dread, make sure to check out our review of the game where we awarded it a 9/10.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/metroid-dread-sales-future-bright-for-series
