Anyway, ever since... I'd say Paper Mario Origami Prince they've seemingly gotten steadily more cagey with attaching release windows, and it seems like they'll have games basically done before even mentioning release dates by now.
Most of that is because of Covid making it trickier to plan ahead. We know Japanese companies in general weren't very well prepared for letting employees work from home, and I'd imagine a company as secretive as Nintendo was even less so. It's kind of hard to give a solid release date, if there's a chance one of your major team members test positive and cant work for 2 weeks.
It's weird that Animal Crossing is popular. It's a good thing, but I remember when the game seemed obscure. But I guess the first one did sell a million copies. Now I walk into Walmart and there is Animal Crossing Monopoly.
The first Animal Crossing was held back by being a late N64 game that never left Japan, and the second one was a Gamecube game, which also explains a lot. Of course the N64 game sold over 500k which was really good for late N64 games in the Japanese market, and the Gamecube game did over 2 million worldwide which was really good for a Gamecube game, especially something that was pretty much a new IP in the West.
But when it finally got put on a popular system, the DS, that's when things took off. Wild World on the DS sold over 11 million copies and New Leaf on the 3DS did close to 13 million. The crazy thing is just how much it's exploded on the Switch. New Horizons is already at 37 million copies and growing, which is literally one of the craziest growth in gaming history.
Of course the even crazier thing is Animal Crossing isn't the only series experiencing this kind of growth, Zelda isn't that far behind. Before Breath of the Wild, the best selling Zelda was Twilight Princess which was over 8 million if you combined the Wii and Gamecube versions. Now Breath of the Wild is over 27 million if you combine the Switch and Wii U versions. Zelda is going to go from a series that could never break the 10 million barrier, to one that will break the 30 million one.
If you really want to have your mind blown, before the Switch, Mario and Pokemon were considered Nintendo's biggest franchises with the best selling Mario being the original at 40 million and the best selling Pokemon being the original Red/Blue/Green at 31 million. By the time the Switch lifespan is over, Animal Crossing New Horizon will have sold over 40 million, surpassing the original Super Mario Bros and Breath of the Wild will have sold over 31 million, surpassing the original Pokemon. Of course Mario will still keep his crown since Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is at 43 million, and will easily cross the 50 million mark by the time the Switch is dead. Hell, the way things are going I wouldn't be surprised if that game reaches the 60 million mark or beyond. It already has a crazy attachment rate of over 40% of the Switch 103 million userbase. If the Switch crosses the 150 million barrier, then it's very possible Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will hit those numbers.
Of course Pokemon is no slouch either since Sword and Shield just recently surpassed the original release of Gold and Silver and is now the 2nd best selling game in it's franchise at close to 24 million. Mario Odyssey is at 23 million which is still over 10 million more then the previous best selling 3D Mario, the 1st Galaxy game did with close to 13 million. We also can't forget Smash Bros Ultimate which is at 27 million itself and will cross the 30 million mark in the near future as well.
This is what I mean by the Switch being on a whole different level then previous Nintendo systems. Nintendo games have always been popular, but when put on a system that doesn't have any of the glaring issues the previous Nintendo system have had, it's become an unstoppable monster.
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