Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has sold more than 8 million copies, making it the best-selling entry in Nintendo's life sim series, according to figures the company published in its latest financial report.
Nintendo put sales at 7.96 million copies as of the end of June, the close of the first quarter of its current fiscal year, and said the total had passed 8 million by August 5. The game launched on Nintendo Switch on April 16, which puts the milestone at roughly three and a half months after release.
That figure clears the previous series high. Tomodachi Life on 3DS, the first entry released outside Japan, sold 6.73 million copies worldwide and stands as the eleventh best-selling game on the handheld, Video Games Chronicle reports.
The series now sells more abroad than at home
Of the 7.96 million copies counted through the end of June, 2.55 million were sold in Japan and 5.39 million overseas. That split is a reversal of the series' origins: the first game, Tomodachi Collection, released on Nintendo DS in 2009 and never left Japan, where it still sold 3.2 million copies and became the second best-selling Japan-exclusive DS title behind English Training.
Japanese sales have held up regardless. In its first week on sale there, Living the Dream topped the physical charts and outsold the rest of the top ten combined seven times over.
is being enjoyed by people of all ages, regardless of gender
Reception
The game holds a Metacritic score of 77 and drew generally favourable reviews. Video Games Chronicle's own review called it "a hilarious helping of nonsense" while cautioning that the format becomes repetitive after a few weeks of play.
Nintendo released a demo version ahead of launch, and the outlet suggests that the game's tendency to generate shareable moments — clips of its more absurd scenarios circulating on social platforms — is a likely contributor to the sales figures alongside the demo.
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