Animal Crossing New Horizons Has Already Surpassed Lifetime Sales Predictions Says Nintendo President

In a new Q&A, company president Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed the latest iteration of Animal Crossing has surpassed expected lifetime sales.

“The initial sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons have greatly exceeded our expectations," says the Nintendo head (translated by Nintendo Everything). “We were targeting the current sales numbers for the game’s lifetime considering fans have been waiting such a long time for this game, but it all happened at a much faster rate than we anticipated.” Furukawa also added that “about 50%” of Animal Crossing: New Horizons players in Japan, America, and Europe, purchased a digital copy of the game. This follows the release of Nintendo’s financial results last week which revealed New Horizons shipped 11.7 million units during its first 11 days on sale - a figure which grew to 13.41 million in its first six weeks. As we noted last week, this makes Animal Crossing: New Horizon the best-ever launch for a Switch game, beating out Pokemon Sword and Shield’s 12.9 million (over nine weeks).