2018 has already seen multiple big releases this year: God of War, Monster Hunter World, Dragon Ball Fighterz, Far Cry 5, and more. Yet, the best-selling game of 2018 on Amazon so far, is Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which hasn't even released yet.
Yes, that's right. Based purely off pre-orders, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate -- which doesn't release until this December -- is beating every above-mentioned game in sales so far this year on Amazon.
What this perhaps shows is the combination of Super Smash Bros. large, cult-like following and the hunger for a big, first-party developed Nintendo title on the Switch at the moment. Last year had Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but this year things have been more quiet from Nintendo on the first-party front, with Mario Tennis Aces the only notable release so far, and the only real notable release until Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
What this also shows is the market power of Super Smash Bros., and the increasing likelihood that it will help push some hardware this holiday season.
That all said, there's a few things worth noting. First of all, Amazon divides sales for each game by platform. So, across Xbox One and PS4, Far Cry 5 may have more sales on the site than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but each individual skew doesn't, hence why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is higher.
Two, Amazon is far from a representation of the entire software market. Far from it. But it is one of the larger sects of the software market, and is a decent indicator on how games are performing at retail.
Lastly, its best-selling lists tend to favor exclusives, since all sales are concentrated into one version of the game.
All of this is to say, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate might not be the best-selling game of 2018, but it's up there, and it's up there on pre-orders alone, which is pretty incredible. Further, it's beating the other big exclusive of 2018: Sony's God of War.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is in development for Nintendo Switch, and is poised to release on December 4. For more news, information, and media on the game, click here.
Note: This is not a sponsored post, but if you purchase one of the awesome products featured above, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.
Padankadank on August 27th, 2018 at 01:55 UTC »
No wonder amazon pulled the prime discount
Thenegotiator_14 on August 27th, 2018 at 00:38 UTC »
I think most people preorder the game after the news broke out that Amazon was stopping the 20% preorder bonus, I know I did lol
Mootsy101 on August 26th, 2018 at 23:03 UTC »
And it hasn't even been released!