As previously reported, Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Leaf has been quite the hit in Japan. In addition to high sales at retail, the game has also raked in a high number of download sales, owing to Nintendo advertising the download version on television.
Unfortunately, most publishers are usually hesitant to provide figures for download sales of their games, but Nintendo seem to be more forthcoming with this information. Owing to the company’s earnings report for their third quarter, we now have an idea how download sales for New Leaf have been going since launch.
Total sales—including download sales—of Animal Crossing: New Leaf were at 2.73 million by December 31st, 2012. Out of that 2.73 million figure, over 700,000 copies sold were of the download version, according to Nintendo.
That’s one-fourth of the game’s total sales, which Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, describes as “an unprecedented achievement”.
Even now, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is continuing to sell well in Japan, with retail sales up to 2.36 million at retail alone as of last week. The game is slated for release in South Korea, North America and Europe later this year as well.
Published: Jan 31, 2013 08:30 am