The Best-Selling Games on the Switch 2 (So Far)

By all accounts, Nintendo's launch of the Switch 2 was hugely successful, with midnight releases of the console drawing huge lines and in-store stock quickly depleting throughout the day yesterday. Aside from the hardware itself being successful, though, it's interesting to see that there's already plenty of data concerning the system's launch software, with numbers beginning to roll in showing the best-selling games on the Switch 2 just 24 hours after the console's arrival. As you might expect, Nintendo's first-party titles take up most of the coveted best-seller spots in the top 15 games between physical and digital purchases (with a lot of data still rolling in), but it's surprising to see which of the third-party launch games are becoming the must-have killer apps for Nintendo's new handheld.

• Developer — Avalanche Software
• Publisher — Portkey Games
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $59.99

Avalanche Software's Hogwarts Legacy was the best-selling game of 2023, so it should come as no surprise to see its vastly improved Switch 2 version be one of the new system's best-selling titles just 24 hours after launch. Notably, the original Switch version of Hogwarts Legacy was delayed multiple times before its eventual arrival as one of the worst ways to play the game, so the Switch 2 version of the title stands to make good on Harry Potter fans' hopes for a great portable release of the title.

• Developer — Nintendo
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $69.99

Despite being a launch game for the original Nintendo Switch, Breath of the Wild is once again on the charts for the Switch 2 not once, but twice, owing to its standalone Switch 2 edition and the separate upgrade for owners of the original. Regardless of its age, though, Breath of the Wild is undoubtedly one of the best Zelda games and one of the greatest open-world games, and seeing it run at 60 FPS on the Switch 2 makes picking up the new version worth it.

• Developer — IO Interactive
• Publisher — IO Interactive
• Genre — Stealth, Action
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $59.99

Despite being a fairly demanding game in terms of its visual fidelity, the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy is reportedly a great experience on the Switch 2. It's worth noting that the title does feature an unlocked framerate, resulting in its dipping as low as the high 20s in more demanding areas and reaching heights of 50 FPS in normal conditions. Still, the novelty of having some of the best stealth action of the last few years on the go has helped Hitman's Switch 2 edition become one of the console's best-selling third-party titles.

• Developer — Nintendo
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $69.99

Just like Breath of the Wild, the Switch 2 version of its follow-up, Tears of the Kingdom, appears twice on the list of best-selling Switch 2 games. The standalone version of Tears of the Kingdom for Switch 2 is just outside of the top 10 games on the console, proving that it has staying power as one of Nintendo's most iconic titles. It's entirely possible that, thanks to the launch of the Switch 2, Tears of the Kingdom's sales may finally surpass those of Breath of the Wild to become the best-selling game in the Zelda franchise.

• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Fighting
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $59.99

One entry I did not expect to see on the list of best-selling Switch 2 games was the more expensive Years 1-2 Fighters Edition release of Street Fighter 6. As it turns out, this excellent compilation package is one of the better-selling third-party titles on Nintendo's new console, which apparently has a healthy contingent of fighting game fans.

• Developer — RGG Studio
• Publisher — Sega
• Genre — Action, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $49.99

Kicking off the top ten best-selling games on the Switch 2 is Sega and RGG Studio's Yakuza 0 Director's Cut. It's no secret that Yakuza 0 is one of the best games in the long-running beat 'em up franchise, and the ability to play it on the Switch 2 in either handheld or docked modes makes it a natural fit to be one of the console's best-selling third-party titles. Perhaps the most exciting thing about Yakuza 0 Director's Cut's success so far is that it almost guarantees other games in the franchise coming to the Switch 2.

• Developer — Cattle Call, Square Enix
• Publisher — Square Enix
• Genre — JRPG
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $39.99

One of the few Switch 2-exclusive titles to release on the console's launch day, Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster takes the 3DS classic and reimagines it using modern visual uplift and a redone UI for a single screen. Despite the physical version being just a DRM game "key" card and not actually containing the game files themselves, JRPG fans seem to have excitedly grabbed this title as one of the genre's early highlights on the Switch 2.

• Developer — Level-5
• Publisher — Level-5
• Genre — RPG, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Digital
• Price — $62.58

Level-5's Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has already been a critical and commercial success on the Switch and PC, so it's not surprising to see it achieve similar success as one of the best-selling third-party Switch 2 games. The original Switch has a robust library of simulation RPG games in a similar vein to Fantasy Life i, and its blend of city-building and action RPG gameplay makes it unique among the Switch 2's launch games.

• Developer — Nintendo
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — 97%
• Format — Digital
• Price — $9.99 (Free with Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscription)

Millions of Switch owners already have a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (roughly 34 million of them, to be precise), which makes the $10 upgrade to the Switch 2 version an obvious candidate for one of the Switch 2's best-selling launch games. Truth be told, getting the upgrades for both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were top priority after first logging on to the eShop on my Switch 2, and it appears I'm not alone in that sentiment given how high up on the list both upgrade packs are.

• Developer — Toby Fox
• Publisher — Toby Fox
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Digital
• Price — $24.99

Not many outlets have reported on it, but the arrival of Deltarune on Steam just a day ahead of the Switch 2's launch saw it quickly become the best-selling title on Valve's service and almost crash the Steam servers with the amount of people rushing to buy it. Accordingly, the first four chapters of Toby Fox's charming new RPG are proving to be equally as successful on the Switch 2, following in the footsteps of Fox's Undertale as one of the original Switch's best-selling indie games.

• Developer — Nintendo
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Open-World
• Review Aggregate Score — 96%
• Format — Digital
• Price — $9.99 (Free with Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscription)

Many players voiced a desire to hold off on purchasing Tears of the Kingdom in anticipation of it receiving an upgrade on Nintendo's next console, which has resulted in Tears of the Kingdom's Switch 2 edition quickly becoming one of the best-selling games on the new hardware. That Nintendo was even able to get. agame as ambitious as TotK running on the original Switch was impressive, and seeing it run with HDR support and improved performance really hammers home the sentiment that the Switch 2 is a substantial upgrade over its predecessor.

• Developer — Shin'en
• Publisher — Shin'en
• Genre — Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Digital
• Price — $14.99

In the early days of both the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch, Shin'en's futuristic racing games were some of the best-selling digital titles on each console. That history is now repeating itself with Shin'en's Switch 2 racing game, Fast Fusion, which is the second-best-selling third-party title on the console. In addition to being a great game, Fast Fusion is just $15, which makes it an easy pick-up for some solo or multiplayer futuristic racing.

• Developer — Nintendo
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Simulation, Mini-Game
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Digital
• Price — $9.99

For all the (justified) complaints players had about Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour being a paid product versus a free, pre-installed game, the title is currently one of the best-selling digital games on the Switch 2. It's short, there's not much to do outside of a few mini-games and an interactive tour of the console, but at just $10, it's a low-risk pick-up for anyone looking for a break from Mario Kart World. Plus, it's the only other first-party Nintendo game to debut on the Switch 2.

• Developer — CD Projekt RED
• Publisher — CD Projekt RED
• Genre — RPG, FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $69.99

Nintendo fans have made their voices heard loud and clear by making Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition the best-selling third-party game on the Switch 2. Cyberpunk 2077 famously skipped Nintendo's hardware last generation (thanks to it being an incredibly demanding title), and its arrival on the Switch 2 signals just how much of an upgrade the console is over the original Switch. Best of all, Cybrepunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is one of the few third-party titles to feature the entire game on the Game Card instead of a DRM "Game Key".

• Developer — Nintendo
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — 91% (Universal Acclaim)
• Format — Physical, Digital
• Price — $79.99

To absolutely no one's surprise, Nintendo's Mario Kart World is currently the best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch 2. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would eventually go on to be the original Switch's best-selling game, and Mario Kart World is an incredible experience that's hard to put down, lining it up for similar lifetime success. It also helps that, as of the time of writing, the Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle is much harder to find than the standard console, which certainly contributed to the title's sales figures.