Nintendo put such a marketing blitz behind Metroid Dread compared to with past Metroid releases that it would be a bit soul-crushing if it didn’t achieve at least a moderate level of sales success. Fortunately, the game finally launched on October 8, and early data is positive. GamesIndustry.biz has released the GfK top 10 sales data for boxed video games for the United Kingdom (UK), and Metroid Dread has landed in third place behind FIFA 22 and Far Cry 6. That’s good enough for Metroid Dread to be the highest-grossing launch for any Metroid game ever in the UK.
| Last Week | This Week | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | FIFA 22 |
| New Entry | 2 | Far Cry 6 |
| New Entry | 3 | Metroid Dread |
| 2 | 4 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe |
| New Entry | 5 | Alan Wake Remastered |
| 5 | 6 | Minecraft (Switch) |
| 7 | 7 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons |
| New Entry | 8 | Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania |
| 10 | 9 | Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury |
| 9 | 10 | Grand Theft Auto 5 |
“In terms of unit sales, Metroid Dread was less than 1,000 units away from over-taking Metroid Prime,” explained GamesIndustry.biz, but when considering digital sales, there is no question that Dread sold more copies in total. Additionally, Dread sold 3.5 times more copies at launch than Metroid: Samus Returns did at launch on Nintendo 3DS in 2017. The GamesIndustry.biz author elaborated on Twitter that the game has in fact already sold more boxed copies in the UK than Metroid: Samus Returns did in its entire lifetime.
Fun fact: Metroid Dread has already sold more in 1 week than Samus Returns sold in its entirety (boxed sales only)
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) October 11, 2021
No one was really expecting Metroid Dread to trump the also recently launched Far Cry 6, and FIFA continues to be a sales juggernaut. But those things aside, Metroid Dread sales appear to be off to a great start.
[Source]
