Nintendo reveals top ten best-selling indie games on the Switch so far

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Following up their Nindies Showcase earlier this week, Nintendo has taken to GDC 2019 to talk about indie games on the Switch. There, they divulged the top ten independent titles that have sold the most on the platform. Though many of these games come as no surprise to most Switch owners, you can see the full list below, which is not listed in any specific order.

  • Stardew Valley
  • Hollow Knight
  • Overcooked 2
  • Undertale
  • Dead Cells
  • Enter the Gungeon
  • Graceful Explosion Machine
  • Celeste
  • Golf Story
  • Overcooked
This year's list sees last year's entries like Shovel Knight, Fast RMX, and SteamWorld Dig 2 be dethroned by newcomers such as Dead Cells, Overcooked 2, and Celeste. No exact numbers were provided, though we do know that Yacht Club Games reported Switch sales for Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove to be at around 350,000 copies sold, meaning all of the above games have surpassed that.
 

Arras

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Haven't played the free one, quit one, and got bored with the last one (apparently I wanted to play a dungeon/mining sim* more than a farming sim).
If you don't mind the anime style, you might want to check out Rune Factory 4S when it launches (or just play the 3DS version). It's very anime, but it's sort of like Harvest Moon but with more focus on combat and dungeons, so you might like it more.
 

Bladexdsl

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I don't see Nintendo's exclusives fleeing them for PC like what's happening with PS4 and XB1 right now. Pretty sure Switch will have more AAA exclusives by the end of this year than the others, if it doesn't already.
last time i checked kh III wasn't on the pc :P
 

Taleweaver

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Nice list. Seems like a lot of quality titles find their way to an audience. :D

Graceful explosion is the only one I didn't hear about, and from what I see, that's a shame on MY behalf. :)

what did everyone expected? switch owners have only indies to play, so obviously they would going to sell well.
What do you mean, "what did everyone expect?" ? On nintendo's last two platforms, the consoles were but a means to play nintendo titles. Third party support was sub-par (on the wii) or hardly existant (wiiu). Developers were at best wary about the consoles (ubisoft changed directions once zombiiu was a loss for 'em and EA downright sabotaged their own line-up), and indies...while there were some very decent titles on them, they flew right under the radar of the audience. Which in the wiiu's case consisted solely of nintendo fanboys (I tracked 'wiiu essential games list'...even after the thing was hacked, nobody voted for gems like teslagrad, steamworld dig or axiom verge).

As such, it's VERY good news to hear that third party support get a good amount of customers. Sure, the large companies still (mostly? :unsure:) ignore the device, but I personally prefer good gameplay titles rather than a visual blingfest that has gameplay that is 99% the same as the previous games in the entry.


wait, what about GRIS?
Gris's release date was december 13. It's very possible that this game is still busy gaining traction.
 

kuwanger

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On nintendo's last two platforms, the consoles were but a means to play nintendo titles. Third party support was sub-par (on the wii) or hardly existant (wiiu).

Given that I tend to view the Switch as more of a successor to the 3DS, I'd tend to argue that such a statement doesn't follow. In fact, part of the reason for lower game sales of some Switch indie games is precisely that people already bought them for the 3DS. Conversely, the games that were never released on the 3DS are now being released on the Switch; this includes games that were previously released on the Vita which makes me wonder the logic used. There were also a lot of ports of mobile games (Kemco) for the 3DS. Is that true for the Switch?
 
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Taleweaver

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Given that I tend to view the Switch as more of a successor to the 3DS, I'd tend to argue that such a statement doesn't follow. In fact, part of the reason for lower game sales of some Switch indie games is precisely that people already bought them for the 3DS. Conversely, the games that were never released on the 3DS are now being released on the Switch; this includes games that were previously released on the Vita which makes me wonder the logic used. There were also a lot of ports of mobile games (Kemco) for the 3DS. Is that true for the Switch?
Good point. I have to admit that nothing I said holds true to the 3DS (well...aside incidentally), as I don't follow that part of what nintendo does.

So if I read your post right, nintendo is pretty much competing against itself by having both the switch and the 3DS on the market?
 

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So if I read your post right, nintendo is pretty much competing against itself by having both the switch and the 3DS on the market?

Yea, which is a large reason why people believed the Switch was intended to both replace the 3DS and the Wii U. I don't think it was really Nintendo's intention as much as an extension of the hardware* and form factor. Practically the 3DS is dead compared to the Switch's upcoming releases. The Switch has been such a massive success for Nintendo (the Switch already has 43% the system sales as the 3DS), I'd tend to argue 2018 was the last year of the 3DS. Honestly, it's one of the best examples of where install base quickly stops mattering and companies scramble to port their work to a newer system.

* Wii/Wii U -> Switch is a much harder port than 3DS -> Switch, and Indie games are especially inclined to use lower spec requirements which fit the Switch lower resolution and battery life expectations. In many ways, Switch is Nintendo's accidental PSP.
 
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Sakitoshi

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What do you mean, "what did everyone expect?"
I mean, the great majority of the third party support the switch has is indies, not that there is something wrong with that. as you said, some indies are even better than AAA games.
also like you said, people goes with nintendo to play their games, nothing out of the ordinary here. but when third party games start coming to nintendo platforms people tend to see them as an extra rather than the rule ("whoa, I can play mario AND shovel knight, nintendo is the best"), inflating the hype.
not all is negative, mind you. having less AAA support makes AA (I consider AA niche studios like nis and marvelous/xseed) and indies shine, since people has no other games to look at they are (kind of) forced to pay attention to the AA and indie titles. taking that into account, boasting that your platform is killing it selling indies when all it has are indies isn't very impressive.

having said all that, I think I jumped the gun a little, since this thread isn't about "indies sold more than other titles" but a standard top 10 list of indies available in the platform.
 

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I'm all about that Overcooked, and really any good co-op games that have that whole "easy to pick up, hard to master" thing going on.

Really looking forward to trying Stardew Valley co-op one day, too.
 

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Those lists sucks. Best 10 top games ? Interesting. To me, they sucks.
It's not a "best 10 top games" list. It's a list about indie games that many, many people bought.

Nintendo doesn't list how much money they made and developers sign NDA's (Non-Disclosure Agreements), so they're not allowed to make those numbers public either. Over 350.000 copies, sold at $40, that's a cool 14 mil, per title. And "Overcooked" apparently is in there twice! (yay Ghost Town Games?)
 

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I'm one of the (many) people who bought Stardew Valley even though I already owned it on PC. For three reasons: wanting to support the dev a bit more, wanted to show nintendo (with my wallet) what games are appreciated, and because I really wanted to have it in a portable fashion like that!
 

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