Nintendo’s Biggest Game of the Year Isn't What You Think It Is

1 hour ago 24

Published Oct 31, 2026, 4:00 AM EDT

Oli Welsh has been covering the business and culture of video games for two decades. He started out writing for Edge and other publications (specializing in MMOs and Blizzard, as cover for his World of Warcraft playtime) before joining Eurogamer, where he worked for 14 years as reviews editor, deputy editor, and editor-in-chief; Eurogamer won many Games Media Awards during his tenure. At Polygon, he writes about film and TV as well as games, and provides news, analysis, and criticism on the entertainment we love and the industries that make it, all from his home in London. He loves role-playing, racing, puzzles, tactics, exploration, storytelling, Nintendo, mysteries, spies, fantasy, reality, cars, and classic cinema. He wanted to be a movie critic when he grew up, and now he’s definitely grown up, and occasionally is one. He considers this a win.

Living the dream, indeed

It's been a quiet week in Switch world (give or take an Indie World showcase), sandwiched between the twin pillars of Nintendo's fall — Nintendo Switch Sports Resort and the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Time to reflect; time to work on the timing of my table tennis backhand.

This is the time of year when Nintendo's global marketing departments start limbering up and doing stretches for a big mass-market retail push. Nintendo UK launched a wholesome and emotive campaign this week, seemingly trying to one-up Nintendo Australia's legendary sad Zelda dad campaign for Tears of the Kingdom back in 2023. It doesn't quite work, but something about it caught my eye.

Titled "Back to Me," the ad features a despondent young student calling home; it seems like he's just been dumped. His dad invites him back for a family meal, and obviously he plays Ocarina on the train. I assumed a family session of Switch Sports Resort would feature next… but no. Instead, he and his sister make a Mii of his dad in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. He returns to uni, thoroughly cheered up, where he plays more Tomodachi Life with his sister over GameChat.

Tomodachi Life came out in April for the original Switch. It doesn't even have a Switch 2 Edition (yet). If Nintendo UK wanted to throw the spotlight on a game with casual appeal, GameChat support, and family avatars for their storyline, Resort was sitting right there. What gives?

The answer arrived in my inbox this morning, with an astonishing factoid in the September rankings update from games market analysis firm Newzoo. Newzoo reckons Tomodachi Life is the third-biggest new release of 2026, from January to September, in terms of revenue generated across six major Western markets (the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Spain).

Living the Dream showing two Miis mad at one another

In these markets, Tomodachi Life has made more money than Resident Evil Requiem, Pokémon Pokopia, Crimson Desert, and Forza Horizon 6. In fact, one month earlier, it was top of the charts, and only got pushed down to third by September's new FC and NBA sports titles. Back in August, Nintendo already reported that Tomodachi Life sold an amazing 8 million copies by the end of June.

It makes sense: Tomodachi Life is probably the biggest release this year for the Switch, the second-best-selling console of all time, which still enjoys a massively bigger audience than the Switch 2. It's also a socially viral game whose sales have surely been powered by countless hilarious clips online. Oh… and it's widely enjoyed by women and girls, which may explain the underreporting of its success.

Nintendo UK's ad uses the popularity of Tomodachi Life to ram home a vital marketing bullet point: You can play your Switch games on Switch 2 as well. But it also hits a broader message that Nintendo has had great success with over the last 20 years: Hit video games don't always look the way you expect them to.

eShop game of the week: Titanium Court

The winner of the year's top indie game award (the IGF Seumas McNally Grand Prize), Titanium Court is an unclassifiable blend of overlapping genres, including puzzle game and kingdom management. It does its best to confound you at every step. It's also riotously funny and fully self-aware.

Nintendo Classics game of the week: Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts

Celebrate Halloween with this classic, hard-as-nails Capcom action game. On Nintendo Classics, you can choose between the original Genesis arcade port of Ghouls 'n Ghosts or the SNES rework, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts; their merits were hotly debated in the early '90s and have been ever since.

Nintendo Music track of the week: "Bonneton" from Super Mario Odyssey

While we're in the Halloween vibe, this lovely orchestral track from the Super Mario Odyssey sees Koji Kondo and friends doing their very best Danny-Elfman-scores-a-Tim-Burton-movie impression.