Nintendo’s latest life sim is off to a strong start, surpassing a huge 3.8 million sales in its first two weeks!
Last month, Nintendo’s highly anticipated life sim Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream was released for Switch and Switch 2. The game has been hugely successful so far, particularly on social media, with countless players sharing what their islands’ Mii residents have been getting up to.
Alongside the widespread positive response and a very active fanbase, we have now received further confirmation of the game’s success, thanks to Nintendo releasing their FY26 earnings report on 8th May. These financial results cover Tomodachi Life sales, reporting that the game impressively sold almost 4 million copies in its first two weeks. We’ll break down these figures in more depth below, as well as take a look at how they compare to some other Nintendo titles.
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Sales Figures Explained
Before we properly dive in, I would like to note that Nintendo’s FY26 covers data collected up until 31st March, meaning Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is not technically considered part of these metrics as it launched on 16th April. Further details regarding Tomodachi Life sales will be included in Nintendo’s next quarterly report, which covers April through to June 2026.
Although Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream’s release fell outside the date range for the report, some initial statistics were still highlighted, stating that 3.8 million copies were sold in the first two weeks after release. Given the game’s massive popularity, it’s a fair assumption that these figures will be beaten in the Q1 report, but for a two week window this is a very strong start, especially given this is the franchise’s first entry in over 10 years. These figures refer to the sales of both physical and digital copies of the game.
In addition to sales data, Nintendo revealed another interesting statistic – while Living The Dream is a Switch title and hasn’t yet received a Switch 2 edition, it is still selling well amongst Switch 2 users: “Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream had solid release…although released as a Nintendo Switch title, approximately 40% of players are Nintendo Switch 2 owners.”
Earlier reports and chart data similarly indicted that Tomodachi Life sales were going well. In their weekly sales report, Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu stated that 565,405 physical copies had been sold in Japan during the game’s debut week. These numbers meant Tomodachi Life was Japan’s highest selling game across all platforms that week, outselling the rest of the top-ten bestsellers list by a mile.
In the UK, the game debuted at the top of GFK’s physical sales charts for the week ending 17th April, beating out Square Enix’s new release Pragmata. Chart performances like this in two major markets, combined with consistent sales worldwide, strongly indicate Tomodachi Life sales aren’t going to slow down any time soon.
How do these sales compare to other Nintendo games?
To put these numbers into perspective, let’s take a look at how they compare to some similar Nintendo titles.
Interestingly, the previous Tomodachi Life game, first released for the 3DS in 2013, is actually the system’s 10th best-selling game. As of 31st March 2025, over 6.7 million copies had been sold worldwide. Living The Dream’s early sales already total half of its predecessor’s all-time sales. If sales continue at this rate, it could realistically outsell the last game, especially factoring in the context that the original Switch has a much larger install base (over 155 million units) than the 3DS (around 75 million units).
One major point of comparison that has been noted on social media is Nintendo’s other recent life sim release, Pokopia. In the FY26 report, Pokopia’s global cumulative sales are stated to be over 4 million units in the five weeks since it launched in March. Impressively, Tomodachi Life sales have nearly matched these numbers in just two weeks.
It was reported a few weeks ago that Tomodachi Life had a better physical release in the UK – according to The Game Business’ Christopher Dring: “Tomodachi Life sold 36 percent better at launch in the UK than Pokopia“. Of course, Living the Dream has an advantage over Pokopia in that it’s a cross-gen game, while Pokopia is a Switch 2 exclusive, which significantly narrows its audience.
And obviously we can’t discuss Nintendo’s life sims without mentioning Animal Crossing: New Horizons. As you probably already know, the most recent entry to the beloved franchise was a huge hit, breaking numerous sales records. Nearly 2 million copies were sold in its first week, and Nintendo later reported that 11.77 million units had sold within the first 12 days, securing the game’s place as one of Nintendo’s best-selling games, not just on the Switch, but of all time. Although these figures for New Horizons dwarf Tomodachi Life sales, they do show that successful life sim sales are definitely nothing new for Nintendo.
Based on strong early sales figures and current popularity, which is certainly reminiscent of New Horizons, it will be very interesting to see how the trajectory of Living The Dream’s sales continues over the coming months.
Have you been enjoying Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream? Let us know in the comments below and check out our other Tomodachi Life coverage here!
