This Switch 2 Game Has Unexpectedly Outsold Major Nintendo Series

Published Aug 6, 2026, 4:30 PM EDT Nintendo fans expected the life sim to sell well, but perhaps not better-than-Pokémon well An unexpected Switch 2 game is currently more popular than classic Nintendo franchises Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon Sign in to your Polygon.com account Even before it was released, it was clear that the quirky life sim Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream was going to be a Switch 2 hit. What nobody could have guessed was just how popular the slice-of-life game would be. The newest Tomodachi Life game didn't just do well on Nintendo's platform: it outdid a number of major franchises. According to Nintendo's most recent financial report, Tomodachi Life on Switch 2 has sold a total of 7.96 million units. For the sake of comparison, other 2026 releases like Star Fox and Yoshi and the Mysterious Book have each sold fewer than 1 million copies. The veritable sensation Pokémon Pokopia has sold at least 3.6 million copies as of early June, but that figure does not include Japanese sales, which are reported by The Pokémon Company. That incomplete number still placed Pokopia in the top five best-selling Switch 2 games, though. Based on current numbers, Living the Dream has evidently outsold multiple brand stalwarts combined. The latest sales figures haven't been updated on Nintendo's site, but the new report suggests that Tomodachi Life is one of the best-performing Switch 2 games ever. That's doubly impressive when you consider that the Switch 2 is the fastest-selling Nintendo console ever released. Players who tried the 2026 Switch 2 exclusive may not be surprised by its success. The game, which allows custom Mii characters to interact with one another in absurd ways, is rife with moments made for social media virality. The title is also surprisingly permissive for a Nintendo game. Players can fill their Tomodachi island with content that would normally be filtered or banned on most platforms. Rather than creating a cesspool of content, the lack of censorship has only helped Tomodachi Life stand out amid a stacked lineup of classic video game franchises.