Animal Crossing’s US launch sales were the third biggest of any Nintendo game

Animal Crossing: New Horizons enjoyed a huge debut in the US, according to data released on Tuesday by the NPD Group.

The Switch exclusive recorded the third-biggest launch month (physical sales) of any game published by Nintendo in the market research firm’s tracking history. NPD began tracking software sales in the 1990s.

Only December 2018’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and March 2008’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl achieved higher physical software sales in their launch months.

NPD Group tracks digital sales from most major publishers but Nintendo is one exception.

New Horizons is already the best-selling game in franchise history in the US, reports NPD, with dollar sales topping the lifetime sales of all other Animal Crossing titles combined.

It’s currently the second best-selling game of 2020 year to date behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

New Horizons helped Nintendo Switch hardware sales more than double compared to March 2019, with the platform setting a new all-time record for hardware unit sales in a March month, overtaking the one it previously set when it launched in March 2017.

Switch has now also achieved the strongest first quarter unit sales of any platform since the Nintendo DS in 2010.

Sony and Microsoft have also benefitted from an increase in sales following the introduction of social isolation measures designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The NPD Group said PS4 and Xbox One sales in March were both up by more than 25 percent compared to a year ago, ending a long-running decline in current generation sales ahead of the launch of PS5 and Xbox Series X during the 2020 holiday season.

New Horizons, which released in late March alongside a special edition version of the flagship Switch console and a new coral coloured Switch Lite, also achieved record launch sales for a Switch game in both the UK and Japan.

On Tuesday Nintendo confirmed new features coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, including the addition of an art gallery.

VGC’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons review says the “comforting life sim is a tranquil haven at a time the world needs it most”.

• Related: Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide: 21 tips to become a happy islander

March 2020 top-selling US games