As far as its critical reception and legacy are concerned, there’s little doubt that Metroid is one Nintendo’s most prestigious franchises, though that success has hardly ever been reflected to the same degree in terms of sales. Though Metroid games have sold decent numbers over the years, they have never even come close to matching the sales of the likes of The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Splatoon, or Animal Crossing.
Even Metroid Dread, which launched in 2021 to widespread critical acclaim and went on to become the series’ highest-selling game to date, has only sold over 2.9 million units worldwide- well, until recently, at least. Metroid Dread developer MercurySteam’s CEO Enric Álvarez has revealed that Metroid Dread has exceeded 3 million units sold worldwide, which is a pretty slight increase in over a year’s time, but does still mean the game has hit another commercial milestone.
Speaking recently with Gamereactor, when asked about whether Metroid Dread’s development was “chaotic” – as some reports have suggested in the aftermath of the game’s launch – Álvarez refuted the notion, pointing to the game’s critical and commercial success as evidence of a smooth development cycle.
“I don’t think the development was chaotic,” he said. “A chaotic development doesn’t end with one of the best games in the franchise. It does not end with a game that has sold more than three point something million copies. It doesn’t end with a game that has won TGA awards. That’s all I have to say about it.”
Of course, “three point something” can mean anything between 3 million units sold and 3.9 million units sold, but even though we don’t have a specific number for where the game’s sales currently stand, it is, nonetheless, a figure that the series hasn’t ever breached in the past.
In the same interview, Álvarez also spoke about whether MercurySteam was working on another new 2D Metroid game, and unsurprisingly, was reluctant to say much one way or another.
Metroid Dread is available on the Nintendo Switch.