The most popular games in 2023, a big surprise

The Japanese branch of Big N has published the list of the 30 most downloaded Nintendo Switch games on the eShop this year, and it’s sometimes quite surprising.

It’s time to take stock. Many of you have been able to count your annual gaming hours and take stock of the most played titles thanks to the personalized retrospectives offered by all publishers. Now for the greatest hits by platform. Steam has just revealed the most downloaded games on its store this year, now it’s Big N’s turn to bring us the list of the greatest hits on the Nintendo Switch via the eShop. Is Zelda Tears of the Kingdom at the top? No, and we have to admit that there are some surprises in this top 30.

Here are the biggest hits of the year in the eShop

Whether we like it or not, dematerialization is taking an increasingly important place in the industry. Physical sales are often different from digital sales because online stores contain small trinkets that are not for sale in stores. The list of the 30 most downloaded Nintendo Switch games on the Japanese eShop perfectly illustrates this trend. We could have easily published a few posts about Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, a real phenomenon of the year on the hybrid console. If Link has ascended to other heights with this sequel, he’ll be keeping the peach, which is the watermelon, for this time. It is the supercharged Suika game that is leading sales on the platform.

A puzzle game where you have to combine multiple fruits of the same variety into large watermelons and tame capricious physics to get the best score before the fruits cross the limit. An addictive game like anything else that costs almost nothing, in short, the hit of the year on Nintendo Switch and undoubtedly on mobile devices, where thinly disguised copies are increasingly flourishing. However, this is not the only surprise in this ranking, which takes 1 sales into account^Is January to December 20, 2023. Pikmin 4 climbs into the top 3 when it is freshly released Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince already placed in 5th place^e take place in just 20 days.

Overcooked 2 has delighted millions of players this year, the party game has experienced new growth thanks to social networks and lands directly in the top 10 most downloaded Nintendo Switch games in Japan. When asked which Pokémon Scarlet or Violet is more popular, digital enthusiasts mostly prefer Miraidon.