Nintendo revealed that Tomodachi Life has sold a million copies on 3DS in Europe alone. This was announced on Twitter:
#TomodachiLife has sold 1,000,000 copies in Europe! That’s a lot of Mii characters… pic.twitter.com/lz1GR38Ysm
— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) December 19, 2014
Tomodachi Life is the company’s odd simulation game where players can create a character and subject them to a range of scenarios. This usually devolves into some fever dream, which may even involve the reappearance of the Virtual Boy, Nintendo’s failed VR project in the nineties.
Inhabitants of Tomodachi Life’s island are comprised of Miis that can be imported or created. These characters can then be given a certain personality and even a synthesized voice, which can be used for karaoke-like song renditions later.
Nintendo has made the game as accessible as it possibly can to promote this strange, open-ended genre. For instance, a demo can be downloaded on the Nintendo eShop to get a taste of madness.
A copy of Tomodachi Life also comes with two Welcome versions that can be handed out to others. Word of mouth is an important marketing strategy as well, after all.
For a moment, Tomodachi Life was target of some criticism. A bug that allowed same-sex relationships was removed from the simulation game, leading pundits to question Nintendo’s stance on sexuality.
There’s also a Tomodachi Life stage in the new Super Smash Bros, though it only appears in the Nintendo 3DS version. It is possible to play as Miis in both versions of the fighter, however.
The success of Tomodachi Life may be a little less surprising to those who have followed the sales charts for weeks on end. It’s one of the only titles that managed to retain a consistent spot in the top 20, while many other larger releases dropped quickly.
