TheNintendo Switchhas been a sales phenomenon and a return to form for the legendary console manufacturer, winning over massive audiences and revitalizing the company’s home console sales after the Wii U failed to meet expectations. Part of theSwitch’s success has been thanks to a library of first and third-party titles that appeal to wide ranges of players.
Games as diverse asHyrule Warriors,Animal Crossing, The Witcher 3and theCrash Bandicootremasters have all found a home on the system, but the biggest third party success on the console probably isn’t one most adult players would expect.
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According to figures from NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella, the LEGO franchise is the biggest third-party series on Nintendo consoles. The brick-powered adventure series is the ninth best selling franchise in video game history by sales in US dollars, and is celebrating 25 years on store shelves since debuting withLEGO Fun to Buildon the Sega Pico in 1995, exclusively in Japan.
Modern fans are probably more familiar with theLEGO Star Warssub-series by Traveller’s Tales, and the multitude of games made with similar gameplay since the first entry in that franchise came out in 2005. The NPD Group says the series' best-selling titles in the United States includeLEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, LEGO Batman,andLEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy,while the LEGO Group says thebest selling game in the franchise internationally isLEGO Marvel Super Heroes.
Based on the LEGO series' strong performance on the Switch, it seems that Nintendo’s long-standing reputation as the company with the most kid-friendly consoles isn’t going away anytime soon. Developer Traveller’s Tales and publisher Warner Bros. were well known for releasing an absurd number of titles in the franchise during the 2000s and 2010s, but the last new LEGO game on consoles wasThe LEGO Movie 2 Videogamein 2019, and the only upcoming entry isLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagawhich looks toadd some never before seen featureswhen it launches next spring.
WithThe Skywalker Sagaset to cover the last two mainline Star Wars movies in 2021, Traveller’s Tales will probably have to find a new direction to continue theLEGO Star Warsseries, which remains a top seller among the studio’s many franchises. Disney’s revised canon may have eliminated some of the Extended Universe options the series may have once been able to explore, but some of the modern stories would make for great fun with the series' distinctive gameplay. One popular fan wish that has seen a lot of activity lately is for aLEGO Mandaloriangame, based on the current popularity of the Disney+ series.
