'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' Selling Out In Japan, Clears Two Million Copies Sold

Since its release earlier this month, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for Nintendo Switch has been making all kinds of sales records. It's managed to clear five million copies in three days worldwide; and over in Japan alone, retailers are actually struggling to keep the game in stock.

An update over the GEO page indicates that the game continuously sells out each time stores get it in stock; and even though it's received an ample supply of copies in time for the holidays, customers went nuts picking them up.

The digital version has been selling just as well, resulting in two million copies sold in Japan already- a sales record for the series.

This update from Twitter shows just how retailers are trying to keep consumers informed of in-game stock, though they do expect more copies from Nintendo soon.

スマブラ買いにきたのに売り切れは困惑 pic.twitter.com/VdEhzlqQ9G

— ピザーラ (@ikinari_rotte) December 25, 2018

This marks the first time that a Nintendo product has been sold out since the Nintendo Switch console initially came out last year, as thousands of fans stood in line in the hopes of securing a system. It's since seen an ample resupply, so, at the very least, Smash Bros. fans can get one of those and then download the game via the eShop, provided they have the right amount of space on their memory card. (The digital version takes up around 13.5GB of space before updates.)

The game handily outperformed other releases in Japan for the week, tripling the numbers of runner-up Super Mario Party for the Switch, with 450,000 copies sold compared to Party's 155,000; and even new releases like Dragon Quest Builders 2 couldn't keep up with Smash's momentum, though it made a respectable debut with 97,600 copies sold.

As for when stores can expect more copies of Smash, it's likely to be sometime very early next year, as Nintendo will likely ramp up production in time for the first downloadable content release, which will bring the curious Piranha Plant character, along with the recently announced Joker from Persona 5.

We'll see how stocking goes in the weeks ahead. For the time being, it's great to see Smash push Nintendo to record numbers in 2018; and that means even bigger things ahead for the new year.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now for Nintendo Switch in both physical and digital form through the Nintendo eShop.

(Hat tip to NintendoSoup for the details!)