Metroid Dread Has Sold Over 3 Million Copies, Reveals Developer

In an interview with Gamereactor, Enric Álvarez, the CEO of Metroid Dread developer MercurySteam, has revealed that the action-adventure title has now sold over three million copies worldwide. While talking about its development, the studio’s CEO called the 2021 title “One of the best games in the franchise” and revealed this updated sales figure for the title which further extends its record as the best-selling Metroid release of all time.

The CEO of MercurySteam shed some light on the game’s sales figures while answering a question about the chaotic development of Metroid Dread. He replied to a 2021 report from Anaitgames by saying that an alleged “chaotic” development doesn’t result in something as triumphant as Metroid Dread.

I don’t think the development was chaotic. Chaotic development doesn’t end with one of the best games in the franchise. It doesn’t end with a game that has sold over three point something million copies. It doesn’t end with a game that won TGA awards. That’s all I have to say about it.”

Considering how Metroid Dread received universal critical acclaim, Game of the Year nominations, and became the fastest-selling game in the series in the UK, Japan, and the US, he isn’t really wrong. Even though Enric Álvarez didn’t give us any specifics, he did unearth that the game has sold “3 point something million copies” as of now, which is still an increase from its last official sales figure.

According to the last official sales update regarding Metroid Dread, the action game had sold 2.9 million copies worldwide as of May 2022. Therefore, assuming the point corresponds to something below 3.5 million, the MercurySteam game has sold a decent amount of copies in the second year following its launch, which happened way back on October 8, 2021.

In addition to all of its commercial and critical success, the 2021 action game also helped in bringing the Metroid franchise back into the limelight with Dread. Even though previous entries like Metroid: Samus Returns had been critically competent, they weren’t that successful commercially. However, Dread hit the ball out of the park in both sectors and introduced the action series to a new era of fans via the Nintendo Switch.

This success also translated well into 2023’s Metroid Prime Remastered, which has already sold over a million copies worldwide as of March 31st, 2023, under 2 months after its initial release. Hence, the future of the series looks bright due to this newfound success, and even though Metroid Prime 4 still hasn’t found a release date, we hope it will release sooner rather than later with the new Nintendo Switch successor.