Nintendo's life-simulation game Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has sold more than 8 million copies, the company announced on August 5, surpassing the lifetime total of its Nintendo 3DS predecessor in under four months on the market. The game launched on the Nintendo Switch on April 16. VGC

The previous entry, simply titled Tomodachi Life, sold 6.73 million copies worldwide across its full lifetime on the 3DS, enough to rank as the 11th best-selling game on that platform. The franchise traces back further to Tomodachi Collection, a Japan-only Nintendo DS release from 2009 that sold 3.2 million copies — the second best-selling Japan-exclusive title on the system behind English Training.

The series centres on a cast of player-created avatars, called Miis, who live together on an island and interact in comedic, often absurd ways — a life simulator in the tradition of a virtual dollhouse. Nintendo described Living the Dream as the first new entry in the Tomodachi Collection series in a long time when it first discussed the project in February 2026. The company said the game "is being enjoyed by people of all ages, regardless of gender." VGC

The sales figure climbed steadily. Nintendo's financial report for the quarter ending June 30 — the first quarter of its current fiscal year — recorded 7.96 million copies sold. That figure split into 2.55 million in Japan and 5.39 million overseas. By August 5, the number had crossed 8 million. Channel News Asia independently corroborated the near-8-million figure in its reporting on Nintendo's quarterly results. Channel News Asia

Earlier in the game's run, Nintendo reported that Living the Dream had passed 3.8 million units in worldwide sell-through within two weeks of release — meaning copies sold to consumers rather than shipped to retailers. The pace eased after that initial burst but held strongly enough through the spring and summer to clear the predecessor's total before the game reached its four-month mark.

Nintendo's first-quarter net profit jumped more than 50 per cent year-on-year, according to the same Channel News Asia report covering the company's results. The quarterly earnings presentation coincided with the updated sales disclosure for Living the Dream.

The game holds a Metacritic score of 77 — a solid but not rave aggregate of professional reviews, suggesting the commercial performance is running ahead of critical reception. For a series that spent more than a decade between entries, the audience was clearly waiting.