Slime Rancher’s Switch Launch Once Again Shows The Sales Power Of The eShop

Earlier this month, popular first-person sandbox title Slime Rancher launched on Switch under a new ‘Plortable Edition’ guise. The game (which is rather lovely, by the way) has been around for several years now, first entering early access in January 2016 and officially launching on several platforms in August 2017, yet this month’s Switch launch has seen it reach new heights.

Slime Rancher director Nick Popovich has revealed on Twitter that despite the game being in its sixth year, it enjoyed its best-ever sales day on 11th August, the day that it launched on the Switch eShop. Nintendo treated the game to a nice bit of marketing under its Indie World brand, no doubt helping to push the game into the eyeballs of more potential players.

“We’re over halfway into Slime Rancher’s 6th(!) year of existence and yesterday was the best sales day in its history,” Popovich said following the game’s launch. “Thank you all for supporting our Plortable Edition on Switch!”

The news reminds us of several indie success stories we’ve had the pleasure of covering in the past, such as the momentous occasion that was the launch of Untitled Goose Game, when Alwa’s Legacy sold more copies on Switch in just over one week than it managed in four months on Steam, and several tales from devs shared back in 2018 that painted the Switch eShop in a very positive light.

Not every game can enjoy the same success, of course, but it’s always nice to hear of smaller studios getting the most out of Nintendo’s platforms.