Second Edition - Animal Crossing: New Horizons shipped 31.18m by December 31st. Lifetime sales expectations?

[The_Liquid_Laser]

The more I think about Animal Crossing sales, the more it makes my head hurt.  I mean, I can technically follow a trend line and calculate the numbers, but really it defies every kind of expectation I had for it.  For example, I just didn't think sim games in general were this popular.  A year ago, I kind of thought "the Sims" was the ceiling for sales on this kind of game.  Just imagine if a turn based strategy game sold 40m+.  Would that seem right to you?  It definitely would buck all previous trends. 

GTA and Minecraft are both essentially open world action games, and so I've thought this was the main mega-popular genre.  I also recognize that really easy to learn games have the potential to explode in sales, like Tetris or Wii Sports.  I wouldn't put Animal Crossing into either of these categories.  It's not a 2D platformer or racing game either like original Super Mario or Mario Kart. 

The questions I have are, "what kinds of people are buying Animal Crossing and how many of these people are there?"  It seems to be females and I think it is also popular with kids.  But those categories are really broad.  I think it also mostly includes people who are willing to pay $300 + $60 just to get an Animal Crossing game.  That kind of cost is far more than a person pays to play GTA or Minecraft which is kind of amazing too.  I just feel like these numbers have to run out eventually.  Animal Crossing can't do 10m+ a year for several more years in a row.  At least, I don't think it can.

Anyway, this is all a wild ass guess, but I voted 50-55m.  In the older poll I voted 40m+, but I felt that was an easier poll.  Back then I still didn't think it would outsell Mario Kart 8 when I voted 40m+.  Now I realize that Animal Crossing has been putting Mario Kart sales to shame.  Who the hell knows what will happen?  I really feel Animal Crossing sales are like nothing I've ever seen before.

Bonus: I did purchase this game, but I bought it for my daughter.  I still haven't played it yet.  It looks fun, but also it looks like a hell of a time sink.