As ‘social distancing’ continues and Netflix gets old, we desperately seek for other activities to get us through this indefinite isolation period. The gaming console, Nintendo Switch seems to be keeping a lot of us busy. In the past few weeks, amid a pandemic, more than 392,000 consoles were sold in Japan last week. This is the highest seven-day total for the portable console, despite warnings that the spread of the virus would affect production and shipments. 

The surge of sales is linked to Nintendo‘s new Animal Crossing: New Horizons game that has managed to sell 1.88 million copies in its first three days, a bigger sales figure than any Nintendo Switch or Animal Crossing game to date. It is a social simulation game that allows you to hang out on a desert island with animal NPCs and friends who own it too. It’s not surprising that a game like this would gain fast traction during times of isolation.

For now the gaming console is out of stock on retail platforms like Target, Walmart and Amazon. But don’t panic, Nintendo has announced that more consoles are on their way.