To the general surprise of absolutely no one, Pokemon Scarlet and Purple got off to a great start. A little like Pokemon Legends Arceus at the beginning of the year. The first statistics come to us as always from the United Kingdom, reported by Games Industry. And we’re not even talking about the download versions.
Representing the biggest physics launch of the year, both games beat by 4% FIFA 23, the previous card of the year. 235,000 copies are estimated to have been sold this weekend. Creating in fact the second biggest launch of the Pokémon franchise across the Channel. The first place being monopolized by Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moonwith figures that will be difficult to dislodge since the duo had been launched the same year as Pokemon GOin 2016.
If we go into a little more detail, we discover that 52% of sales consisted of Pokémon Purple, against 42% for Pokémon Scarlet. Which therefore leaves 6% for the pack of both versions. All games launch 25% stronger thanSword and Shield in 2019, or even 56% greater than that of Arceus.
Obviously, with such a wave the sale of Switch is also boosted. The Nintendo console sees its figures increase by 62% in one week. Which makes it the best week of the year for the Switch.
This tidal wave should quickly find an echo in the charts of Japan. Sword and Shield got off to a flying start there, with more than 1.3 million sales in their first week of operation.