Pokémon Legends: Arceus Beats Elden Ring As Japan’s Best Selling Game In February

According to a recent report from the Japanese magazine Famitsu, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was the most sold game in its second month despite the release of the mega-popular Elden Ring. Pokémon Legends: Arceus sold a total of 645,000 units in February, after releasing on January 28, 2022. In contrast, Elden Ring sold 279,000 copies across different consoles in Japan, having launched on February 25, 2022. The most recent Pokémon game sold nearly twice what Elden Ring did. Of course, it is important to note that these numbers are physical sales and it is possible Elden Ring could have outsold Arceus in digital sales.

Japan’s Top 10 Best-Selling Physical Games of February 2022, According to Famitsu:

1. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch | The Pokémon Company)
2. [NEW] Elden Ring (PS4 | From Software)
3. [NEW] Touken Ranbu Warriors (Switch | DMM Games)
4. [NEW] Elden Ring (PS5 | From Software)
5. [NEW] Horizon: Forbidden West (PS4 | Sony Interactive Entertainment)
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch | Nintendo)
7. Mario Party Superstars (Switch | Nintendo)
8. [NEW] Horizon: Forbidden West (PS5 | Sony Interactive Entertainment)
9. Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Switch | Nintendo)
10. [NEW] Dying Light 2: Stay Human (PS4 | Spike Chunsoft)

Pokémon Legends: Arceus officially passed the two million copies sold mark after selling 1.5 million in January. The figures mean the Pokémon RPG accounted for over one in three Switch games sold in February. The power of Pokémon is clearly strong as this is the fourth consecutive month that a game from the franchise has topped the charts. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were released in November 2021 and claimed the top spot for games sold in both the month it launched and December.

Interestingly, Elden Ring fared more popular on PS4 than PS5. The PS5 version of the souls-like game sold 90,000 copies whereas the PS4 version sold more than double with 188,000 copies purchased. The Xbox versions of the game did not make the top 30 best-selling titles, although this isn’t surprising as Sony dominates in the East Asian country.

Source