Following the news that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have sold over 10 million units in three days, sales numbers have also come out for the game in Japan, and they are similarly impressive.
Japan purchased 4,050,000 of those 10 + million units sold worldwide, roughly two fifths of that total number, within the same three day span. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is already the best-selling game in Nintendo’s history, and with these metrics, it is also the largest launch for any Nintendo game in Japan.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s debut narrowly beat out Splatoon 3’s debut back in September 9, 2022, but not by that far apart. Splatoon 3 sold 3,450,000 units upon its launch. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet also beat the sales record of 3.58 million units that was reached by Pokemon Legends Arceus.
However, Splatoon 3’s total sales for 2022 so far stand at 5.01 million units. So, for now, Splatoon 3 remains Nintendo’s best-selling game in their home country. Worldwide, Splatoon 3’s total sales stand at 7.9 million units.
These sales metrics are testament to just how dominant the Nintendo Switch remains in Japan. Even as PlayStation 5 starts to rise in unit sales in the country, the Switch has a head start on their user base and attach rate. With these advantages, the industry can expect Nintendo to pump out even more chart breaking hits, as they release more of their AAA exclusives in the coming months.
On Sony’s end, we had reported that they had managed to sell 25 million units of their PlayStation 5 console so far. Sony expressed to investors their strong desire to increase their manufacturing capacity to catch up to demand. However, whatever limitations they are still facing when it comes to manufacturing is also adversely affecting their ability to sell more games and accessories for the console, and ultimately, affects their bottom line.
Of course, in spite of its sales success, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has faced its own problems as well. Launch day saw the game arrive with many performance issues, so much so that fans had started speculation that the developers may have been overworked, or at least forced to ship the game broken. The issues did reach the point that the company has been reported to be processing digital refunds for the game. Nintendo generally does not offer refunds for games purchased digitally, so this was unusual but perhaps expected.
If you are playing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet now and wishing you could get a better experience, we have a guide on how to improve performance as best you can.
Source: Nintendo Life
