When Nintendo made the Switch as its next system, it was clear from the outset that they wanted to put their biggest and best franchises on the console as soon as possible. The first two years proved that in spades, with Link, Mario, the Inklings, and more showing up to deliver big numbers right off the bat. But if you want to look at the franchise that might have done the best, all told from just main entries, you need only look at the Pokemon franchise. You might not have realized it, but they had several titles out on Nintendo Switch, and the numbers they got as a result were huge.
As you can see in the chart below, the franchise has sold over 96 million units with just its Switch titles. Another thing to note here is that we could get one more title on the system via Legends ZA. That means we could see the series sell over 100 million units in just one console lifetime—that’s insane!
Currently, the best-selling games from the Switch set are Pokemon Sword & Shield, the first 3D mainline Pokemon title ever. However, the most recent generation, Scarlet and Violet, are hot on its heels and are likely to surpass it. Other titles that were added to it are Legends Arceus, New Pokemon Snap, Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, and a few others.
Again, the fact that they’ve almost gotten 100 million in sales is nuts, and that’s just one franchise on the Switch! That doesn’t even count the insane number of sales the various games with Mario have sold or the combined one-two punch that Link had with his two open-world adventures on Switch. There’s a reason that the Switch is one of the best gaming systems ever: Nintendo really went all-out to make the best games possible for it.
Even with this success, though, the future of Pokemon is up in the air. After all, while Gen 9 was financially a juggernaut, it wasn’t the best-received game of the series. In fact, it was one of the most divisive due to how buggy it was at launch and how glitchy it remains today. Plus, while the DLC was interesting, it wasn’t the best.
Gen 10 has to step up its game to reclaim the love that fans had for Game Freak and the mainline titles before this. With the Switch 2 coming, and more Pokemon games all but confirmed for it, it’d be wise to keep an eye on the series going forward.
