Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Biggest Game Launch on Any Nintendo Platform, Surpasses 10 Million Sales in Just 3 Days of its Release

We reported recently that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet became the biggest boxed game launch of the year in the UK, leaving FIFA 23 behind, but the worldwide sales of the games were yet to be revealed. But, on Wednesday, Nintendo announced in a press release that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have surpassed 10 million sales worldwide within just 3 days of its release on 18th November 2022. 

This new sales record puts Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on top of the most software sales on any Nintendo Platform at launch. As stated by Nintendo Co. Ltd.

The global sales of the Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet games for the Nintendo Switch family of systems have surpassed 10 million combined units in the first three days since their worldwide launch on Nov. 18, 2022. This is the highest global sales level for any software on any Nintendo platform within the first three days.

Further, Famitsu reported that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sold 2.5 million or more specifically 2,537,292 physical copies in Japan from 18th to 20th November; the sales figure further increases when digital sales are considered, as revealed by Nintendo the games sold over 4.05 million copies in Japan in 3 days of its release. 

As also mentioned in our previous report that the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has also bumped the Nintendo hardware sales in the UK; a similar effect has been recorded in Japan, as confirmed by Famitsu Nintendo hardware sales in the launch week of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet reached 170,693 units, compared to 97,542 the previous week.

You can look at Japan’s sales charts which include software and hardware sales for the week ending 20th November. It should be noted that the total sales of mentioned products are written in the brackets ( ) in front of them.

Software Sales Chart, Japan:

1. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet (Switch) – 2,537,292 (2,537,292)
2. Splatoon 3 (Switch) – 36,958 (3,368,155)
3. God of War Ragnarok (PS5) – 9,901 (39,278)
4. Monochrome Mobius (PS4) – 9,066 (9,066)
5. Tactics Ogre Reborn (Switch) – 7,687 (44,470)
6. Minecraft (Switch) – 7,449 (2,855,406)
7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) – 7,330 (4,906,589)
8. Cardfight!! Vanguard Dear Days (Switch) – 6,649 (6,649)
9. SympathyKiss (Switch) – 6,072 (6,072)
10. Sonic Frontiers (Switch) – 5,837 (31,904)

Hardware Sales Chart, Japan:

1. Nintendo Switch OLED Model – 102,605 (3,083,839)
2. Nintendo Switch Lite – 40,432 (4,920,529)
3. Nintendo Switch – 27,656 (18,866,523)
4. PlayStation 5 – 26,946 (1,848,649)
5. PlayStation 4 – 5,803 (7,826,141)
6. PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 4,912 (291,848)
7. Xbox Series X – 1,373 (168,640)
8. Xbox Series S – 154 (212,419)
9. New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 34 (1,189,185)

These sales figures are impressive, considering that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had a lot of technical issues at launch. It shows the Pokémon franchise’s power and the enormous fan base it has built over the years around the globe. 

We hope this success will encourage Game Freak and Nintendo to release a more polished version of the Pokémon games to double down on the current success and love for the Pokémon games. So, what are your thoughts about this? Let us know in the comment section below.