Ever since their release late last year, Pokémon Sword and Shield have become two of Nintendo’s biggest properties. And now, they’ve become two of the best selling games in the series’ history. Yes, already.
Nintendo provided details on its sales numbers for Q4 2019 this evening. Along with giving impressive numbers for hardware units sold, the company also confirmed how many copies of Pokémon Sword and Shield went into the hands of players. Worldwide, it sold 16.06 million copies in a matter of one and a half months.
That’s impressive, considering where it sits compared to other best-sellers on the Switch. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has nearly 23 million units sold; Super Smash Bros. Ultimate currently has 17.68 million copies sold, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is at 16.34 million units sold. Considering both games have been out substantially longer, Pokémon Sword and Shield stand a good chance of topping those two within a matter of months—maybe even weeks.
Then there’s the Pokémon franchise to consider, as Sword and Shield have already surpassed sales of many hit titles. These include Pokémon X/Y (11.61 million), Pokémon Sun and Moon (14.69 million), and Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu! and Let’s Go Eevee!, which currently have an impressive 11.76 million copies sold between the two.
The company also confirmed that Pokémon Sun and Moon reached a similar number by the end of 2019, with 16.18 million copies sold. But, again, by comparison, those games have been out a lot longer than Sword and Shield, so the momentum behind the latest Switch releases is genuinely staggering.
We’ll have other numbers to report shortly from Nintendo’s report. But needless to say, Pokémon Sword and Shield have become massive sales hits over the past couple of months. And they are likely to continue as their expansion packs arrive, with the first coming in June. We’ve included the trailer below to show what’s in store.
