Pokemon Scarlet And Violet Are The UK’s Biggest Game Releases In 2022

Due to the popularity of Pokémon games, everybody looks forward to the new games in the series. The wait was very short this year as Game Freak put out 2 new games instead of the usual one mainline entry. However, the launch of this new title has been less than ideal. 

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was released worldwide on November 18 and was highly anticipated among the fanbase. With franchise record pre-orders to back it, the game was already looking like a huge success. But, it has instead been a total mess.

Technical issues and bugs have made Pokémon Scarlet and Violet virtually unplayable. Fans are obviously not happy either and as a result, have review-bombed the game on the rating website Metacritic. Even with all this controversy and bad press, however, the sales of both of these new games have been amazing.

Major Takeaways:

• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is the biggest gaming launch of the year in the UK, beating FIFA 23. 
• It is the second biggest Pokémon launch of all time in the UK, behind only Sun and Moon
• It sold 70% more than Diamond and Pearl remakes, 56% more than Arceus, and 36% more than 2019’s Sword and Shield.

In the UK, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is the biggest game launch of the year beating FIFA 23, as reported by Gamesindustry.biz. It seems like the technical issues haven’t gotten in the way of fans buying the game. 

With a 4% increase over the previous biggest FIFA 23, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have the biggest opening week this year in the UK. It is the second biggest Pokémon launch of all time in franchise history. Only Pokémon Sun and Moon on the 3DS sold more units on launch in the UK, partly due to Pokémon Go.

However, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet made more money in the opening week than Sun and Moon. The Violet version of the game made up 52% of the sales, meanwhile Scarlet sold 42% of the units. Sales constituting both of the games accounted for the rest 6% of the sales. 

The launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was much bigger in the UK than other recent mainline Pokémon releases. It sold 36% more units than the 2019 games Sword and Shield and was an insane 70% bigger than Diamond/Pearl remakes. January’s Legend Arceus was also no match for Scarlet and Violet as it sold 56% more than the first Pokémon game this year. 

Nintendo Switch sales also got a boost from the sales of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet according to GfK. 62% more Switch consoles sold during the opening week of Scarlet/Violet, led by the OLED version. Hence, as the numbers suggest, the controversy over the technical issues didn’t stop the game from making money.