Pokemon Legends Becomes Fastest Selling Pokemon Game on Switch

Pokemon Legends Arceus has only been out for a little over a week, and as it turns out, this game has already turned into a massive commercial hit. Pokemon Legends Arceus has not only sold over 6.5 million units since its launch, but it has also set a new sales record for the franchise on the Nintendo Switch. Both Pokemon Sword and Shield and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl sold around 6 million copies in their launch window. This makes Pokemon Legends Arceus the fastest-selling Pokemon game on the Nintendo Switch.

Thank you to the more than 6.5 million explorers worldwide who have already embarked on an exciting new adventure in #PokemonLegendsArceus!

We hope you're loading up on more potato mochi before your next research mission! pic.twitter.com/u1MKRHkhhD

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 4, 2022

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have also sold almost 14 million copies in 2 months. And up until November last year, it was recorded that Pokemon Sword and Shield had sold a total of 22 million copies in its lifetime. While it remains to be seen whether Legends will match that record, it’s also not going to be a surprise to see it eclipse those numbers considering the game’s strong sales momentum on launch as well as its positive reception from gamers and critics alike.

Pokemon Legends Arceus dropped January 28th to very positive reception from critics and gamers alike. Both sides noted the significant improvements to the game’s combat, progression, and overall design. While the game was heavily criticized for its bland and lifeless open-world setting.

Pokemon Legends Arceus also caused a debate within the gaming community over its poor visuals. While the game looks much better than Sword and Shield, many consider that it still doesn’t look as good as the standard set within the Switch catalog itself with games like Astral Chain, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild, and last year’s Shin Megami Tensei V.

The Pokemon series continues to be a massive juggernaut in the gaming space. It is no surprise that the hype and advancements made to the formula in Arceus would lead an entirely new generation of gamers to discover and enjoy a Pokemon game for the first time.