Controversies aside, Pokemon Sword and Shield have managed to sell six million copies worldwide since releasing nearly a week ago to become the fastest-selling Switch titles ever released. A number of gamers had rallied against the titles in the wake of the removal of the National Dex, going so far as to plan a boycot of the games. At one point, a handful of “fans” even started a petition to have President Donald Trump ban the sale of Sword and Shield.
Evidently, all of that drama was for nothing. That much was proven when Pokemon Sword and Shield combined to become the fastest-selling Switch game in the UK. Heck, they even set records in Japan too. While those are impressive sales feats, gamers have been waiting to see how the national sales would pan out. If there was any concern that the titles wouldn’t perform, however, then those have been put to bed with an official update on how many units Sword and Shield have now managed to sell.
According to BusinessWire, Pokemon Sword and Shield have sold six million units worldwide after being available for a week. Of those six million sold, two million units came from the United States. All in all, this makes Sword and Shield the fastest-selling Switch game yet, but they also happen to be the highest-grossing launch that the Pokemon franchise has ever had as well. This doubles for Canada, where Sword and Shield had the highest-grossing launches in the region.
Despite all of the hubbub surrounding the sales performances of the games, it’s important to note that Sword and Shield have yet to outsell Pokemon Sun and Moon. Those games have sold through 16.17 million copies to date, which is impressive to say the very least. Still, it’s important to note the desparity between Switch and 3DS install bases in that example. There are far more 3DS units out in the wild than Nintendo Switch consoles, after all.
Nintendo isn’t against showcasing sales performances of pocket monster titles either, as the company previously paraded Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee and Pikachu sales around. What’s more interesting is how ineffecient all of the controversies were in slowing down sales of the games. It just goes to show how far removed the social media campaigns were from public perception of Sword and Shield, as they seemingly didn’t even put a dent in revenue Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have now generated.
Next: Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions: All The Differences Explained
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are currently available on Nintendo Switch consoles.
Source: BusinessWire
