Pokemon Sword and Shield outsold Pokemon Lets Go in 6 weeks

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Pokemon Sword and Shield (opens in new tab) is among the fastest-selling Switch games ever released, according to updated sales figures from Nintendo Japan (opens in new tab). As of December 31, 2019 – roughly six weeks after its November 15 release – Pokemon Sword and Shield has sold 16.06 million copies.

To put that in perspective, Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, which were released a full year earlier on November 18, 2018, have sold 11.76 million copies to date. In other words, after just six weeks, Sword and Shield had already sold approximately 36% more copies than Let’s Go. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild makes for another impressive comparison. Breath of the Wild was released on March 3, 2017, and it’s always been one of the best-selling Switch games. To date, it’s sold 16.34 million copies, putting it around 280,000 ahead of Sword and Shield – and that’s with more than a two-year head start. So yeah, mainline Pokemon games are still mighty popular. Who knew? 

If you’re curious, the best-selling Switch games of all time are Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (22.96 million copies), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (17.68 million copies), and Super Mario Odyssey (16.59 million copies). Nintendo’s updated hardware figures (opens in new tab) also show that it’s sold approximately 310.65 million Switch games and 52.48 million Switch consoles. The best comparison there is the 3DS, which has moved 75.71 million consoles and 382.22 million games. Not too shabby for a console that isn’t even three years old. 

With the Pokemon Sword and Shield expansion pass (opens in new tab) on the horizon, the duo isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.