At not even a week old, Pokémon Sword and Shield are already smashing records around the world.
As reported yesterday by Famitsu, the pair have already proven to be a hit with fans in its native Japan and are now officially the fastest-selling Switch games ever. Fantastic news for Nintendo and Game Freak, then, but how have the Generation 8 games fared in overseas markets? Thanks to a statement provided to Business Wire by Nintendo of America’s Nick Chavez, we now have the answer and yes, the results are exactly what one would expect of a franchise with the global popularity of Pokémon.
Sword and Shield pushed an eye-watering 6 million copies over the course of its opening weekend, the publisher has confirmed. The impressive figure includes – unlike the physical-only sales recorded in Japan – both retail and digital copies sold of both tiles combined, with the US accounting for a whopping 2 million units of the current total. The outstanding performance Stateside means that the Switch exclusives are now the highest-grossing Pokémon games of all time in North America.
The good news doesn’t end there, either. In the UK, which, coincidentally, Sword and Shield‘s Galar is based on, each individual title and a limited edition special Double Pack containing both took the top three spots in the country’s physical charts and contributed to a 30% increase in Switch hardware sales.
In his own musings on the Pokémon’s continued domination, Chavez said “This weekend, millions of people began their Pokémon journeys through the new Galar region,” adding that “With such a momentous launch, Pokémon Sword and Shield have proven to be two of the must-have games this holiday season.”
Well, there you have it. Despite the massive controversy surrounding one of 2019’s biggest releases in the run-up to launch, Game Freak has hit yet another home run. Will this scupper any chances fans had of forcing the developer to reconsider its stance on Dexit? Who knows, but for now, I imagine its almost certainly breaking out the champagne.
from Gaming – We Got This Covered https://ift.tt/2OCkqhZ
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