Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are off to a good start in the UK with initial boxed sales beating those of FIFA 23.
Digital numbers aren’t available for Nintendo games, but as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the latest mainstream Pokémon entry was the biggest boxed release of the year in the UK, surpassing those of the previous biggest, FIFA 23, by 4%. In unit numbers, the launch of the Pokémon games for the Nintendo Switch is the second biggest launch in the series of all time, only behind Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. It should be noted that when it comes to generated revenue, Pokémon Scarlet and Viol harvested more money than Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon did in 2016. Of course, this is related to the retail price of the games (£48 vs £35).
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet UK launch was suitably massive. Biggest boxed release of the year (bigger than FIFA). It’s the second biggest Pokemon launch of all time behind Sun & Moon (which launched the same year Pokemon Go took the world by storm)
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) November 21, 2022
As also mentioned by GamesIndustry, most boxed sales came from Pokémon Violet (52%). Scarlet accounted for 42% of sales with the remaining 6% of boxed sales coming from the double pack including both versions.
“Scarlet and Violet's first week sales are 25% bigger than the previous 'new generation' Pokémon release, Sword and Shield, which launched on Switch in November 2019”, the report reads. “It's also 70% bigger than last year's Diamond and Pearl remakes and 56% bigger than January's Pokémon Legends: Arceus.”
Another interesting tidbit is that the launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet also boosted Switch hardware sales by 62% compared to the previous week, and allowed for the biggest Switch sales week of 2022 in the UK.
Impressive numbers for sure, and we’re pretty interested to learn how the games have been doing outside of the UK as well. We’ll update you as soon as more information about initial Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet sales comes in.
Want to learn more about the latest Pokémon entry? Be sure to check out our ‘Everything You Need to Know’ article right here.
