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In the past couple of weeks we've seen all four current-gen main Pokémon titles on the 3DS return to the UK top 40, evidently riding the Pokémon GO wave and perhaps benefitting further from the Summer school holidays. This GO effect is now being acknowledged in Japan, too, even if the app is actually showing a little less form in the country than in some Western territories.

While Pokémon GO is still leading the download and grossing charts in territories like the US, in Japan it's already been nudged down to between 2nd and 4th in the last few days. There's been some surprise at this, especially as the app has been such an irresistible success in the West.

In any case, the Niantic-developed app is being credited with boosting sales of 3DS entries in the series in Japan. Famitsu's data shows that weekly shipments of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have more than doubled since the app arrived - from 3,241 units in the first week of July to over 8000 units per week since (as an extra note, a demo of the game has also just been added to the eShop in Japan). Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. analyst Hirotoshi Murakami has stated that GO's momentum and worldwide impact should boost sales of Pokémon Sun and Moon. Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa is quoted as saying related sales have gone up globally and that "the mood has become positive ahead of the November launch."

There's little doubt that the success of GO has given the already powerful brand a shot in the arm - it'll be interesting to see how Sun and Moon perform when they hit stores in a few months.

[source bloomberg.com]