The excitement and buzz around Pokémon X & Y ahead of their worldwide launch was extraordinary, and it seems that the perceived hype has converted into big sales for the titles. Nintendo has announced that the two releases, combined, sold over four million copies in just two days, on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th October; that's even taking into account the fact that many European retailers are closed on Sundays.
Satoru Iwata has said the following:
The early response to Pokémon X and Pokémon Y not only reaffirms the ongoing passion of Pokémon fans, but also indicates that an entirely new generation of gamers is eager to experience the franchise for itself.
Nintendo has stated that, although direct comparisons are tricky, data suggests that these are the fastest-selling 3DS games in the portable's history to date. It's also difficult to compare directly with previous generations in the franchise that weren't released simultaneously worldwide, though the company states that X & Y are tracking ahead of Pokémon Black & White 2 by 70%. It was also confirmed that five sets of titles in the series have passed 10 million sales since 2002, so it'll be interesting to see whether X & Y eventually pass that milestone; they're off to a good start. The Pokémon brand, meanwhile, is cited as having surpassed 245 million game sales worldwide.
Big numbers for the new releases, which will surely continue to grow substantially during the Holiday season.
Comments 68
Holy snicker doodles... that's insane the 3DS has an install base of around 40 million so 10% of 3DS owners bought this game at launch, not to mention all the people who bought a 3 or 2DS along with this game, talk about a success and well deserved at that by far the BEST game in the series
And at least one of those copies is mine.
Wow after Monster hunter 4's success I was thinking that the game would sell well,but those figures are insane.
Good to see it get the sales it deserves but it was never really in doubt! I think sales will stay strong for the rest of the year too. Was Black/White 2 a poor seller compared to the rest of series? I know these games got double BW2's opening weekend sales in the UK, and I remember getting it for £20 from Zavvi about two months after release.
Two of those are mine
@Peach64 I don't think Black & White 2 sold poorly, but I don't think it hit the heights of some other sets. I guess because they were numbered sequels on a a system that was — at the time — on its last legs also counted against them. And yes, I know they can be played on 3DS, but the market and the general population don't always take that into account
Could this beat GTA V record? Just curious....
@Artwark
GTA V Sold 17 million in it's first week over two platforms while this is 4 million between both games combined so sadly... no
No surprise here..
Wasn't it obvious?
I'd like to know what Nintendo would do if every single one of the 4 million copies was X and nobody bought Y or vice versa.
The Pokemon franchise has sold 245 million games. I wonder if GTA can beat that.
Still wating for my pokemon X... starting to get realy impationt..
And after just two days, it's the fifth-highest selling 3DS game of all time. Mario 3D Land could lose its top spot by the end of the year if it keeps up.
It's worth noting that GTA V sold 17 million in the first week to an install base of about 160-170 million. That's about 10% of its total install base. Pokemon managed the same feat in 2 days, though with 2 games.
Does this number include downloads of the game?
@galetyler
Not entirely true, I would imagine some degree of extreme fans will buy both copies for one system so they can get all the variant/exclusive Pokémon.
Still, very impressive seeing 'no one plays handheld games these days due to mobile games'.
One of those copies is mine, and it arrived today. Hold my calls, I'll be busy for the next 137 or so hours...
I waited in line for about an hour on Saturday to pick my copies up. It was really nice to see so many people lined up for a non-violent game.
I'm curious to see if it beat Monster Hunter 4 in its first week in Japan! I still say 10 million by years end. I'm sure at least 400 to 500k dl'ed this game!
Shock... people like Pokemon??? All kidding aside, I like hearing good news about Nintendo. I will eventually pick up a copy of both titles and actually play one for the 1st time ever. I have fired up all the Pokemon games I own just to make sure everything is kosher, but I have never sat and actually played them. I should write a review, subject heading "Old Nintendo fanboy finally plays a Pokemon game he's bought". Very curious if I will like this series, I am trying to go in it open minded.
This game is too awesome. But it kills my battery!!!
And i helped!
Still longing for my two copies of X & Y that are in California right now, with the two posters... (T-T)
But seriously, it's POKEMON, did you expect anything less? :B
Congrats, Nintendo & 3DS! (^^)
@Mytoemytoe
I thought the same thing until I realized... I play it for hours and then it dies and I am like "what so soon?" Then I look at the clock and see that 4 hours have passed which is what I can get from most of my 3DS games. lol
Nice to see a non-violent gritty adult game also selling really well in this day and age.
For those interested - I would like to point out that this game was announced about 8 months ago and has been advertised almost as long. Yes it would have sold anyway b/ cit's Pokemon, but advertising does help. And having release dates. And meeting those dates.
Nintendo normally seems to think they can announce a game a few months before it's release, announce a release date a month before, then advertise it after it comes out, and it will sell.
Hopefully we start seeing more of SM3DW, Sonic Lost Worlds and Mario and Sonic at the Olympics now that this game has presumably already turned a profit.
@ikki5 Well yeah, of course. I guess I'll revise my statement, it kills my battery and saps all my free time.
@Spoony_Tech well 4 million lol
Graet news! And I bet they sold many more on the eShop.
@Bliquid Not trying to take anything away from GTA. Both are highly succesful.
@Boukman
I doubt it. The series is under a controversial statement and besides, Pokemon existed before GTA so sadly it can't beat Pokemon.
Wow this is amazing if it keeps 4 million a day it will crush GTA V which is a good thing
I pre-ordered X off Amazon and is due to land on my door tomorrow but I couldn't be bothered waiting so I bought Y from my local GAME and now am making tracks....damn you Pokemon!!!!!
I wonder how much money it cost to make and promote GTAV, my guess, waaaaay more. So although it will sell more copies the actual profit may not be as far off. I can't imagine that Pokemon games are huge budget by any means. Although not of the "main" series, spinoff games and merchandise also make a lot of money for Pokemon as well.
Haha "Nintendo is doomed" they said hahaha doomed that's a good one!
I'd like to know the number of downloads too, I know a bunch of people who buy it digital like myself. I guess that'd be another million sales at least.
Who's really surprised? Pokémon is the definition of a system seller.
I'm guessing it will be over double that by the end of the year.
@ikki5 Don't be so quick. I think this seriously might beat GTA V in lifetime sales. While it sold 17 million, mostly everyone that wanted the game, has it already. Pokemon has always been one of those games to have a long shelf. A lot of people are getting it for christmas and all so I think it's possible for them to catch up in overall lifetime sales.
the game is so much fun. Itd be 10/10 game for me if they fixed 3d. Not only it isnt used in overworld but some battles too and it slows this game down. Sorry to be complaining again but I love 3d way too much ^^
I don't even have my copy yet but it's great to see that it sold so much. Considering there were 1.2 million copies preordered in Japan, I expected it to be somewhere around the 2 million mark. And a lot of people downloaded it off the eshop when the game sold out at retail. I could definitely see this breaking 10 million by the end of the year.
I haven't played pokemon since Silver so I'm really excited to jump back into it. I know a good amount of pokemon through the cartoon. A lot of people who left pokemon years ago are coming back just from the graphics update alone. It's great to not be a little oval on the map anymore!
Expected, and very well deserved IMO. They did a outstanding job with these titles. They're amazing and extremely addicting.
GTA V is a juggernaut, and we shouldn't go comparing all other game sales to it because I don't think anything is going to touch it for a long, long time.
I think these figures include digital since they're coming direct from Nintendo.
How many PS360's are out there compared to the 3DS line? Like near 180 million to near 33ish? Pokémon may be a huge system seller but to expect it to sell to half of the base, at the moment, is a bit of a stretch....
Both GTA and Pokémon are hugely popular to their respective consoles, so eh. They've both sold really well in comparison to what is out there.
Certainly a different tune for 3ds than 2 years ago,not does prve that Pokemon sells but great software does.Lets hope Nintendo carry this success over to Wii U without leaving the 3ds in the dark.
I've never owned a pokemon game, so my brother and I are newbies. My guess is a lot of new people bought it. Good release date.
@Peach64 In terms of rate of adoption (sales to consoles) pokemon has slaughtered GTA5
@Dogpigfish Ah right, because that's how you measure a game's sales..
Hey guys, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is one of the biggest games of all time because it's sold to 20% of Vita owners!
Pokemon has done amazing, but there's no need to try and justify it not seeing GTA V levels of sales because almost nothing will touch that until the peak of next gen.
Good grief, why is Pokemon so popular? I'm not arguing with that, I'm just wondering.
Tbh, after seeing VGChartz (I know, I know they aren't 100% reliable) report that the sales were over 5 million for first day the real number is actually a bit disappointing. Still great sales though and just for two days? The numbers are going to be ridiculous come Chirstmas. It'll also be interesting to see how many systems this sold.
There is five from me. I downloaded a copy of Y, my dad bought my son X and we have three other copies coming sometime this week. Had the games pre-ordered since June 13.
I knew the game was going to sell well BUT THIS IS JUST INSANE knowing how MH4 is doing ONLY IN JAPAN I wonder how it'll do also in the West.
Now who in Nintendo's good name was it that said that they are dying in the gaming arena? I'm gonna slap that son of a Honedge.
But I thought mobile killed the 3DS...
The games are awesome, I can see why
@ecco6t9 **slaps this son of a Honedge**
I wonder what about the 2DS, if it sold good being launch at the same time as pokemon.
@Bliquid If GTA5 is that good then it deserves to be played at 1080p (Not upscaled). Which means the PS4/Xbone/PC update (That almost certainly will happen). I found IV really boring as well.
@Bliquid I am a fool then because GTA series is garbage that makes me feel like I went into a slum and and crawled on my hands and knees the whole time.
Gotta love peer pressure. "If you don't like this popular thing then you're an idiot" is always such a dumb argument.
In other news remember when everyone used to call Pokemon a fad?
This is great. I wish i invented pokemon.
Wonder of that include the digital sales!!??!
Hope everybody is avoiding the game breaking bug. Just saw it reported on another site. Apparently saving in Lumiose City is the cause of the bug, which corrupts the game save data. Not sure if this bug just affects the physical copy or digital version as well.
Frig Nintendo. I'm not a Pokémon fan, but this is sad news. So many people are out there enjoying this game right now.
I don't know if you should be saying they're the fastest-selling 3DS games "of all time". There could be a 3DS game down the track which surpasses them in sales; it could even be another Pokémon game.
@Bliquid Did you count the original series like the game boy ones not to mention the remakes? It sells more than GTA could ever.
sold more than lifetime wii u consoles
@ikki5 not to mention more people own a PS3 and 360 than a 3DS.
2 of those copies were mine!
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