Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Pre-Orders Are Already Breaking Records In Japan

Question : Will you be pre-ordering Scalet, Violet, or both? Have you already pre-ordered?

Me : Um.... Not day one. I will purchase more PS4 games in December 2022 and I will buy PS3 Move set with Navigator also in December 2022.

And this is why Gamefreak will never make better games, why bother when people buy them in these numbers. I'm glad the scales fell from my eyes years ago, no more expensive crushing disappointments for me!

Pokemon Gen 8 was the healthiest it had ever been for the competitive scene. Being that there was no third version/definitive edition for Sw/Sh and BDSP did not have full game status, the competitive rules have been fairly stagnant for the past few years. People are eager for a new competitive format and that's one thing that is driving major hype for Scarlet/Violet.

@BenAV : Harvey Norman dropped the price to AU$48 (and Amazon usually matches, if not beats, local competitors), which seemed utterly ridiculous. That's almost half price! HN also allegedly has a poor track record when it comes to game-related pre-orders. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that they still sell games. I haven't thought to buy a game from them since the DS/Wii days. HN have since increased the price back to $68.

It wouldn't surprise me if Amazon AU haven't actually sold out, but are simply refusing to pre-sell any more copies, because they've had to retroactively drop every existing pre-order to AU$48 as part of their lowest pre-order price guarantee, and they're likely selling all of those copies at a loss (not to mention losing even more money via free shipping that their competitors don't provide).

I'd almost be willing to bet my bottom dollar that Amazon AU will have plenty of stock on launch day, but at a more sensible price point.

This is all well and good, but what about PS5?

And what's with the trees?!

Any chance they could re-release Gen 3 Pokémon on the Switch i. Their original GBA graphics form? I missed out on these games and would like to experience them in their original release version.

@IronMan30 it's the windmill this time, do try to keep up.

@Otoemetry wait, what?

LOL

you could say it's going to be a... pocket monster?

@Otoemetry Ignoring these entries makes absolutely no sense. I get recommending that for the previous one, but this time they actually listened to the fans and made an open world entry, added more animations, quality of life changes for better gameplay and improved the visuals. I get that GameFreak still has room for improvement, but buying a product is the best kind of feedback and ignoring an entry that actually made improvements that people asked for is just telling them to keep doing the same thing that they were doing.

@Anti-Matter This is for preorder Bonuses for the most part-anybody after this can buy the game still. It matters to preoders only.

@IronMan30 oh I thought your comment was making fun of the controversy around the trees in Sword & Shield, so I made a joke about the terrible clockwork windmill animation they showed in the trailers a while ago.

@roy130390 it's still not good enough, imo. I've long since gone past the notion that Gamefreak will ever put enough effort into their games to make them worth the price, I've been playing Pokémon for far too long to keep seeing the barest incremental change of such a hugely successful series. It's stagnant and I loathe so much of what they do now, but I realise it will always be a minority opinion amongst the fanbase at large who are mostly happy to just play another slightly different Pokémon game 🤷🏼‍♂️

Pokemon fans have low standards in gaming

could Pokémon Scarlet e Violet surpass Pokémon Sword e Shield lifetime sales?

@KBuckley27 same thing applies to cod fans as well.

Wow do we have Debbie Downers fandom here now. If you can do better make a better Pokémon game then and stop your whinning or don't buy the games.

@SwitchForce nobody hates Pokémon more than Pokémon fans.

Such is the Power of Pokémon!

Teach Pokémon to understand the Power that's inside!

B b but reddit and youtube told me it would fail because of the fps rates!

@Otoemetry same here, after wasting 60 dollars on a low quality garbage called legends arceus i will not make the same mistake again, if i buy a pokemon game I'll buy it used from now on but I'll be skipping this one

I mean ... sure, great news, but the data itself clearly shows that the data is a poor indicator. Monster Hunter, with almost twice the pre-orders as AC:NH has sold 1.9 million in Japan in 2 months. AC:NH did that in 3 days.

So this is clearly telling us it's going to be a success. But it's not really enough info to say it's going to be earth shattering or record breaking quite yet. Fingers crossed though.

I'm pissed I'm not going to be back in Japan until April, I would love to be there for this launch. It's going to be nuts.

Remember no one said you should buy it. You made the choice -only the buyers is to blame for buying if they don't like it. It's pretty easy decision to make.

Hardly surprising. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is very, very likely to become the fastest-selling Nintendo game of all time.

@IronMan30 Pokemon fans am I right? It's almost like they forgot Legends came out in January and was for all respects a major jump for the franchise 🙄

I've lived in Japan for 15 years and I've never heard of COMG! so I looked them up. There are 12 total stores in Japan, all on the west coast. They're considered a cell phone store. I'd be much more interested in pre-order numbers from Bic Camera, Geo, or a place the Japanese public associate as a place to preorder games. Places that exist where a majority of the population lives.

@Wexter I mostly kid with that stuff, but Idk if I pity or disdain Pokémon fans because I get that it can be frustrating to dislike things you used to love. But at a certain point, it's probably a good idea to say to yourself "eh, maybe this isn't for me anymore" and move on with your life.

Like me, with Paper Mario...

I missed the period for getting the pre-order bonuses so I'll have to get them off E-Bay...

Seeing the previews reveal a rocky frame rate and general lagginess made me decide against preordering the game. Visually the game already looks pretty rough so the fact the company behind the highest grossing franchise can't make their game run is a big red flag. If the final build is improved and it scores 83+ on metacritic, I'll buy. The last pokemon game I played was Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire and I've been looking for a game to scratch the same itch as Dragon Quest 11, so I'm hoping it reviews well.

"This game is going to be a monster"
Ok, well, it's Pocket "Monster" we talk about?
XD

@IronMan30
I am Pokemon fan and I don't hate Pokemon, XD

I'm just trying to figure out which version will have all my favorite Pokemon. Dragonite, Arcanine, etc etc.

@SakuraHaruka I feel like if you enjoy a series, remaining a fan is reasonable.

It just seems like ("seems like" is doing a lot of heavy lifting) Pokémon fans don't like the series. This, of course, is not actually true but this is also the internet. Nuance is not allowed or appreciated.

@Axecon Seeing that Smogon banned dynamax, and Zacian had to be banned from Ubers and moved to the "Anything Goes" tier, makes me highly inclined to disagree with that statement.

Competitive Pokemon peaked in generation 4, just like how the main series was at its peak then.

I pre-ordered Pokémon Violet but tbh, I can’t believe it’s only 11 days until the game comes out. I’m still focused on other games so I may start it up and play slowly and casually for a bit. I got into Pokémon with Gen 8 and I’m really hoping some of the Pokémon from that make the cut into this one. I found myself struggling to find Pokémon I liked in Arceus.

I've pre-ordered both. i usually play one and my wife the other. but my son is old enough for it now so i might get three.

@Otoemetry looks better than Sword and a shield.

"Pokemon S/V also surpassed the first 3 days of sales made by any Pokemon game on Switch with only pre-orders."
I feel stupid. I can't get that info from the graphs they provide. And the number are all in the thousands, which means nothing for these games.

Also, from another tweet in the thread:
"COMG is a chain of 14 video game stores located in Niigata prefecture (Japan).
Together they have a 0.1% marketshare and are generally representative of the japanese market."
How is 0.1% in any way representative? What am I missing?

@KBuckley27
I'm pretty sure Pokemon fans play other games too. You know who really has low standards in gaming? People who play nothing but PC and playstation or xbox and think that Skyrim or Witcher 3 are good games. (that being said both games are on Switch too). Even though reality is they are very, very mediocre compared to the best japanese games from developers such as Nintendo, From Software and Monolith Soft.

Still gotta say, I always waited they would build an open world pokemon game. Never played any of the previous entries, but I'm hyped for S/V!

Most likely getting Violet shortly before release as my online shop of choice usually breaks street dates, then after completing it, it will be an early christmas present for my sister - THEN on release night I will do it all over again with Scarlet.

@IronMan30 Indeed. There are a number of series I used to love, but honestly don't care for now (Sonic being the most notable). I think people just need to relax and just learn the lesson that it is okay to just not like something anymore.

@greengecko007 I never understood this statement that the series peaked in Gen 4. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are notoriously rough games, and Heart Gold/Soul Silver is not as good as people remember them being (the game is wildly imbalanced once you get to Kanto and the Johto portion is beyond easy before you get to the Elite 4 due to low levelled gyms. That and you're playing Johto games to catch Johto pokemon, but they're so rare to find that you're mostly playing with Gen 1 Kanto Pokemon for most of the game unless you have a guide to find most of the Johto mon. Most are restricted to post-game).

I mean I like Gen 4 fine enough, but if I'm being frank Gen 5 is a far better experience overall, and Gens 6-8 has more balanced competitive scenes.

@IronMan30 I don't know about the ps5, but I guarantee that the Nintendo Switch will Outsell the ps4!

Love it when these games break sales records, and the fans say the same old things, and get upset over a game intended for a much younger audience.

Accept it for what it is, or simply move on, at this point all the moaning in the world will not change things.

@Wexter,

So true, but some of the games critics are looking for reasons to be upset, and of course make up a very small proportion the overall Pokemon fan base.

@johnvboy Amen brother! I loved Sword and Shield due to how accessible it was to shiny hunt, online battle, and trade, Max Raids were a blast, and it was a very lax experience. I can understand if you're a singleplayer only person that the main story (minus DLC) could be disappointing.

I also adored Legends for being that open-world Pokemon fantasy I always wanted! It was beyond fun!

Overall I think a lot of Pokemon naysayers are people who just refuse to accept that these games are prominently made for children. Sure we adults can enjoy them, but the core experience is a child empowerment fantasy. If these games got to the level of difficulty as some Final Fantasy games or SMT I think they would lose a lot of their appeal.

Though I will never turn down a hard mode in future games

I’m sure game freak is happy with these numbers.

@Wexter,

I have loved the Pokemon output on the Switch, I would not say it has been perfect, but far from the train wrecks some have been suggesting, and I have seriously enjoyed these games.

You see they confuse their own personal subjective issues with these games, with some sort of overall objective discontent.

@johnvboy The only Switch Pokemon game I did not love was probably BDSP. They weren't bad, but they were a bit too faithful and could have probably done better by incorporating some Platnium elements and being a bit more in line with the other remakes like FRLG, HGSS and ORAS. But, overall I did not hate my experience with it, and it was clear Legends was the real focus of GF.

Overall Pokemon seems to be really shifting and changing which I've been more than happy with! Cannot wait till I can get my doublepack and chill.

@Wexter I'll just reply more about the competitive aspect as that is less subjective:

Gen 5: Broken sleep mechanics where sleep turns reset upon switching out (including if forced out). Dominance of permanent weather in all tiers where it was much more niche outside of ubers in gen 4. Element gems added an element of complete unpredictability and were eventually banned on Smogon. So, a major gimmick/mechanic of the generation that was ultimately unhealthy and banned.

Gen 6: This one wasn't so bad, but some mega evolutions were so ludicrous and took far too long to get banned. Overall, I'll admit I played a lot of gen 6 and enjoyed it mostly, but again, when several aspects of the new gimmick have to be banned, I wouldn't say that is healthy. Mega Rayquaza made an entire new tier.

Gen 7: Z-moves are awful in much the same way as gems in gen 5. Not much to say other than this is a much worse version of gen 6.

Gen 8: Dynamax is bad for the same reasons as gems and z-moves, and was even more powerful. It's a brainless mechanic that dumbs down fights for both players. Ultimately was banned. Zacian is another example of absurd power creep and latest mon sent to "Anything Goes" jail. Gen 4 remakes being separate and adding nothing to the competitive scene is not a good thing, and is a major reason why there are next to no players even playing it on simulators. Then of course there is the fact that in the gen 8 games, you can't even use all of the potential mons from throughout the series.

Can't wait to see the mental gymnastics GameFreak haters will invent to spin this one.