Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is Now The "Best-Selling" Physical Game In The US This Year

Can't wait for the comments complaining that people are complaining about the quality of this title!

See? No need for voice acting; it's fine.

/s

This makes the decision to release Pokemon Pokopia as a Game-Key Card even more laughable, especially because it likely has a higher sales ceiling than just about any other Pokemon spinoff. These games are in high demand as physicals! There's absolutely no reason to not give Pokopia a proper one.

This comment section is going to be slop

Mediocrity sells as long as it's an established franchise it seems.

Oh please can Gen 10 not be a Game Key Card

Why is GKC called physical anyway? The whole game needs to be downloaded digitally and the only physical thing is the plastic box cover.

Funny hearing this as the next Pokemon game (Pokopia) is digital only since it's a key card lol.

I'm curious about how these numbers will look after the holidays. We haven't quite hit peak buying time yet.

Unfortunate.

Finally have had a proper chance to plays this game and I'm really loving it. The game had a rough start but once you break loose, it's fantastic.

@PikminMarioKirby don’t forget the people who will complain about you complaining about people that are complaining about how people are complaining about the quality of this title!

Nice, it's a good game. Just got the shiny charm and have begun hunting!

I guess to no one's shock. Too big to fail.

Complain about it all you want. The game is a success.

Also I finally finished the main story. So I'm ready to give it my final score. 9,51/10. I loved the final battle and the missions leading up to it. This gives it the same score as DKB, so there is a tiebreaker required.

And.. I overall liked Pokémon Legends Z-A more than Donkey Kong Bananza. So Legends Z-A gets one extra 0,01 making it a 9,52/10. And currently Game of the Year. But any game I buy between december 1st of last year (and didn't finish in 2024) until any game bought and finished before 27th of december is a contender.

So.. Kirby Air Riders and Metroid Prime 4 are still contenders.

While I've stopped playing (for now) it's a lot of simple fun. Way better than Violet, but still no SoulSilver. Thus, while I poopoo'd the game at first (before playing), I'm glad it's selling well given it seems GameFreak tried something new, and it kinda sorta works.

Once again, the internet underestimates how many casual gamers enjoy Pokemon.

I didn't contribute to those numbers because I bought it digitally... (the box art is beautiful though)

@Tainaru ZA is not a GKC?

I love physical. I support physical. I support ownership. Even if the product dies of old age it can be traded and used until end of life. My Xbox discs from 2002 have outlasted the 360 eShop and my Pokemon games from the 90s have outlasted multiple Nintendo eShops

No matter what the haters say, this proves that Pokemon Legends Z-A is the physical game of the year! Well deserved.

@Tainaru That analogy of yours (the plastic case being the only thing physical about it) fits code-in-box releases better. A game-key card release at least has the card (which has the download key coded on it) in the package; the card is the reason why there are people and outlets who can call it a physical release. Keep in mind that there are some PS5 and Xbox Series X releases--many of those put out through the brands within the Xbox corporate fold--that are just as bad if not worse than game-key cards (minimal data on a medium that costs far less than even game-key cards, and no requirement to be upfront about their nature unlike game-key cards)...

Now, game-key cards do allow easy sharing, easy trade-ins for those who are in the habit, and possibly the best way to get games not actually available in a player's region without needing to use a foreign eShop account (the best example of that would be a hypothetical Switch 2 port of "Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme" assuming its regional availability and language options precisely match those of the already-extant versions of the game; the versions of that game already extant are available only in Asia but have English-language support). For most people, though, the cons tend to outweigh the pros...

@CurryPowderKeg79 The seller of your copy likely only bought it because they knew they could sell it on used. So by contributing to the used market, you've contributed to the sales figures.

The next game can be contained in a small house with almost no furniture and it will still sell.

Good games sell well based on word of mouth. This is a good game. I’m not a fan of the DLC approach at all, but the base game is a solid one in this day and age.

Fun wins over graphics
Not an excuse for s lazy job, but it is fun

I loved pokemon violet, and even more pokemon shield. Both graphically poor

People also spend the same kind of money to eat McDonald's slop over good food a lot of the time, so this is not surprising.

A sad state of affairs, but not surprising.

It is a fun game, that made me feel good. I might return someday, to collect more Pokémon.

@PikminMarioKirby While the main game is fantastic and I greatly enjoy it.
The sudden drop of the DLC already in December, feels very rushed and solely based on padding their profits before end of the year. Since NIntendo has no major Holiday title for December.

The DLC in how its presented, feels very minimal effort and lack luster and an outright rip-off for the price its being sold for. As its almost the same price as the double DLC packs we got with Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet and those added significantly more to the game than this Mega Dimension DLC.

But this seems to be the direction Nintendo is going in, with increased game console price and accesories, increased game prices and expensive minimal effort DLC's, like we already saw this summer with Donky Kong Bonanza. That was another sudden drop of a DLC that added very little with an outrageous price tag.

@gcunit Your logic is a bit unsound. Buying 2nd hand does NOT add to sales numbers in charts like these. Each unit can only be sold once new. After that, they don't count for sales numbers for charts any more.

I'm curious to find out how Pokopia will do as a GKC. And I'm kind of glad to see that Europe is at least voting with their wallets. I know I did. Never going to get a Pokémon game day one and definitely not without a hefty discount. I've already seen the price for this game drop to € 56,50 for the Nintendo Switch 2 version in retail. But I'll probably get it off Vinted 2nd hand for less. If I change my mind about it.

@Pillowpants If the second-hand market didn't exist, not as many copies would have been sold at this stage. Some people buy in the knowledge they can re-sell, and some people will only have bought this game this early because they knew they could sell it on if they didn't want to keep it. The logic is sound.

@gcunit That is something entirely different to what your earlier comment implied.

It’s a kids game and my child loves it. She plays games for enjoyment and adventure and doesn’t notice frame rate and pop in issues.

And thus, Game Freak will continue to deliver the bare minimum.

@Fiskern Z-A are normal physical for both Switch 1 and 2.

@PikaPhantom I think you underestimate how much interest there will be. Pokemon spin offs notoriously sell poorly and a brand new one for a new console without that much of an install base compared to SW1 I can absolutely see why TPC went with GKC.

@Pillowpants Disagree, I think my two posts are making the same point in pretty similar ways, but I'll take your feedback with love and respect, thank you ❤️

I can respect this: Gamefreak hypothesis was that customers would just eat up whatever ... and eat up whatever they did.

Lesson to be learned here? Being Gamefreak is just the best!

@inenai That is unfortunately, very likely indeed.

Out of curiosity, does it say what the best selling game of the year overall is? I'm at work and can't watch the video.

It should be a surprise to no one that Pokémon is selling well though. I'm about 20ish hours into Z-A and while I think I like Legends Arceus far more, this one isn't bad. The franchise desperately needs voice acting though.

@Tainaru so why bring it up?

@Fiskern Heh I jumped here still in Pokopia mode.

Rip to the old days of taking time on your games and not rushing out an unfinished yearly release.