The headline speaks for itself at this point. Despite the controversy surrounding Game Freak and the unfortunately incomplete Pokedex issue, that certainly hasn’t stopped Pokemon Sword & Shield from being massively popular and enjoying an incredible launch since its official release last week.
According to Famitsu, Pokemon Sword & Shield sold 1,364,544 copies in its first three days in Japan. And if there was ever any doubt about the popularity of the Nintendo Switch itself, the report goes on to state that over 10 million Switch units have been sold in Japan since its original launch back in March 2017 as well.
Nintendo also managed to sell over 180,000 Switch units in Japan during Pokemon’s launch week.
Also worth noting is the fact that the sales numbers for Pokemon Sword & Shield here only count physical sales, and do not take into account digital eShop sales, which also went live on the same day. With that in mind, it’s probably safe to say that this is one of biggest video game launches in Japan, which shouldn’t come as a surprise at all, given the popularity of the Pokemon franchise.
There are still some niggling issues with the games, of course, with the Pokedex controversy being at the top of the list, but overall, Sword & Shield are shaping up to be yet another pair of decent entries in the long-running series.
Pokemon Sword & Shield are now available on the Nintendo Switch. Look for our official review in the coming days.
In the meantime, you can read up more about the game, including how someone’s already beaten the entire thing with just Wooloo.
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