'Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Is Selling Faster Than The Mainline Games

I don’t think any of us expected the recently released Pokémon Legends: Arceus to flop, exactly, on the sales front. But equally, few would have predicted that the game, set in the Pokémon universe’s past, would be quite so successful at retail as it’s proving to be.

As we said in our review of the Nintendo Switch exclusive game, this is the Pokémon gaming evolution that long-term fans of the series have been waiting for. And it seems those fans have been voting in support of the game’s new features and new world at the tills, as Legends: Arceus has now reached a whopping 6.5 million units sold worldwide - and that’s been achieved in just one week. 

It’s dangerous out there in this new adventure - watch our Pokémon Legends: Arceus Wins & Fails video, below

That total of six and a half million copies sold means - as IGN reports - that Legends: Arceus is out-selling previously released mainline Pokémon games. Neither 2019’s Pokémon: Sword and Shield, nor the remakes of Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond, can match that sales speed. IGN notes that these games sold a maximum of six million copies in the same period of seven days on sale.

As the second-fastest-selling Switch game in Japan, we already knew Pokémon: Legends Arceus was off to a flying start - but this new figure, announced by Nintendo itself, goes to show that on the global level, this new catch ‘em all experience really is resonating with players.