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Pokemon Scarlet/Violet and God of War Ragnarok Shatter Records

The big franchises see millions of gamers jump on in the titles' respective first weeks.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
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Roger Cheng
2 min read
Kratos and Atreus pose in Midgard.

God of War Ragnarok flew off the shelves. 

 Sony

God of War Ragnarok's Kratos and Atreus have slain gods, but they couldn't topple the behemoth that is the Pokemon franchise and its latest two games, Scarlet and Violet.  

On Wednesday morning, Sony touted Ragnarok's stellar sales, saying it was the fastest-selling first-party title in PlayStation history, moving 5.1 million units in the first five days. 

Later that day, Nintendo released even more impressive stats for Pokemon Violet and Pokemon Scarlet. The two titles (mainline Pokemon games always come out in pairs) combined for 10 million units in the first three days. 

Pokemon is among Nintendo's most successful franchises, sitting alongside Mario, Zelda and Metroid as one of the core tentpoles for the Japanese game maker. 

Scarlet and Violet is the franchise's first take at a truly open-world Pokemon game, but CNET's Daniel Van Boom says it's too much for the Switch hardware to handle. He's among the myriad of critics who have blasted the game for glitches and slowdowns in the gameplay. 

Ragnarok, meanwhile, is the top of the heap among several hit Sony-published games, including Spider-Man and the Gran Turismo and Uncharted franchises. That's an impressive achievement, given PlayStation consoles have been around for nearly three decades, with the latest, the PlayStation 5, being the home of Ragnarok. 

The latest title sees longtime protagonist Kratos once again team up with his son, this time to battle hordes of Norse gods. In his review, Van Boom calls it a bigger, grander game, even if it lacks its predecessor's originality. 

Check out Ragnarok and the other best PS5 games here.