Pokemon Sword and Shield sell 6 million copies in launch weekend
They're the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch games yet.
Scorbunny and company deserve a fist-bump. Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are Nintendo Switch's fastest-selling games so far.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield together sold more than 6 million copies worldwide over the weekend after their Nov. 15 launch for the Nintendo Switch game console, Nintendo said Friday. This makes the companion games the console's fastest-selling titles, snatching the crown from 2018's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
The core Pokemon RPG series has sold more than 241 million copies worldwide since the 1996 release of Red and Green on Game Boy in Japan (Green was replaced by Blue outside Japan) up to September 2019, Nintendo noted. Last year's Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee games -- which were basically remakes of the 1996 games -- sold 3 million copies in their first week on sale.
The success of Sword and Shield could push up the overall Pokemon sales figure substantially. Previous major core games Sun and Moon sold more than 16 million copies. Those came out on Nintendo 3DS in 2016 and became the handheld device's third best-selling games (behind Mario Kart 7 and Pokemon X and Y).
Earlier this week, Roku was forced to push an update after Sword and Shield's Y-Comm service, which constantly searches for other Pokemon players on the same wireless network and online, made devices crash.
Also Friday, the Pokemon Company announced that it'll open another popup Pokemon Center -- a real-life store where you can buy merch -- in London for the 2020 Pokemon World Championships. The date and venue haven't been revealed yet.
First published Nov. 22 at 6:01 a.m. PT.
Updated at 6:32 a.m. PT: Adds more detail.
