Nintendo announced on Nov 24 that its latest Pokémon game set has set a sales record as the Japanese gaming company pumps out more video games for the holiday season.
Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet games for Nintendo Switch crossed 10 million units in the first three days since their launch on Nov 18. This is despite the fact that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had the lowest user scores in the series’ history on Metacritic.
Players have been complaining of bugs and poor graphics performance but this did not seem to affect sales at all. Pokémon is one of Nintendo’s longest-running franchises. The company refreshed Pokémon by releasing Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield three years ago and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl last year.
Both Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are different as they are open-world games, which means players can explore new environments without completing missions.
Nintendo fighting back
Video games have taken a back seat as the economy recovers and people are not stuck at home anymore with the Covid lockdowns.
In a CNBC report, Tokyo based consultancy Kantan Games CEO Serkan Toto said, “With the new Pokémon, Nintendo achieved a rare feat among all video game companies: scoring two blockbusters in a difficult 2022 for the industry.”
“Sure, Pokémon is almost always a safe bet, but the new title has exceeded expectations, just like Splatoon 3 did earlier this year.”
With all of the above, Nintendo shares are also up more than 11% this year. The company is expecting more games to be released most notably The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which is expected to be out in May.
Following Nintendo’s footsteps Sony is also not far behind as it announced on Nov 23 that the God of War Ragnarok title for its PlayStation console sold 5.1 million copies in its first week. This made it the fastest-selling debut of any first-party game for the company. First-part games are those made by a gaming studio owned by Sony.
Sony shares also closed 2% higher last week.
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