Pokémon Legends: Z-A got off to a strong start in the US with the best first-week physical sales in two and a half years

Pokémon Legends: Z-A enjoyed the best US retail launch week in two and a half years, according to new data.

Mat Piscatella, senior director at market research company Circana, noted on Bluesky that according to Circana’s numbers, Pokémon Legends: Z-A had “a massive US launch at retail”.

Piscatella says the game’s total physical sales in the US in its first week of release are the highest – in terms of both number of physical units sold and dollar sales – since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released in May 2023.

It should be noted that Circana’s data on Nintendo games only covers physical sales, since Nintendo doesn’t provide digital sales data to the company.

It’s therefore possible that a different game enjoyed a larger US launch when both physical and digital copies are counted. In terms of physical boxed copies alone, however, this is the best launch recorded since May 2023.

Piscatella also noted that its figures didn’t include the newly released Switch 2 console bundle which includes a copy of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, possibly because it’s a download code and therefore doesn’t technically count as a physical game sale.

Last week The Pokémon Company announced that Pokémon Legends: Z-A had sold 5.8 million copies in its first week – including both physical and digital sales globally – with around half of these played on Switch 2.

It was then noted on X that the figure makes Pokémon Legends: Z-A the fifth-best performing game in the Pokémon series in terms of week 1 sales, behind Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (10 million in 3 days), Pokémon Legends: Arceus (6.5 million in 3 days), Pokémon Sword & Shield (6 million in 3 days) and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl (6 million in 3 days).

VGC’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A review calls it “a love letter to older fans that betters Pokémon Legends: Arceus in every way”.

“Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a grand adventure that once again proves that the Legends series is home to the most interesting ideas Game Freak has,” we wrote. “It’s a game that understands its audience, and feels like a love letter to both players who grew up with X & Y, and those who’ve been here the whole time.

“The new battle system really worked for me, and the Rogue Mega Battles are bombastic fun, even if, like the traditional turn-based offering, it can get very easy as you level up your team. I hope the Pokémon Legends series is here to stay.”