Pokémon Scarlet & Violet sold 20 million copies in six weeks

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sold more than 20 million copies in their first six weeks of availability, Nintendo has reported.

As part of its summarised results for the first nine months of FY23, the company said the latest entry in the Pokémon series sold 20.61 million copies between its release on November 18, and December 31.

This currently makes it the fourth best-selling Pokémon game of all time, according to Serebii owner Joe Merrick, who notes that only Pokémon Gold & Silver (23.7m), Sword & Shield (25.6m) and the original Red, Green & Blue (31.3 million) have sold more.

The previous entry, Pokémon Sword & Shield, sold 16 million copies in its first six weeks, meaning Scarlet & Violet could eventually overtake it if it continues its current trajectory – this would then make it at least the second best-selling Pokémon game ever.

According to Nintendo’s figures, Scarlet & Violet’s first six weeks have made it the seventh best-selling Switch game to date, ahead of Super Mario Party (18.7 million) but behind Super Mario Odyssey (25.1 million).

Nintendo’s current top 10 best-selling Switch games are as follows:

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 52 million
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 41.59 million
3. Super Smash Bros Ultimate – 30.44 million
4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 29 million
5. Pokémon Sword & Shield – 25.68 million
6. Super Mario Odyssey – 25.12 million
7. Pokémon Scarlet & Violet – 20.61 million
8. Super Mario Party – 18.79 million
9. Ring Fit Adventure – 15.22 million
10. Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu / Eevee – 15.07 million

Despite releasing to general acclaim from critics and players alike, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet launched last year with a large number of technical issues. While the game has received one major update, some issues remain.

A second Pokémon Scarlet and Violent update is planned for late February, and while its details aren’t yet clear, developer Game Freak has said it will “include bug fixes and add functionality”.

Further reading

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough, tips, and Pokemon locations

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet tips, evolution methods and all class answers

In VGC’s Pokémon Scarlet and Violet review, we said the games were the most feature-rich Pokémon titles in years but suffered from technical issues.

“The huge expansion and changes to the single player campaign are great, the size of the world and the joy of exploration are the best in the series, and the new Pokemon and battle mechanics introduced all sing,” we wrote. “However, it’s just impossible to shake the thought of how much better the game would feel if it was on more powerful hardware, or simply ran acceptably on Switch.”