The Pokémon Company announced that its latest release Pokémon LEGENDS Z-A sold 5.8 million copies in its first week of release.
In a Japanese press release that was translated via DeepL, the company declared, “The Pokémon Company announced that the Nintendo Switch 2 / Nintendo Switch software title Pokémon LEGENDS Z-A recorded worldwide sales of 5.8 million copies in its first week.”
Additionally, the company shared, “Approximately half of these sales were on the Nintendo Switch 2.”
That is a strong number, but it is pacing behind other recently released Pokémon games. For example, in 2022 Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet sold a total of 10 million in its first three days of release. However, Nintendo revealed it was “the highest global sales level for any software on any Nintendo platform within the first three days.”
Also in 2022, Nintendo shared that Pokémon Legends: Arceus had achieved 6.5 millions sales. The company posted on X, “Thank you to the more than 6.5 million explorers worldwide who have already embarked on an exciting new adventure in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.”
Back in 2019 Pokémon Sword and Shield combined to sell over 6 million units worldwide during its launch weekend. It sold 2 million alone in the first two days in the United States and was at the time the highest-grossing launch of any Pokemon game.
NEXT: FromSoftware Explains Delay Of ‘Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition’
I played the first game in the Pokémon Legends series, which is called Pokémon Legends Arceus. I really liked it and enjoyed playing it a whole lot. The fact that they put a whole lot of emphasis on completing the Pokédex was cool, especially because you had to complete the Pokédex to finally meet Arceus, fight him, and then you obtain Arceus and complete his Pokédex entry to complete the game.
Having seen the teaser for Pokémon Legends Z-A around the time that I had bought Pokémon Legends Arceus, I was so excited to buy the game for myself. The concept of just exploring a single area was exciting. In my head, they were going to add cool details to enhance Lumiose City
There are a few things that make me a bit hesitant about buying the game.
First, I'm not really impressed with some of the new Mega Evolution Pokémon. The previous ones looked absolutely cool with details that added to the Pokémon that were made into Megas, whether that was color scheme changes, extra enhancements to details that were on the Pokémon prior to its Mega Evolution, etc.
The second, is the fact that prior to the release of Pokémon Legends Z-A, Nintendo announced a paid DLC for Legends Z-A called Mega Dimension. I remember when I bought Legends Arceus that there was an update that was downloaded that provided extra content in the form of a story arc called Daybreak. It had a story arc, a new way to obtain Pokémon, and even a small segment where you watched the sunrise and you got a small reward for it. You also could do a battle against the 2 leaders of the Diamond and Pearl clans using Origin Form Dialga and Origin Form Palkia. They're doing the same thing in Legends Z-A but as paid DLC.
I still want to get Legends Z-A and see what it is like though. But it is disappointing that Nintendo is already killing any hype there was for a really great series of games.
There's a particular saying about the persistence, the strength of dying camels.