It’s a simple formula. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company put out new games and millions of people show up to buy them. That worked extraordinarily well during Nintendo’s last fiscal year. The company had multiple massive Pokémon debuts as well as a number of ongoing catalogue hits. And that pushed the series to over 30 million copies sold in the 12-month period ending March 31.
The newly release Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl were the biggest movers for the brand. The former sold 12.64 million copies since its debut and the latter 14.65 million copies. That is a massive back-to-back performance for the series that puts Pokémon-series sales at 27 million copies for the year.
But then the IP also got help from 3.18 million additional copies sold of Pokémon Sword and Shield, 2.4 million copies of New Pokémon Snap, and 1.25 million for Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee.
This money-printing factory isn’t slowing down either. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are releasing a new generation of games, Scarlet and Violet, later this year. Those games will likely also race to 12 million copies sold and beyond.