Pokemon Scarlet And Violet Broke A Huge Record
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet boasts being the highest globally-sold title for any software on a Nintendo platform within the first three days of its launch
This article is more than 2 years old
Despite the worst fan reception in franchise history, which prompted Nintendo to issue refunds, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet now reigns as the highest globally-sold title for any software on any Nintendo platform within the first three days of its launch. In fact, the titles made up 96% of the top ten physical sales in Japan and became the biggest physical launch for any game in the UK, and the sales aren’t slowing down, especially after Nintendo announced the support for Pokemon Home.
As reported by Nintendo Everything, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have sold over 10 million copies within the first three days on the market. It’s worth noting that both games suffer performance issues which led to incredibly low ratings for both Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which currently rank at 2.9 and 3.4, respectively.
Both Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were mostly praised by the critics for their open-world setting, vibrant colors, and addictive gameplay, but the fandom documented numerous glitches within the game and evidence of poor graphical performance. Admittedly, the visuals are pretty lackluster by modern standards and are more in line with the graphical style of the seventh generation of consoles rather than an eighth-generation console such as the world’s most popular handheld. In fact, many are blaming Nintendo Switch’s dated hardware for its poor performance.
However, the lackluster graphical style of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet can easily be attributed to Nintendo Switch’s dated hardware. But poor performance metrics aren’t something anyone can pin on the titles’ native console. The games were coded to run on Nintendo Switch, and if there are optimization issues, it’s with the code, not the console. The fact that the console is still capable of producing excellent-looking graphics, like the ones we’ve seen from the highly-anticipated sequel to Breath of the Wild, only confirms this.
It’s also worth noting that we are discussing a previous-gen console that happened to successfully survive the semiconductor shortage caused by the pandemic and one of Nintendo’s most successful products. Admittedly, it’s not as powerful as PlayStation 4, which received its production deadline, and the already discontinued Xbox One, but it was never intended to be. It was intended as a handheld console for playing games like Breath of the Wild, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet — of which only the latter has severe performance issues.
It’s been five years since Switch hit the market, and thanks to both product quality, and the pandemic-induced shortages, the handheld still emerges as the best-selling console. In fact, the searches for the Switch were 132% higher than for Microsoft’s XSXS and Sony’s PlayStation 5 continuously, which only attests to the greatness of such small-factor gaming hardware. Unfortunately, while Steam has hinted at Steam Deck 2, Nintendo hasn’t made any similar announcements, and we’re left wondering whether we’ll get a new console or not.
If nothing else, the various issues within Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have brought into question the future of Nintendo’s developer, GameFreak. But the sales figures speak for themselves, and Nintendo isn’t particularly worried about the games’ financial performance.
