Nintendo announced today that the Pokémon Legends of Arceus has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide in its first week of release. At the same time, it also refreshed the record for the fastest and most sales of the Pokémon series on the Switch platform in the first week.
In the new week (1/24-1/30) Japanese game software and hardware sales list released by Famitsu just yesterday, “Pokémon Legend Arceus” topped the list with 1,424,657 copies. Previously, according to statistics from the Twitch platform, on the first day of the game’s release, the peak number of players watching the game’s live broadcast was about 477,000, which was nearly double the 247,000 of “Pokémon: Crystal Diamond/Bright Pearl”.
Thank you to the more than 6.5 million explorers worldwide who have already embarked on an exciting new adventure in #PokemonLegendsArceus!
We hope you’re loading up on more potato mochi before your next research mission! pic.twitter.com/u1MKRHkhhD
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 4, 2022
The peak audience of “Pokémon: Sword/Shield” on the first day was only 188,000. The game immediately became the best-selling game of 2022 on Amazon’s platform. Last year, it was among the top 100 best-selling games based on pre-order results alone. Some European and American games are even out of stock for pre-orders.
The Legend of Pokémon: Arceus has been released globally on January 28, the latest work in the Pokémon series that combines action and RPG. The adventure stage of this game is the Xicui area featuring a vast natural landscape. That is the story of a bygone era before the concept of a Pokémon trainer or a Pokémon alliance, and this place will eventually be called the Shinno Area.
The purpose of the protagonist’s adventure is to make the first Pokémon illustrated book in this area. Taking the opportunity to meet Dr. Raben who studies the ecology of Pokémon, the protagonist investigates the ecology of Pokémon as a member of the Team Galaxy that operates out of the Celebration Village.