Pokémon Sword and Shield sales already hit over 16 million

Nintendo has released their latest financial report for the nine-month period ending 31st December 2019, with Pokémon Sword and Shield sales achieving a staggering 16.06 million.  

It’s a huge number considering Pokémon Sword and Shield released just over a month prior on 15 November, approaching the lifetime sales of Pokémon Sun and Moon (16.8 million) and Pokémon X&Y (16.44 million) already.  

The Nintendo Switch has also sold a total of 52.48 million units, with the original model selling 47.3 million and the new Nintendo Switch Lite 5.19 million.  

Of these sales, 10.8 million were in the last quarter – with Nintendo boosting their forecast for Switch units sold from 18 million to 19.5 million for the next financial year.

Impressively, this means the Nintendo Switch has exceeeded the total lifetime sales of the SNES, which sold 49.1 million units. 

The earnings also revealed Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Super Mario Maker 2 have both sold over five million units, while Astral Chain sold 1 million units despite little promotion from Nintendo.  

The company’s plans in 2020 however are oddly unknown at the moment, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons in March their only confirmed major release of the year.  

Other major titles confirmed to be in development include Bayonetta 3, Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4, although it’s unclear if these will release in 2020.  

You can check out the top 10 best-selling Nintendo Switch titles below.  

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 22.96 million 

2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 17.68 million 

3. Super Mario Odyssey – 16.59 million 

4. The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – 16.34 million 

5. Pokémon Sword and Shield – 16.06 million 

6. Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee and Pikachu – 11.76 million 

7. Splatoon 2 – 9.81 million 

8. Super Mario Party – 9.12 million 

9. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 5.85 million 

10. Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 5.37 million 

Pokémon Sword and Shield is only set to get bigger too, with two new expansions releasing in summer.

These sales also inevitably mean competitive Pokémon will receive a huge boost in entrants, with the World Championships taking place in London on 14-16 August.