At the same date (March 2023), two-version Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl sold about as many copies as single-version Legends

What this is

At the same date (March 2023), two-version Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl sold about as many copies as single-version Legends: Arceus: a ratio of 0.99 to 1.06.

How it’s built

1. Arceus had 14.83 million lifetime copies at March 2023, from Nintendo’s results material.
2. Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl had 14.65 million at March 2022 and is missing from Nintendo’s list of million-sellers for the following year, so it sold under 1 million more: 14.65 to 15.65 million.
3. Both share the same Switch base on the same date, so the base cancels.

What we assumed

• Absence from Nintendo’s million-seller table means under 1 million that year.The table lists titles that sold 1 million or more in the year. Press relays put the pair near 15.0 million, inside the range.
• Ages of 16.4 against 14.1 months are close enough to compare.Both games were well past launch by then, so the extra two months matter little to the totals.

Sanity check

If anything, the older pair’s extra two months flatter it, so the two-version premium per owner is about zero, not the 1.15 seen in launch-window tests.

Where it comes from

Our calculation from other figures in the trainer’s notes:

• FiledSales units (global, life-to-date at period end), year to March 20231,483 10,000 units
• EstimateThree tests of whether two-version Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl sold more copies per Switch owner than single-version Legends
• FiledBDSP absent from Nintendo year to March 2023 million-seller table: year to March 2023 worldwide units < 1m, so to date at 31 March 2023 is bounded 14.65m-15.65m, year to March 2023
• FiledWorldwide units, BDSP and Legends Arceus, verified in Nintendo's own year to March 2022 explanatory material (upgrades B press relays /G-6 to the filing-grade source), year to March 2022, year to March 2022 (BDSP released 19 November 2021; Arceus 28 January 2022)