A new Pokémon game sells most of its copies straight away and then stops. A main title makes between 64% and 94% of its lifetime sales in its launch year, and in twenty years of Nintendo’s million-seller tables none has appeared past its fifth year; Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 2.88m copies in its ninth. The money goes mostly to Nintendo, which sells the games. Players paid at least ¥147bn for console Pokémon in Nintendo’s latest year, and on our estimate ¥16–51bn of it reached The Pokémon Company, of which only the part it earns as publisher in Japan is certain.
A Pokémon game sells once
Seven main games from HeartGold and SoulSilver in 2009 to Scarlet and Violet in 2022 each sold most of their copies in the fiscal year they came out. Sword and Shield had the longest tail and still made 64% of its sales in year one; Sun and Moon made 94%. Scarlet and Violet, at 28.66m copies by September 2026, sold 1.48m in its fourth year.
Nintendo’s own evergreens behave differently. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe came out in April 2017, sold 8.45m copies in the year to March 2023 and 2.88m in the year to March 2026, and stood at 71.08m at that date. The Pokémon games in Nintendo’s table therefore swing with the calendar, from 1.87–5.04 million copies in the three recent years with no launch to 10.63–34.12 million in the five years when a main game launched on the Switch. What Pokémon does with its back catalogue is remake it, and the three most recent remakes sold 85–103% as many copies as the pairs they remade. Fig. 1 splits each game’s sales into the launch year and everything after.
Most copies of a main Pokémon game sell in its launch year
Copies sold in the launch fiscal year and in all later years, millions, seven main games, from Nintendo’s sales reports to 2026.
A second new region on a console sells more copies to a smaller share of owners
Each new region since 2016 has opened bigger than the last, with 15.44m for Sun and Moon, 17.37m for Sword and Shield and 22.10m for Scarlet and Violet in their first years to March. Games that went back to a region players already knew opened smaller, as Fig. 2 shows. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon ended at 57% of Sun and Moon’s lifetime sales.
Since 2016 each new region’s first year beat the last, and games returning to an old region shipped less
Copies shipped in each game’s first year to March, millions, from Nintendo’s results.
- New region
- Old region revisited
Legends: Arceus had about two months on sale in its first year and Legends: Z-A about five and a half.
Built from and .Show the numbers
| Year | New region, m copies | Old region revisited, m copies | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun and Moon (2016) | – | ||
| Sword and Shield (2019) | – | ||
| Diamond and Pearl remakes (2021) | – | ||
| Legends: Arceus (2022) | – | ||
| Scarlet and Violet (2022) | – | ||
| Legends: Z-A (2025) | – |
New region. Copies shipped to stores in each game’s first year to March, from Nintendo’s results. The rise rides a growing Switch base.
Old region revisited. Arceus had only about 2 months in its first year, Z-A about 5.5; Z-A’s figure counts Switch 2 Edition packages.
On the Switch the rise from the first new region to the second came from the console base. Sword and Shield launched when 35–56m Switch consoles had shipped, Scarlet and Violet when there were 108–123m. Counted per console, the second new region on each machine converted fewer owners than the first. On the 3DS, Sun and Moon sold 0.67–0.83 times as many copies per console as X and Y. On the Switch the step was steeper, at 0.35–0.66 times. Fig. 3 puts the four launches on one scale.
On each console the second new region sold more copies and fewer per console than the first
Copies shipped in the launch year per 100 consoles shipped to date, estimated ranges. Low end uses the console count at the end of the launch year, high end the count at its start.
- First new region on the console
- Second new region, three years later
Show the numbers
| New-region game | First new region on the console, per 100 consoles | Second new region, three years later, per 100 consoles | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| X and Y (3DS, 2013) | – | ||
| Sun and Moon (3DS, 2016) | – | ||
| Sword and Shield (Switch, 2019) | (31–50) | – | |
| Scarlet and Violet (Switch, 2022) | – | (18–21) |
First new region on the console. Copies shipped in the launch year to March, divided by consoles shipped to date. Each range runs from the console count at the end of that year (low) to the count at its start (high); the true figure at launch lies between.
Second new region, three years later. Sun and Moon shipped 15.44m copies against X and Y’s 12.26m, and Scarlet and Violet 22.10m against Sword and Shield’s 17.37m: more copies each time, on a console base that had grown faster. Consoles shipped, not active owners.
Winds and Waves is due in 2027 on the Switch 2 alone. Nintendo had shipped 26.35m of them by September 2026. To match Scarlet and Violet’s first year at the rates X and Y and Sword and Shield reached early in their consoles’ lives, the game would need a base of 44–78m, the low end counting consoles at the start of the launch year and the high end at its close.
Two versions sell a second cartridge to some of the same buyers
Each new-region game ships as a pair, and for Sword and Shield and for Scarlet and Violet Japan sells the pair in one box at exactly twice the single price. In Sword and Shield’s first week there, 23% of purchases were the Double Pack, so 19% of all cartridges sold that week were the second cartridge in a Double Pack. Three years earlier the share of buyers taking both Sun and Moon was 9%, on a different tracker. We have no split for Scarlet and Violet or for any market outside Japan. Fig. 4 shows the Sword and Shield week.
In Sword and Shield’s first week in Japan, nearly one cartridge in five was a Double Pack’s second
Physical cartridges sold in Japan, 11 to 17 November 2019, thousands. Each Double Pack is counted as two cartridges.
- Single-version copies
- Double Pack cartridges
Show the numbers
| Year | Single-version copies, thousand | Double Pack cartridges, thousand | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sword singles | – | ||
| Shield singles | – | ||
| Double Pack, first cartridge | – | ||
| Double Pack, second cartridge | – |
Single-version copies. Physical copies sold in Japan, 11 to 17 November 2019 (Dengeki ranking). Singles split 59% Sword, 41% Shield.
Double Pack cartridges. Each Double Pack holds two cartridges, so it is counted twice: second cartridges were 18.8% of the 1.36 million sold. The pack cost ¥11,960 before tax, exactly two singles at ¥5,980.
Nintendo books the sale and The Pokémon Company receives a slice
Outside Japan Nintendo is both publisher and seller of the main games. In Japan The Pokémon Company has been the publisher of record since Ruby and Sapphire in 2002, with Nintendo as the seller, and Winds and Waves carries the same credits. TPC’s money from the games therefore arrives through Nintendo.
In Nintendo’s year to March 2026 players paid at least ¥146.8bn at list price, ¥115.7bn of it outside Japan. The part of that we can attach to TPC with confidence is its share as publisher in Japan, ¥15.5–23.3bn. If Nintendo also pays a royalty on what it sells abroad, the total rises to as much as ¥51.1bn. Even that top figure is under a tenth of the Tokyo company’s ¥531.4bn revenue, and the rest of what players paid stays with shops and with Nintendo (Nintendo). Fig. 5 sets the three amounts side by side.
Players paid at least ¥147bn for console Pokémon games; ¥16–51bn of it reached The Pokémon Company
¥ billion, Nintendo’s year to March 2026, estimated. Spending is at list price for games that sold a million or more.
- Spending on console Pokémon games at list price, a floor
- Reaching The Pokémon Company, estimated range
Show the numbers
| Step | Spending on console Pokémon games at list price, a floor, ¥bn | Reaching The Pokémon Company, estimated range, ¥bn | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Players paid, at list price (at least) | – | ||
| Reached The Pokémon Company | – | (16–51) | |
| Of which certain: publishing in Japan | – | (16–23) |
Spending on console Pokémon games at list price, a floor. Our estimate from Nintendo’s unit sales at list prices: ¥115.7bn outside Japan and ¥31.1bn in Japan before tax. Only games that sold a million or more are counted, so download-only FireRed and LeafGreen, add-on content and smaller titles are left out.
Reaching The Pokémon Company, estimated range. The low end is The Pokémon Company’s share as publisher in Japan and nothing else. The high end adds a royalty of up to ¥27.8bn on Nintendo’s sales outside Japan; no such royalty is on record, so it may be zero.
What it adds up to
The next main games, Winds and Waves, are due in 2027.