Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Sales Put a Ton of Pressure on Gen 10

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 22, 2024 3 Views 6 Min Read
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Sales Put a Ton of Pressure on Gen 10

It has been a rocky couple of years for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, but the monster-catching franchise’s ninth generation will end in a much better place than it began. Pre-release anxieties and frustrations from the last few major Pokemon titles were already bleeding into Pokemon Scarlet and Violet at their launch, making their highly unstable state look all the more disastrous. Not all the technical issues have been smoothed out, but many have, and a combination of hindsight and strong DLC have allowed Pokemon Scarlet and Violet to claw their way to a better standing.




As the first true open world Pokemon entry, Scarlet and Violet may have set its goals higher than it could handle, but aspects like strong characterization, enjoyable multiplayer integration, and how well Pokemon fit into an open template helped endear them to players anyway. With the second anniversary of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet recently passing on November 18, several impressive statistics have emerged to confirm that Pokemon fans were enamored with these games in spite of their flaws. That’s good for the Generation 9 Pokemon games, but may have once again set goals too high for the next generation to meet.

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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Are Flourishing In Surprising Ways


Nintendo had its Q3 2024 investor call on November 5, 2024, and among the various statistics posted and statements regarding plans for upcoming games and the Nintendo Switch successor console, the mainline Switch Pokemon titles saw updates for their sales numbers. As of September 30, 2024, Pokemon Sword and Shield have sold 26.44 million units worldwide, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet aren’t far behind with 25.69 million units. For reference, a financial report from Sword and Shield’s 22-month mark recorded 22.64 million units, so Scarlet and Violet could outpace Sword and Shield before the next Pokemon generation arrives.

Scarlet and Violet Are Now Bestsellers In Their Home Territory

However, lifetime sales aren’t something the Generation 10 Pokemon titles should worry about right now, both due to Pokemon Red, Blue, and Green still holding the series record of 31.05 million as of September 2009, and the many uncertainties surrounding the Switch successor. The more pressing concern is Pokemon Scarlet and Violet selling 8.3 million copies in Japan, which Japanese news outlet Famitsu reported on during their November 18 anniversary. For the first time in Pokemon’s 28-year history, Pokemon Red and Green have been dethroned as the highest selling Pokemon games in Japan, and that means the next Pokemon generation has even more to live up to.


The Next Pokemon Generation Can’t Avoid Comparisons With Scarlet and Violet

Pressure for Pokemon‘s next generational leap to avoid the disappointments plaguing the last few generations is still lying dormant, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have only added to it with their accomplishments. In spite of Scarlet and Violet’s setbacks, they made a name for themselves in their home country, not to mention everywhere else, and now Pokemon‘s tenth generation will have to compete with more quality and sales expectations than ever before. A mainline Pokemon game isn’t in danger of underperforming yet, but there’s a growing number of reasons to expect Pokemon Generation 10 to outdo Scarlet and Violet.


Pokemon’s Next Generation Could Be Held To An Unrealistic Standard

It appears that Pokemon Legends: Z-A and the tenth Pokemon generation are receiving longer development cycles than previous Pokemon games, which makes sense considering both are trying to outdo and address feedback from their immediate predecessors. Generation 10 is also launching as either an exclusive or cross-generational title on the Nintendo Switch 2, which means it could not only bypass some of the technical issues Scarlet and Violet suffered, but pursue their ambitions with better hardware backing them up. Pokemon’s next generation doesn’t need to outsell Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, but it does need to prove it’s worthy of similar success.

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