Pokemon Sword And Shield Now The Third Best-Selling Pokemon Games Of All Time

Nintendo has released its latest financial earnings statement, revealing an impressive milestone for the latest Pokemon games. Sales for the eighth generation within the mainline series have now reached over 18 million units as of June, making Pokemon Sword and Shield the third best-selling entry in the franchise.

Having sold over 16 million units by December 2019, the latest Pokemon games are now closing in on the lifetime sales of Generation Two games Pokemon Gold and Silver, which sold over 23 million copies since their initial release in Japan in November 1999, before rolling out to North America in 2000 and Europe in 2001.

Pokemon Red, Blue, and Green still remain a lofty target for the latest games to topple from its number one spot on the sales chart, as their lifetime sales currently total over 31.3 million sales.

Pokemon Sword and Shield numbers are likely to continue increasing, thanks to the Pokemon Expansion Pass introducing the recent Isle of Armor add-on content, and The Crown Tundra coming later this year. You can see the sales numbers for the mainline Pokemon games, via Serebii:

Pokemon Lifetime Sales

• Pokemon Red and Blue/Green -31.38 million
• Pokemon Gold and Silver -23.10 million
• Pokemon Sword and Shield - 18.22 million
• Pokemon Diamond and Pearl -17.67 million
• Pokemon X and Y -16.45 million
• Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire -16.22 million
• Pokemon Sun and Moon -16.18 million
• Pokemon Black and White -15.64 million
• Pokemon Yellow -14.64 million
• Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire - 14.27 million
• Pokemon HeartGold/SoulsSilver - 12.7 million
• Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Let's Go Eevee -12.03 million
• Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen -12 million
• Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon - 8.7 million
• Pokemon Black 2/White 2 -8.2 million
• Pokemon Platinum - 7.6 million
• Pokemon Emerald - 7 million
• Pokemon Crystal - 6.3 million

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has also sold an impressive 10 million units between April and June 30, with overall sales so far topping 22.40 million copies.