Look, let’s just be honest here. The Pokemon franchise is the biggest gaming franchise out there. It just is. It’s been going strong for nearly 30 years, and we know that more games are coming, both big and small. Yet, what you might not realize is just how much that franchise has accumulated in sales over the decades. Today, The Pokemon Company revealed the number for where they stand right now, and that number is 489 million software units sold. They revealed this on a special corporate site where they plotted just how well the franchise has done across its many avenues.
The reason the software number is significant isn’t just because it’s really close to 500 million, but because of how much the software number has jumped in the last eight years via the Nintendo Switch. Just during the Switch era, with Sword/Shield, the Let’s Go titles, Scarlet and Violet, and then Legends Arceus, the franchise sold over 100 million units! Plus, we know that Pokémon Legends Z-A will be available on both the Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2. Thus, it’ll get that extra 11 million it needs to hit that milestone within the next year, more than likely.
Then, however well the Switch 2 does, will dictate just how much higher that number climbs.