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Pokémon Scarlet and Violet may have started out a bit rough in terms of bugs and glitches, but it’s very clear that didn’t stop consumers from swarming the games as soon as they released. That’s especially true over in Japan, where Scarlet/Violet have managed an impressive feat.

As of today, Pokémon Scarlet/Violet’s physical sales in Japan have surpassed 4.6 million units since launch. Believe it or not, that number puts Scarlet/Violet above the total physical sales for Pokémon Sword/Shield already!

To put things in perspective, it took Pokémon Sword/Shield 3 years to achieve physical sales above 4 million. Pokémon Scarlet/Violet have managed to blow past that figure in just 8 weeks. That should give you a great idea of just how popular the latest Pokémon titles are!

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riftsilver

I understand the pessimistic attitude, but as a developer myself I can assure you that no developer likes rushing out products or releasing something half baked. The games were rushed out due to timeline restrictions for the other franchises needs (anime, TCG, merchandise), not for lack of effort.

As GameFreak is in control of their own timelines (at the beginning of the dev cycle at least), they can adjust and make more time available for future projects. Either that or identify that they need further delays especially when COVID happened mid development.

At the end of the day though, I've noticed the technical issues are quite varied. I know some people that barely had any issues, mine was a middling experience and others had a lot. I've no idea why they're so varied, but they need to be solved nonetheless.

We can only hope they stay true to their word of working on improving the games performance. If they don't now, after the stricter timelines have been lifted, people will be a lot more critical.

kuribo

1y ago

It’s a bitter sweet achievement imo because it shows that the technical issues the game has can be ignored. Why bother putting in the effort if the game will sell this much?


riftsilver

1y ago

@kuribo

I understand the pessimistic attitude, but as a developer myself I can assure you that no developer likes rushing out products or releasing something half baked. The games were rushed out due to timeline restrictions for the other franchises needs (anime, TCG, merchandise), not for lack of effort.

As GameFreak is in control of their own timelines (at the beginning of the dev cycle at least), they can adjust and make more time available for future projects. Either that or identify that they need further delays especially when COVID happened mid development.

At the end of the day though, I've noticed the technical issues are quite varied. I know some people that barely had any issues, mine was a middling experience and others had a lot. I've no idea why they're so varied, but they need to be solved nonetheless.

We can only hope they stay true to their word of working on improving the games performance. If they don't now, after the stricter timelines have been lifted, people will be a lot more critical.


You’re right. My pessimism shouldn’t be directed at the developers. They had to abide by the larger Pokémonstrosity franchise needs. I’m hopeful the February patch improves things a lot.