Pokémon Sword and Shield are the fastest selling Nintendo Switch games in history

Pokémon Sword and Shield have managed to sell over 6 million units worldwide in their first week of release, meaning that they’re currently the fastest selling Nintendo Switch games to date.

The news comes courtesy of The Pokémon Company Japan on Twitter. Roughly translated, the Tweet says “Pokemon Sword and Shield have surpassed 6 million worldwide sales in the first week of release, making them the fastest selling Nintendo Switch software in history.”

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— ?????? (@Pokemon_cojp) November 21, 2019

The two games have sold 2 million copies in Japan alone. Overall, these figures are double of what Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu! and Let’s Go Eevee! achieved, with both games selling 3 million in their first week.

This also marks the record opening for a Switch title globally, beating out Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s record of 5 million copies sold.

Pokémon Sword is also enjoying the position of being the best selling exclusive of the year in the UK, with both Sword and Shield dominating the UK games charts last week.

All this means that despite mass outrage from naysayers over ‘#Dexit’, there’s no denying that the latest instalments in the Pokémon franchise have had an extremely successful launch.

Even though we don’t have an official MSPoweruser review for Pokémon Sword and Shield, I’m currently playing through Sword and finding it an absolute delight. My only problem is Hop constantly telling me that I’ve finally mastered type match-ups in every single battle we have.

Despite Sword and Shield’s success, both Pokémon Sun and Moon still hold the record for most successful Pokémon game launch, selling 7.2 million copies in around 12 days. Pokémon Sun and Moon also still collectively hold the title of biggest Nintendo launch in the UK ever.

You can pick up Pokémon Sword on the Nintendo eShop here and Pokémon Shield on the eShop here. Happy gaming!