The Pokémon Company has revealed that, as of February 29th, 2016, the core Pokèmon game series has surpassed a cumulative 200 million units sold. Pulling back to include the Pokémon series’ many spin-off titles, the number climbs to a staggering 279 million units. It’s clear, looking at these figures, that Pokémon remains one of Nintendo’s most valuable assets, and considering its very consistent sales pace over the past two decades, we can confidently expect this worldwide phenomenon to continue well into the future.
Let me try to give these huge numbers a little more perspective. Around a dozen franchises have broken 100 million sales in the entire history of video games, and only a small handful of those have reached the 200 million mark. Mario sits comfortably at the top of the list (even if you ignore his many spin-off series like Mario Kart, Party and sports titles), followed by Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and, now, the core Pokémon series. While Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty have managed to reach these amazing milestones in less time, and with fewer entries, than their Nintendo-exclusive counterparts, they have also been available on multiple platforms for some or all of their respective histories.
This year will no doubt see Pokémon’s numbers continue to climb in both the core series (Pokémon Sun and Moon) and through some exciting new side projects (Pokkén Tournament, Pokémon Go). Here’s hoping that this past and continued success translates into a bright future for the series full of addicting new games, inventive side projects, and at least 850 Pokèmon amiibo for diehard fans to collect. Okay, okay, amiibo cards are acceptable, too.
Leave a Comment
Written by Brittin Shauers
Brittin literally grew up with Link, Mario and Samus. These three characters and their worlds collectively capture everything that he loves about video games.
