This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.

Pokémon Sword and Shield may have garnered a fair amount of criticism from fans, but that hasn’t stopped the series selling like gangbusters. We’ve already reported on how well the games performed in the UK, and now that success has been replicated elsewhere.

In Japan, Sword and Shield surpassed Super Smash Bros Ultimate to become the fastest-selling Switch game yet - clearing 1.3m copies (not including digital downloads) to Smash’s 1.2m across its first three days on sale.

Meanwhile in the US, it’s become the ‘highest-grossing’ launch in the history of the franchise, shifting 2 milllion copies in the first two days of launch. It is worth bearing in mind that the $60 price point is significantly higher than that seen on the 3DS games though, which may explain the ‘highest-grossing’ phrasing.

Still, despite any problems the games may have, Pokémon continues to be the juggernaut it is.

Source: Gematsu and Business Wire