Despite outcries from some in the community to boycott the latest Pokemon entries, it seems as though Sword and Shield have gotten off to one of the strongest starts from a sales perspective in the history of the franchise.
In its first week of availability, Pokemon Sword and Shield lapped the competition on the UK sales chart. Pokemon Sword ended up being the week’s number one selling game while Pokemon Shield ended up slotting in at third. Furthermore, the dual pack containing both versions called Pokemon Sword & Shield: Dual Edition ended up selling well enough as its own SKU that it debuted at seventh overall on the chart.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, this is good enough to make Sword and Shield the second-best launch in the history of Pokemon in the UK. Compared to the release of last year’s Pokemon Let’s Go games, Sword and Shield have sold nearly 65% more units. Part of this is surely because more Switch platforms are now owned this year compared to in 2018, but it also just goes to show how hungry players apparently were for a new generation of Pokemon. That being said, the launch of Sword and Shield didn’t outdo that of Sun and Moon which stands as the largest Nintendo launch in the history of the UK.
While Sword and Shield were the most notable launches of the week, EA’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order also hit the market and has done quite well for itself so far. Fallen Order slotted in at second place in its first week of availability and is said to be the fourth-largest retail launch of the year in the UK. That said, GI.biz states that the game sold 33% fewer copies in its first week than Star Wars Battlefront II did in 2017.
As for other notable changes this week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare dropped down from the top spot to fourth place. FIFA 20 then rounded out the top five on the week. It’ll be interesting to see which games in these top spots continue to have sustained success over the coming weeks.
If you want to check out last week’s full top-40 chart from the UK, you can find it below.
| LW | TW | Title | Age Rating | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | POKEMON SWORD | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO | |
| 2 | STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER | PEGI 16+ | EA GAMES | |
| 3 | POKEMON SHIELD | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO | |
| 1 | 4 | CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE | PEGI 18+ | ACTIVISION |
| 3 | 5 | FIFA 20 | PEGI 3+ | EA SPORTS |
| 4 | 6 | LUIGI’S MANSION 3 | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO |
| 7 | POKEMON SWORD & SHIELD: DUAL EDITION | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO | |
| 2 | 8 | DEATH STRANDING | PEGI 18+ | SONY COMPUTER ENT. |
| 6 | 9 | MARIO KART 8 DELUXE | PEGI 3+ | NINTENDO |
| 8 | 10 | MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES TOKYO 2020 | PEGI 3+ | NINTENDO |
| 5 | 11 | NEED FOR SPEED: HEAT | PEGI 16+ | EA GAMES |
| 9 | 12 | MINECRAFT | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO |
| 7 | 13 | FORTNITE: DARKFIRE BUNDLE | PEGI 12+ | WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE |
| 13 | 14 | GRAND THEFT AUTO V | PEGI 18+ | ROCKSTAR |
| 19 | 15 | RING FIT ADVENTURE | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO |
| 10 | 16 | PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: BATTLE FOR NEIGHBORVILLE | PEGI 7+ | EA GAMES |
| 11 | 17 | SUPER MARIO MAKER 2 | PEGI 3+ | NINTENDO |
| 12 | 18 | THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK’S AWAKENING | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO |
| 21 | 19 | SEA OF THIEVES | PEGI 12+ | MICROSOFT |
| 23 | 20 | MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION | PEGI 7+ | MICROSOFT |
| 14 | 21 | THE OUTER WORLDS | PEGI 18+ | PRIVATE DIVISION |
| 26 | 22 | CRASH TEAM RACING NITRO-FUELED | PEGI 3+ | ACTIVISION |
| 28 | 23 | CRASH BANDICOOT N.SANE TRILOGY | PEGI 7+ | ACTIVISION |
| 18 | 24 | NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. U DELUXE | PEGI 3+ | NINTENDO |
| 15 | 25 | JUST DANCE 2020 | PEGI 3+ | UBISOFT |
| 24 | 26 | MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION | PEGI 7+ | SONY COMPUTER ENT. |
| 22 | 27 | LEGO HARRY POTTER COLLECTION | PEGI 7+ | WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE |
| 20 | 28 | WWE 2K20 | PEGI 16+ | 2K |
| 25 | 29 | SUPER MARIO PARTY | PEGI 3+ | NINTENDO |
| 37 | 30 | SUPER SMASH BROS. ULTIMATE | PEGI 12+ | NINTENDO |
| 31 | 31 | SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO |
| 32 | FORZA HORIZON 4 | PEGI 3+ | MICROSOFT | |
| 34 | 33 | THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD | PEGI 12+ | NINTENDO |
| 35 | 34 | SPYRO REIGNITED TRILOGY | PEGI 7+ | ACTIVISION |
| 16 | 35 | JUMANJI: THE VIDEO GAME | PEGI 7+ | OUTRIGHT GAMES |
| 40 | 36 | HELLO NEIGHBOR | PEGI 7+ | GEARBOX PUBLISHING |
| 38 | 37 | RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 | PEGI 18+ | ROCKSTAR |
| 38 | TERMINATOR RESISTANCE | PEGI 16+ | REEF ENTERTAINMENT | |
| 33 | 39 | POKEMON: LET’S GO, PIKACHU! | PEGI 7+ | NINTENDO |
| 30 | 40 | GEARS 5 | PEGI 18+ | MICROSOFT |
The post Pokemon Sword and Shield Dominate on UK Charts as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Debuts in Second by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.