The Pokemon Company has just officially announced that Pokemon Legends: Z-A has sold 5.8 million copies in its first week on physical and digital store shelves. A sort of spiritual successor/continuation of Pokemon X/Y, there was a lot of hype surrounding Pokemon Legends: Z-A before its release, and it seems that hype has translated directly to sales.
Back in January 2022, The Pokemon Company released Pokemon Legends: Arceus for the original Nintendo Switch. What set Arceus apart from its mainline siblings was its unique action-based gameplay that saw players catching Pokemon in real-time. Pokemon Legends: Z-A continues to evolve this more action-focused gameplay formula while taking players back to Lumiose City.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Sells 5.8 Million Copies in its First Week
In a statement released to press on October 24, 2025, The Pokemon Company confirmed that Pokemon Legends: Z-A had sold 5.8 million copies worldwide since its launch on October 16. The Pokemon Company also announced that nearly half of these launch week sales were for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game.
Recently, Famitsu reported that Pokemon Legends: Z-A had sold 1.486 million copies in Japan alone, with 613,000 of those being the Nintendo Switch 2 version, and 872,000 being the original Switch iteration. If these numbers are accurate, then that means Pokemon Legends: Z-A has sold around 4.314 million copies in the rest of the world during its launch week.
What's more interesting, though, is a report from The Game Business' Christopher Dring that surfaced a few days ago. This report stated that although Pokemon Legends: Z-A had taken the number one spot on the UK sales charts in the week of its release, its actual sales were 40% lower than Pokemon Legends: Arceus' in its own first week on store shelves. That report seems to carry through to today's announcement, as although Pokemon Legends: Z-A has sold an impressive 5.8 million copies, those numbers aren't quite as high as some of the franchise's other recent entries.
According to X user @Pierre485, Pokemon Legends: Z-A outperformed both Pokemon X/Y and Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee in terms of launch week sales, with the former selling 4 million copies and the latter selling 3 million. But Z-A's success is eclipsed by Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, which sold an eye-watering 10 million copies within its first week. Z-A's launch sales were also beaten by Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which sold 6.5 million copies, and Pokemon Sword/Shield and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, which both sold 6 million.
Of course, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is still a major success in the grand scheme of things. For comparison, Borderlands 4 is believed to have sold around 2 million copies in its launch week. Pokemon games also tend to have a long shelf life. Pokemon Legends: Arceus, for instance, ended up selling over 14.83 million copies just over a year after its release. This is likely only the beginning for Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 79 /100 Critics Rec: 66%
- Released
- October 16, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
- Game Freak, Creatures Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo, The Pokemon Company
WHERE TO PLAY
Source: IGN