The latest UK boxed-video game software charts are now in for the largest gaming market in Europe and Pokemon Scarlet & Violet have proved to be huge sales beasts for both Nintendo and The Pokemon Company. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet were the biggest boxed-video game release of the year so far in the UK, surpassing launch sales of FIFA 23, which is always incredibly popular in Europe. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are the second biggest Pokemon releases of all-time after Pokemon Sun & Moon on Nintendo 3DS.
“In fact, in terms of units, it is the second biggest Pokémon launch of all time, behind Pokémon Sun and Moon on the 3DS. Sun and Moon arrived during a period of huge interest in the series following the release of the smartphone game Pokémon Go (way back in 2016)
Scarlet and Violet’s first week sales are 25% bigger than the previous ‘new generation’ Pokémon release, Sword and Shield, which launched on Switch in November 2019. It’s also 70% bigger than last year’s Diamond and Pearl remakes and 56% bigger than January’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus
The launch of Pokémon has also boosted sales of Switch consoles, GfK says. Switch hardware sales rose 62% week-on-week, led by the OLED model. It is the biggest week of the year so far for Nintendo Switch console sales.”
Here is the GfK UK Boxed Top Ten for the week ending November 20:
| Last Week | This Week | Title |
|---|---|---|
| New Entry | 1 | Pokémon Violet |
| New Entry | 2 | Pokémon Scarlet |
| 2 | 3 | FIFA 23 |
| 1 | 4 | God of War Ragnarok |
| 2 | 5 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 |
| New Entry | 6 | Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Dual Pack |
| 7 | 7 | Horizon: Forbidden West |
| 5 | 8 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe |
| 6 | 9 | Nintendo Switch Sports |
| 4 | 10 | Sonic Frontiers |
Finally got Eevee on Pokemon Violet and it evolved into Umbreon, now i just wanna get Espeon. Pretty unique evaluation requirements for Eevee, increase happiness and depending on if it’s day or night in real time determines it’s evaluation. My Eevee evolved into Umbreon at 5:20 AM.
What area did you find Eevee?
South Province area 2, in the olive field west of the town called Cortando. I also got a Rockruff and evolved it into it’s dusk form.
This is my first Pokémon tittle on the Switch. I love the game.
Nintendo, Game Freak and Creature’s inc. have yet another group of baskets with golden eggs. It took two top slots without digital. With content galore. Enjoy Pokémon scarlet and violet. This is gaming.
F=ma.
I would have brought violet yesterday with the water starter if technical machines were infinite use. I’ll wait and see if the dlc can fix this.
TM crafting is a gameplay mechanic, they’re not going to remove it in DLC.
What’s the issue anyway? It’s not exactly difficult to craft them and you can make as many as you want.
That’s a lot of victims. It’s a terrible game. And I don’t mean the gameplay but just the state of the game. They obviously prioritized a holiday release date over delaying it to polish it up.
What I don’t understand is why people are so forgiving of Game Freak on this. People treat it like it’s their first 3D Pokemon game but it’s their 5th game on Switch so far. There’s really no excuse for the terrible performance.
But yeah… the above comments are praising the game so I don’t know what weird phenomenon is going on here that players are just looking past these issues and are happy with the game.
Think it just boils down to if people have fun with the game and if you can get past the technical short comings.
Each person will have a different fresh hold on what’s acceptable, if you feel like its not bad that’s fine and you can save your money for a game you feel is worth it. For me would I like the game to perform better, sure, does it effect how much fun, definitely not.
“What I don’t understand is why people are so forgiving of Game Freak on this”
Because it’s not Gamefreak’s fault, it’s The Pokémon Company who are the cause of all these rushed games. They set the deadlines for these things, and don’t allow delays of the game as that would interfere with the release of all the other parts of Gen 9 (the trading cards, anime, merchandise etc).
Gamefreak also have alarmingly few staff members for the kinds of games they have to make, and even less time to make them in. I’d hate the think the conditions the Gamefreak devs have to work in.
So yeah, you’re basically blaming the wrong people in this (same as everyone else it seems).
I’m not sure why so many people are blaming the poor, overworked devs for this (who probably won’t receive any more than the smallest fraction of the game’s overall earnings, as is usually the case in this industry) when the blame very clearly lies with the executives at TPC. I suppose GF are just easier targets for most people to hurl abuse at.
Also on a side note, calling people “victims” for enjoying a game you personally don’t is exceedingly childish and does nothing for your argument. Performance issues aside, the game itself is very enjoyable and the exact change in formula I’ve personally been wanting from the series.
Had the game been delayed or given longer development time from the start to sort out performance and bugs, it could’ve been something truly special.
You illustrate my point so perfectly. You make an excuse that I’m blaming the wrong company when it really doesn’t matter in this case; I’m blaming the people in charge of the developing and releasing this game.
I’m not allowed to have criticisms in your eyes and called it being childish.
And you just so happily said at the end of your comment, “Had the game been delayed or given longer development time from the start to sort out performance and bugs, it could’ve been something truly special.” THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. STOP GIVING A FREE PASS TO GAME COMPANIES FOR THIS BEHAVIOR. This is why any customer here can rightly be called a victim because they are paying full price for an unfinished product and are expected to accept this as normal.
I will die on this hill. There is no excuse for the industry to be like this.
Wow, you basically didn’t read (or at least understand) my comment at all huh?
I don’t “illustrate your point so perfectly” in the slightest. I called you out on being incorrect on where you were assigning blame, and you’ve decided to respond by throwing a temper tantrum.
I was obviously right on the money when calling you childish.
Once again, you assign blame to the wrong people. The people in charge of developing the game have to meet the deadlines given to them, no matter how ridiculous and unfair they may be. Are you really not aware of the crunch culture that’s been rampant in the gaming industry for years now?
The blame for this situation goes fully to the executives at The Pokémon Company (and possibly Nintendo if the rumours about their refusal to expand Gamefreak’s dev team are to be believed).
I believe the GF devs made the best they possibly could out of an awful situation, keeping in mind that they only just released Legends: Arceus earlier this year, and I doubt they even got a break between development cycles.
This is not “making an excuse”, the issues with the game still exist regardless of these facts, this is simply explaining who is actually at fault for these circumstances, and correcting your incorrect assumptions.
If you don’t want to be called out on being wrong, try actually thinking before writing your next comment.
No one’s even been “forgiving” of this issue either. The game has been heavily criticised for its awful performance and various bugs since it released.
Yet, despite that, a lot of people are still enjoying the game because it’s FUN. That’s not “forgiving it”, that’s still being able to enjoy it despite its many flaws.
Really not a difficult thing to understand my dude.
You’re perfectly within your rights to have criticisms of the game, I literally said the performance was an issue myself and that it needed more development time to be fixed. What is NOT okay is to act like an actual infant throwing a strop and act condescendingly towards people who are actually enjoying the game. This is a very simple concept, yet seems to elude you for some bizarre reason.
Really not sure what point you’re even trying to make in your third paragraph. Me saying that the game could’ve really been something truly special if given more time is somehow a bad thing? Or are you, yet again, spitting with rage simply because I’ve actually been enjoying my time with the game so far, shitty performance and all?
If genuinely getting enjoyment out of a flawed game makes me a “victim” in your eyes, then sure. Go off, I guess.
I’ll continue enjoying my time with the game, and you can, uh, continue making angry comments on news sites that’ll do absolutely nothing to actually change the state of the industry (especially since, as established, you clearly have no idea where this issue even originates from in the first place).
So yeah, you go ahead and die on that hill buddy. I can assure you not many people will notice or even care.
You did illustrate my point and you continue to do so. Since you say you didn’t understand, I’ll try and explain it one more time but I’m not doing it again.
Nitpicking that I’m blaming Game Freak and not The Pokemon Company is pointless. In my original post, I just named Game Freak, but I was essentially blaming everyone involved with the development and publishing of this game so I don’t which company they work for, honestly. It makes no difference. Anyone involved in the production has some degree of QA responsibility and they failed terribly.
If you notice our exchange thus far, I’ve not insulted you. I’ve criticized a poorly-made game. Your response had been to insult me personally and to disregard all valid criticism of the game. Which leads to my third point…
You are normalizing this experience entirely. You even recognize and admitted that the game would have benefited greatly from being delayed and worked on further. This means you realize the game is needlessly flawed but are refusing it to be criticized because… I don’t know. It’s hard to say at this point. I think it’s just become the norm for players to think that games will be released buggy and expect to get patches as time goes on. I find this mentality unacceptable and developers and publishers need to do better. And gamers should stop letting themselves be exploited in this way and also having to DEFEND the companies exploiting you. Remember, this game was NEEDLESSLY released buggy. If everyone was ok with playing the game a few months later, then this wouldn’t even be an issue. But no, release dates must be made and sales targets must be hit… the gamer be damned.
There’s no virtue in showing loyalty to a company in this situation. Just because you can look past an unfinished game doesn’t make it right. And if you still disagree? Then I guess I can’t blame you for resorting to personal insults because you really have no other logical defense for defending the release of an unfinished game.
…Are you just talking to yourself or something? You’re literally not even reading my comments at this point.
“Nit-picking”? Are you seriously this unable to accept the fact that you were objectively wrong about where to assign blame?
No, this is not the fault of anyone on the development team. It is that of the executives in charge, those who push these unreasonable deadlines on the developers. I can’t fathom why you’d be this ignorant about all this to keep pushing against this fact, it’s honestly people like you who have allowed this toxic crunch culture to become such a problem, simply because you refuse to face up to the facts of who causes it and assign blame to the wrong people.
It really does make a difference too, these are two different corporate entities. One of which is causing the problem, the other of which are the victims of it.
You’re literally blaming the victims for the situation they’ve been dropped into, which comes across as extraordinarily tone-deaf and in bad taste.
Like dude, just accept that you were wrong with good graces. All this brainless justification you’re trying to do is just pathetic, I’m not going to mince my words here.
“Disregard all valid criticism of the game”??? I’ve literally been making the same criticisms of the game myself, literally been acknowledging that these are genuine problems with the game.
This is why I think that you’ve not actually been reading my comments, you would have already realised this if you actually had.
The very, very simple concept you seem somehow unable to understand is that despite all the performance issues, despite all the bugs, the game is fun. People are enjoying the game, while still accepting the major flaws that it has. And it is this that you seem to have a major issue with, for some bizarre reason.
Yes, for what seems like the five millionth time, the game is flawed. Very flawed. But having played through a decent chunk of it, I’ve still had a good time playing it. That doesn’t make the issues with the game suddenly disappear, not in the slightest. But that also hardly makes me a “victim” because I’m actually getting enjoyment out of a game.
But like I said before, you go off if labelling people like that makes you feel better about yourself or something.
And “showing loyalty to a company in this situation”? “Defend the companies exploiting you”
Want to go and show where exactly I did that?
I’ve heavily criticised TPC for creating the crunch culture within GF’s development team, and only stated that I believe GF did the best they could with the time they were given.
This is not “being loyal”, this is stating facts. Breath of the Wild had a whole five years of development time to make a fully open world game, S&V barely had one (considering that Legends: Arceus development would’ve likely overlapped as well).
I’ve at no point said that it is acceptable to release the game in the state it is. On the contrary, I’ve literally been criticising the ridiculous deadlines imposed on the dev team.
All I’ve said is that I’ve still been enjoying the game regardless. And that seems to personally offend you for some bizarre reason.
“If everyone was ok with playing the game a few months later, then this wouldn’t even be an issue.”
That’s unbearably naive. As stated in my previous comment, the deadlines TPC set have to do with the release schedule of every other part of Gen 9 (the anime, the trading cards, the manga, all the various merchandise etc). You’re saying this as if there was a poll or something where fans could vote on when they want the game to release, that’s just not how it works.
New Pokémon games are essentially the flagships of the new generations, they can’t release any of the other Gen 9 material before the main games themselves. And it’s mostly the other stuff where they get their profit from. TPC don’t care whether the game is published in an unfinished state, they only care that it’s put out as quickly as possible so they can start profiting from all the other parts of the Pokémon franchise. This is how crunch culture is started.
Once again, you’ve tried to twist my words into something they’re not, rather than facing my points head on. You’ve done nothing but disregard my criticism of TPC and the crunch culture they’ve inflicted upon GF (ironic, considering you’ve accused me of the same thing) and have thoroughly unpleasant and condescending towards the people who are enjoying the game, while refusing to listen to why they do.
It’s pathetic.
Wow. I really am right. They can release an actual shit Pokemon game and STILL sell very well. Lol No need to fix anything before release when it comes to the main PKMN games. Most people will still buy ’em anyway. Just fix it after release.
Not sure if either of ’em will notice but to the debate above… To Reesette, you do know GameFreak are 1/3 owners of TPC, right? Defending GF from CFG by blaming TPC is kinda funny. (Reminds me how you defended Bayonetta’s former VA Hellena Taylor. And that defense aged POORLY when it turned out she effectively lied.) To CFG, at the end of the day, sometimes being a victim is just a state of mind. If people are still buying a broken Pokemon game knowing it’ll be broken, they aren’t victims… I’d argue they’re suckers, though. Lol shrug To each their own, though.
Do YOU realise that TPC are still the ones that set the deadlines on projects, and oversee the Pokémon franchise as a whole? And that, funnily enough, the Pokémon development team aren’t the ones who control the entire franchise and don’t get to set their own deadlines on these things? An incredible thought I know.
I’ve literally explained this entire situation in my previous comments, but you, just like CFG, seem to be incapable of reading them properly.
How hilarious, bringing up a completely unrelated topic to try and devalidate my comments here?
Yes, it turned out that Hellena was lying about how much money she was offered. Which sucks in particular since underpaid VA’s are a real issue within the industry. She was clearly aware of this, and used that to her advantage to gain sympathy.
I still don’t regret speaking up on the matter, as situations like that have to be taken seriously if any actual change within the industry is to take place.
But if you want to really go this way, I’ll go ahead and dig through previous articles and find dumb and ignorant comments I’ve seen you make in the past, and try to devalidate your arguments using them.
I certainly recall seeing quite a few from you in particular in days past.
Ahh, the name calling once again. “Suckers”? Are you still in pre-school or something?
If getting genuine enjoyment out of a flawed game makes me that, then once again, go off I guess.
At this point I’m just enjoying seeing how hard you’re both trying to put me down, even resorting to completely unrelated articles.
Just pointing out GameFreak is not as much of a victim as your bleeding heart is making you believe. I repeat, GF owns 1/3 of TPC. GF has more power than you want to admit. Just bringing up the Taylor thing as background evidence that you’re too quick to defend the wrong person again.
And is it really name calling if it’s true? I will admit the people that bought it initially might not be suckers. But the ones still buying it after it got out the 2 games are buggy as shit, oh yeah. Definitely suckers. Yeah you can say otherwise because the game will inevitably be fixed but I’d disagree & still say people are suckers for buying a game they know is broken. You can enjoy something & still be a sucker for buying it. Hell! I bought Sonic Forces! Enjoyed it but still a sucker myself for buying it. (I shoulda just watched a YT video of Infinite’s scenes. Coulda saved some money.) For more background, I liked The Last Jedi initially. Like a fool. Got so into GoT S8E3 that I initially jumped for joy the Night King was killed by Arya. But then E4 happened & the dragon got killed in the stupidest way possible. “Dany forgot about the Iron Fleet.” facepalm I won’t even go into the other shit that pissed me off with GoT S8 with the excitement of NK’s death wearing off. (Cleganebowl was fun, though. Shoulda been longer, though, and not cut up with other scenes. Fuck S8E6. Still haven’t watched.)
Anyway, I don’t take issue with you trying to defend people that have been wronged. It’s a good thing. BUT be sure to pick the actual victims to defend. GF aren’t the poster boys for being bullied by a publisher. Find someone else to defend because, like Taylor, GameFreak ain’t the one. Also, if you want TRUE name calling (a malicious intent to hurt someone by calling them horrible names), I could use words that are far more harsh & harmful than suckers. (Honestly, victims is hardly a nasty word, either. Don’t know why you’re taking CFG’s use of the word so negatively. Especially considering you think GF are the only “victims” here.)