By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Pokémon Franchise Has Sold Over 480 Million Units

Pokémon Franchise Has Sold Over 480 Million Units - Sales

by William D'Angelo , posted on 26 May 2023 / 4,281 Views

The Pokemon Company has updated the lifetime shipment figures for the Pokémon franchise and revealed the series has now shipped over 480 million units worldwide as of March 2023. 

The 480 million figure is up from 440 million as of March 2022 and 380 million as of March 2021. This does mean The Pokemon Company has shipped over 40 million units of the series in just 12 months.

It was also revealed the Pokémon trading card game production has topped 52.9 billion cards, which are available in 14 languages and in 89 countries and regions.

The Pokémon animated TV series has aired episodes in 192 countries and regions.

Pokémon Franchise Has Sold Over 480 Million Units

The best-selling entry in the Pokémon franchise is the original Pokémon Red / Green / Blue with 31.38 million units sold, followed by a more recent release with Pokémon Sword / Shield, which has sold 25.82 million units as of March 31, 2023. The most recent entry in the series, Pokémon Scarlet  /Violet, has sold 22.10 million units as of March 31, 2023.


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.


More Articles

19 Comments
G2ThaUNiT (on 26 May 2023)

So in a single year, Pokémon games sold 40 million copies! Beyond impressive, but also the reason why Game Freak will never improve their tech.

  • +2
Slownenberg G2ThaUNiT (on 26 May 2023)

But maybe they'd sell 50m in a year if they did! I don't think we can just blindly say they don't work harder on these games cuz Pokemon always sells a lot. Since it is easy to make the argument better games would sell more.

  • +1
Wman1996 G2ThaUNiT (on 26 May 2023)

Game Freak seems to be treating their Pokemon games like they're running on the cancelled handheld, Project Indy, albeit with a higher resolution. The Indy would've been between the Vita and Xbox 360 in specs.

  • +1
Kakadu18 (on 26 May 2023)

There's an error in the article. Sword/Shield is at 25.82 million units.

Edit: Thank you for correcting the number Trunkswd.

  • +1
Kakadu18 Kakadu18 (on 26 May 2023)

Seriously, wtf? I get downvoted for making a correction so that the article doesn't have false numbers?

  • +3
shikamaru317 Kakadu18 (on 27 May 2023)

People are so weird on VGC sometimes.

  • +2
Kakadu18 shikamaru317 (on 28 May 2023)

Very weird.

  • 0
S.Peelman (on 26 May 2023)

52.9 billion trading cards lol.

  • 0
ClassicGamingWizzz (on 27 May 2023)

These past couple entries are a mistery to me, such garbage games and sells millions and millions like sword and shield.

  • -1
Darwinianevolution (on 27 May 2023)

As much as I'd love to feel happy for this milestone, the last couple of releases have made feel like the series is going to sell millions regardless of quality, price increase and feature drain.

  • -1
LivncA_Dis3 (on 26 May 2023)

Undeserving sales these past couple of releases

  • -1
rapsuperstar31 (on 26 May 2023)

2.4 billion in revenue at $60 for a pretty glitched game. I wonder if Game Freak waits until the Switch successor to try out that Zelda $70 price point or does it with the next game to pump that number up to 2.8 billion at $70 for it's next game.

  • -2
haxxiy rapsuperstar31 (on 26 May 2023)

It's not GF's sole fault, their publishing and distributing deal with Nintendo is extremely one-sided. Why bother expending more from their own pockets to make these games when they're only truly making money from their share in the TPC?

  • 0
Darwinianevolution haxxiy (on 27 May 2023)

Whether the fault is in Nintendo, GF or the Pokémon Co., the truth is that if the fanbase actually pushed back and didn't buy the games, the quality downwards spiral could have been stopped. Why would the publisher and the devs change when they are selling record breaking numbers regardless?

  • 0
Wman1996 rapsuperstar31 (on 26 May 2023)

The earliest I see another Pokemon RPG coming out is Holiday 2023, and it would probably be remakes of Black and White. There's virtually no chance Gen 10 comes out before Holiday 2024. And even then, 2025 or 2026 is more likely.
And I think Game Freak/TPC/Nintendo are going to be cautious on the current system and probably not charge $70 for a Pokemon game. They're money-hungry, but not suicidal.
Charging $70 for a massive Zelda game is way different than charging $70 for a Pokemon game.

  • +1
Kakadu18 Wman1996 (on 26 May 2023)

Gen 10 isn't coming before 2025. They won't suddenly do a 2 year cycle. And this year definitely won't have any mainline game at all. It's like 2020 with just DLC for the latest game.

  • +2
Slownenberg Wman1996 (on 27 May 2023)

Gen 10 will be holiday 2025 according to the Pokemon 3 year schedule. I guess that'll be the big test of whether or not they are gonna really up the technical quality of the games for next gen. Hopefully that'll be a fantastic open world rpg.

But I could see another remake hitting Switch next year. No real reason not to get another 10+ million sales on Switch's massive user base just before the generation ends.

And yeah I don't see Pokemon being $70 unless next gen they actually do a really high quality huge open world game. I think its funny how people keep saying every single Nintendo game is gonna be $70 now haha, just because basically Nintendo's biggest and most anticipated game of all time was $70.

  • +1
shikamaru317 Wman1996 (on 28 May 2023)

My guess would be 2023 is just the promised 2 DLC's for Pokemon Scarlet/Violet and continued updates for their GaaS games like Pokemon Unite. There have even been rumors that the 2nd Scarlet/Violet DLC was delayed into early 2024.

After the 2nd DLC releases, there are 3 possibilities I see for 2024, a Black/White remake late 2024, a Let's Go remake for Gold/Silver late 2024, or no new Pokemon RPG at all; any new Pokemon RPG released in 2024 is likely to be crossgen since Switch 2 itself is likely to release in 2024, and Nintendo is unlikely to drop Switch 1 support on a franchise as big as Pokemon in the first year of Switch 2's life.

2025 meanwhile has a chance of a Legends Arceus sequel set in a different Pokemon region with a different legendary/mythic Pokemon as the focus, probably in Q1 again since that worked well for Arceus. There is also a chance we see the next Pokemon generation, Gen 10, by Holiday 2025, hopefully as the first Switch 2 exclusive Pokemon game rather than cross-gen, with a rather large graphics leap for the series.

I don't think we will see $70 until either the Legends Arceus sequel or Gen 10 in 2025, and even then only on a Switch 2 version probably, if it's cross-gen I see them sticking with $60 on Switch 1 and using the graphics and framerate improvements on Switch 2 to justify $70. Hopefully Gamefreak and Nintendo are actually trying to make gen 10 and a Legends Arceus sequel worthy of a $70 price tag by putting more resources into it's development and getting a team with graphics know-how to assist them.

  • 0
Comment was deleted...