Pokémon X And Y Sales Dropping Faster Than Pokémon Black And White

In its second week on store shelves in Japan, Pokémon X and Pokémon Y sold 473,000 copies, bringing total retail sales of the game to around 2.34 million. Japanese sales tracker Media Create points out that sales dropped by 75% in week 2.

This drop-off in sales is a little faster than that of Pokémon Black/White, which were released for the Nintendo DS in 2010. Not only did Black/White have higher first-week sales but sales in the games’ second week only dropped by 70%.

An interesting bit of information, but probably not much reason to panic. There are a variety of factors that are likely collectively playing a role in the sales of Pokémon X and Y. For starters, Nintendo 3DS sales are nowhere near the sales of Nintendo DS in 2010. The DS had sold around 30 million units by late 2010, whereas the 3DS is only at 13 million.

Another reason is obviously that Pokémon X and Y launched soon after Monster Hunter 4, which means the two games will initially compete with each other.

How Pokémon X and Y will hold up in the long run, however, remains to be seen. In a sense, it’s unfair to compare the two games to Pokémon Black/White, which currently hold the record for the highest opening week a game has ever had in the history of the Japanese game industry. Just because X and Y haven’t managed to keep up with the breakneck pace of Black/White doesn’t mean they aren’t doing well.