Investor Briefing (Jan. 2017): Kimishima on Pokémon Sun and Moon sales, more

During the usual meeting with investors, which always follows the presentation of the latest financial results, Nintendo talked about sales for Pokémon Sun and Moon. Yesterday, it was revealed that both versions combined have sold over 14.69 million units, and that sales continue to grow.

The following graph compares the sell-through from release to the end of the year for the various mainline Pokémon entries on Nintendo 3DS:

Pokémon Sun and Moon is not only off to a great start, it also did better than Pokémon X and Y… in a shorter timeframe (it was released 5 weeks later). Since Pokémon games tend to sell on the long-run in Europe and North America, Nintendo believes that the sale potential of this latest entry is “excellent”.

Nintendo also notes that more players in their 20s and 30s picked up Pokémon Sun and Moon, compared to previous Pokémon titles. But that’s not all: stats also show that about 17% of Pokémon Sun and Moon players had never played a Pokémon game on Nintendo 3DS before.

For Nintendo, the success of that game is due to the same reasons we’ve been hearing about for quite a while now:

• celebrations for the Pokémon 20th Anniversary;
• the release and success of Pokémon GO.

It’s thanks to those that that Pokémon Sun and Moon was able to attract more players in their 20s and 30s, along with players who had never played a Pokémon game before (or had stopped playing them).

Source: Nintendo