Switch

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl sold 6 million copies in its first week on sale

Shiny happy monsters selling well

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl — remakes of the fan favourite Diamond and Pearl from the Nintendo DS — have had an incredible first week in the sales charts.

As reported by Japanese website Gamebiz, and reportedly sourced straight from the horse’s mouth at Nintendo, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have collectively sold 6 million copies worldwide in the games’ first week on sale. The outlet doesn’t specify if that refers to the first business week following release (meaning an availability period of roughly 10 days), or if it refers to the 7 days of and following the game’s release.

As Serebii owner Joe Merrick pointed out on twitter, this is a pretty great result for the Pokémon Company and Nintendo, especially for remakes, with previous remakes Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, as well as Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, each selling around half that number. Another point of comparison is Pokémon Sword and Shield, which sold roughly equivalent to BDSP’s numbers — impressive, given that remakes tend to perform at about half the rate of games that start a new generation.

With another big Pokémon release on the horizon, with Pokémon Legends: Arceus releasing next month, it seems like it’s going to be a very strong third financial quarter for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company — though we’ll have to wait for Legends to release to see how it does.

In the meantime, why not check out our review for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl?

Oliver Brandt

Deputy Editor, sometimes-reviewer, and Oxford comma advocate. If something's published on Vooks, there's a good chance I looked over it first. I spend way too much on games and use way too many em dashes.