God of War Ragnarök; Pokémon Scarlet and Violet shatter sales records

Two of November’s hottest game releases have launched to a trailblazing start, with PlayStation’s ‘God of War Ragnarök’ and Nintendo’s ‘Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’ each setting new sales records for the companies behind them.

The details:

• God of War Ragnarök, which was released on November 9 and developed by PlayStation-owned Santa Monica Studio, continues the story of Kratos and Atreus, and has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response from its players.

• This is made clear by the game’s impressive numbers. In its debut week, God of War Ragnarök sold more than 5.1 million copies — not only a franchise record, but also marking it as the fastest-selling first-party game in PlayStation’s history.

• This means it’s topped God of War’s 2018 release, which sold a staggering 3.1 million copies in its opening three days.

• It’s good news over in the Nintendo camp, too. In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s first week, the games have sold more than 10 million copies globally, with this number being breached after only three days.

• More than 4 million of these sales come from Japan alone, where Nintendo has an especially strong footprint.

• The strong performance of Scarlet and Violet makes them Nintendo’s best ever release, taking the crown for the fastest-selling games to have been released on a Nintendo device. There have been problems in the release, though, which we’ll get to in a moment.

The context:

• It’s been a positive month for AAA video game releases. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, which launched on October 27, was reportedly the fastest-selling title in the franchise to date, with developers Infinity Ward and Activision finding success once again in a more modern setting for the game.

• Ragnarök and Scarlet and Violet only add to this swell for the industry, each claiming their own accolades as fastest-selling games within the same 30 days.

• What’s more, the success of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet shows that this uptick in sales isn’t reserved only for console and PC games; there’s also an appetite across different devices.

• That said, the release of Scarlet and Violet hasn’t been without its flaws. While opening sales figures are strong, many players are finding the game’s slew of performance issues and frame lag too large to overlook, so much so that they’re calling—and even receiving—refunds for it.

• It’s likely that these performance issues will be ironed out in patches to come over the months, but it’s another concerning case of a AAA title launching in a less-than-perfect state.

• Nevertheless, it’s a strong sign for the games industry as we approach the holiday period, where sales are bound to remain consistent the closer we get to Christmas.