Nintendo has announced the sales figures for Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, the combined sales of which signify a strong showing despite community backlash to the $20 price point at which each game was sold. In 6 weeks, the two Game Boy Advance titles sold a combined 4 million copies. That equals out to about $80 million in revenue for Nintendo.
Nintendo revealed the plans to rerelease the two Pokémon titles back in February, adding them to the Nintendo eShop for purchase. This isn’t uncommon per se; however, Nintendo has a service for retro Game Boy Advance that comes combined with their Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion service.
Following the backlash, a subsequent Q&A article defended the company’s decision to do so, suggesting the launch strategy was unlikely to be commonplace. “We remain focused on offering classic games through Nintendo Switch Online and Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack,” they stated at that time. While there might have been valid reasons, one of which could be the Online services’ ability to create duplicate saves, which might prove problematic with the Pokémon games, the Q&A did not address these.
Regardless, there was never really any doubt that two Pokémon games, especially well-liked classics, were going to perform well on the platform. Currently, these combined sales are rivaling sales figures for the critically praised cozy sim Pokémon Pokopia, though Pokomia managed to reach the 4 million sales mark in less time on the market overall.
There is a likelihood that the series will see this strategy repeated, with a lot of games in the Pokémon series that could find a renewed fanbase should they come to the Switch 2, rather than be console locked. Nintendo has given no hints whether this will be the case, not even as part of the major leak that affected Nintendo Earlier this year (the one in which we learned about the new Star Fox), but plans can always shift and form.
Looking forward to the future, Nintendo has announced Pokémon Winds and Waves, the 10th generation, which is currently slated to release in 2027. The entries look to continue the open-world trend started in Scarlet and Violet, though appearing to have evolved the formula. They will be set in an island chain inspired by Southeast Asia and Indonesia.
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