How Did Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Sell More Than God of War Ragnarok? | Podcast 61

TechRaptor, "On this week's podcast, we chat about Netflix Games, Ragnarok Sales, and Pokemon Scarlet Violet's Sales too. Plus Impressions of both!"

[Neonridr]

the Switch has almost 100 million more units in the wild. Not hard to see why a game as popular as Pokemon would sell more than God of War.

[Vits]

That would be a good justification if GoW wasn't a cross-gen released with a market potential of over 130 million. Whereas the Switch moved only around 114 million.

The reason is more likely to do with the franchise power. On that front Pokemon is miles ahead of GoW.

[Neonridr]

fair enough, I totally wasn't thinking about the PS4 install base. I'm curious to know how games like Horizon and GoW sold on last gen vs current gen though. Seems like the PS5 was doing better sales.

[Eonjay]

Two reasons:. It's the biggest franchise on Earth and the the games sales aren't counted individually like all other games. They are added together. Always have been. So GOW can be the highest SKU but when we add the two Pokemon skus together we can say it outsold GOW.

[1Victor]

Remember if you want to catch ‘‘em all you need to buy 2 games 🤷🏿
That’s a potential 228 millions games 😱

[shinoff2183]

To be fair vits

My friend is specifically waiting until he gets a ps5 to get the gow. He might be just one person but where there's one there's many.

[Vits]

@shinoff2183

Congrats? Like that does not has anything to do with anything. But good for your friend.

[-Foxtrot]

I think the answer to the question is obvious

It's still sad though we live in a time where a game which is poorer quality, not as good as what the franchise could be and also just barebones sells more than something which is overall better quality.

Again the Pokemon franchise is huge and so is the appeal but because of that people give it a free pass and continue to eat whatever shit is thrown at them. Literally the responses to it are like...

"Yeah it might not be the best quality, there's bugs, there's glitches, there's not a lot to do, the level scaling is rubbish, the designs are still not the best, the world feels empty or barren, there's very limiting character customization choices, there's not many engaging side quests, it's far too easy or even dumbed down...bu bu but it's still the BEST Pokemon experience we have and I'm having fun I guess"

We've been given so many subpar Pokemon experiences over the years that we settle anything just a tiny bit over the low bar set.

[Neonridr]

again, aside from the technical issues it is generally seen as the best pokemon game in a long time. Maybe that bar is low, but generally speaking people enjoy the games for the most part. I see my kid and the enjoyment he's getting from the game. You know what he hasn't said to me once? Why does the game slow down here and there.

God of War doesn't appeal to as many people, plain and simple.

[Chard]

Well yes, technical issues can be overlooked if the gameplay is fun.
It’s a bonus that many of the glitches are hilarious

[senorfartcushion]

It’s definitely worse in terms of quality but everyone I know who has both games have finished Pokémon first.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Game isn't targeted to 50 year olds like you.

[Stopac]

That's a little presumptuous. Sometimes a game doesn't have to be technically optimized to have fun with it. I mean I played it everyday straight from release date to today and it's great. Makes me wish there was a switch pro but I'm having fun.

When did fun stop being the major contributing factor to what makes a great game?

[Mr_Writer85]

@foxtrot
"that people give it a free pass and continue to eat whatever shit is thrown at them"

A) The game is fun, performance can be poor and still be a fun game

B) It's more popular with children who don't care about performance.

Should I feel bad because I've bought three version, one each for my children and one for me?

You may deem me "part of the problem" and maybe I am, but when I not only have fun, but have fun with my children and we have some quality bonding time then you can't tell me I am not having fun.

[SeTTriP]

Pokémon is older then I am it's a brand that far exceeds gow fan base why is this news, why is this surprising?

[Nyxus]

It's Pokemon.

[dekke]

and its 2 games not one :P

[Neonridr]

even if you broke them up they'd outsell most titles.

[DOMination-]

When I was younger I worked in gaming retail and not once did I see someone buy both Pokemon games. Not doubting there are people out there who would but its a very small percentage and not the reason it has so many sales

[SoulWarrior]

How did one of the largest entertainments products ever outsell virtually every other game?

[kayoss]

Because
1. Pokémon is a very popular name brand across the world.
2. Pokémon appeals to a larger and diverse (in age) audience vs God of war which is targeted at a more mature audience.
3. Pokémon games are better advertised

[gold_drake]

i think age has little or next to nothing to do with it. look at call of duty. all of the kiddies play it.

[Mr_Writer85]

Kiddies who parents don't know how to parent sure.

I wouldn't let my 6 and 9 year old play them, but they have been playing Pokémon since the age of 4 (with my help obviously)

Most kids their age are more into Pokémon and Minecraft than COD.

Hence why especially outside of gaming both IPs are bigger than COD.

[MajorLazer]

I'd say 11/12 is a decent age to start playing more mature titles, whilst Pokemon is pretty much appropriate since birth.

[Mr_Writer85]

@Major

But still not old enough to play COD.

If you have a child who is under 15 years old playing COD you're a bad parent.

Fortnite
Overwatch 2

That's at least 2 age appropriate shooter games suitable for 12 years old and above.

[masterfox]

pokemons games are for people that are........nah I wont say anything. :D

[got_dam]

Because nintendo holds my entire childhood hostage.

[darkrider]

It's pokemon. Totally different game and audience.

[GOULDYBOBS]

Ps4 vs Ps2 game

[Tacoboto]

I pointed out the graphics to a friend that sent me a picture of him playing, joking that he's playing Monster Rancher on PS1.

"The graphics aren't bad"

I told him nah, it's so objectively bad that even IGN pointed it out. He said yeah it stutters then:

"Like I don’t mind the sub par graphics cuz it is fun"

What's supposed to be the response to something like that? That he's not supposed to be having fun? That he's supposed to care about the details present in Ragnarok instead even though he doesn't care at all for high end graphics or narrative driven games?

[Profchaos]

I mean to an extent i get it but it's so broken. I mean I've been having a blast playing sonic frontiers and that's not exactly high polish so I kind of understand the argument where fun Trump's graphics

[senorfartcushion]

True

[nommers]

I agree that anybody should be able to enjoy videos games they find appealing. There's nothing wrong with that. Same with (unfortunately) how much some of the sell. I can forgive those things. But Pokemon games haven't deserved anything above a 6/10 in a very long time. Critics should know better than this when taking into account other games they have to weigh on the same scale.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Don't start arguments with casuals. You'll always lose to the 'but it's fun...' response, no matter how good your objectivity or logic is.

[gold_drake]

brand recognition
empty promises

yeh. theres a reason why it has a user score of 2.6, thats the state of pkmn right now.

[jBlakeeper]

It’s Pokémon. There’s your answer.

[andy85]

It's because it's the most popular franchise on earth. They could release the worst game in history and it'd sell millions because they buy the name

[badz149]

this shouldn't be celebrated as a victory of any kind. why is there no petition or lawsuit against this atrocity like when people were in arms against CP2077 and FO76? it's like this game is just barely into its Alpha and they released it anyway to meet the deadline. there is no QA at all that's for sure and the end product shows exactly that!

the pokemon fanbase is so dumb and gullible at this point, I think they will be willing to spend $120 for the next games (who are we kidding, there will be 2 versions) even if it's just a spreadsheet with pokemon names and movesets on it and they will try their hardest to justify and celebrate it like some kind of achievement! they will say something like "OMG this is the most fun I have had with a spreadsheet in my life!"

[Flawlessmic]

because....... Pokemon.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

No hard to figure out, Pokemon has broader appeal, more potential audience = more potential sales. Pokemon can be enjoyed by almost everyone, young, old, middle aged... God of War appeals to a smaller group of people than Pokemon does.

Sucks about all the technical issues that the new Pokemon has though.

[GoodGuy09]

Because it's...pokemon? Lol.

[DarthZoolu]

I’m trying to figure out what genius would expect God of war to sell more than Pokémon.

[FallenAngel1984]

Do you know how much Pokémon sells in Japan?

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

For anyone wondering.

"Combined, the entire Japanese top 10 software for this week sold 2,634,241 copies, meaning Pokemon Scarlet and Violet accounted for 96.3% of these sales.

According to a Nintendo announcement in Japan, the game sold a total of 4.05 million copies in the country when digital sales were also taken into account."

[Orchard]

Simple - it’s a far more popular franchise.

[lellkay]

Isn't it obviously? Pokemon is a far bigger franchise, and Pokemon fans will buy anything with the name on it.
GOWR is about 10000000x better than Scarlet/Violet though.

[plmkoh]

All the reasons have been said (and they're not nice). No real point repeating what everyone knows for most of this new millennium.

[Mr_Writer85]

Pokémon is the biggest franchise in the world? And is more child friendly? Has two versions so those who CBA with people will buy both, or have more than one kid, or like me wants to play the game with their kids.

Lots of valid and logical reasons.

[shinoff2183]

Cause it's selling to casuals and hard-core. Also I feel handheld and consoles markets. Imo

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Give Nintendo credit!

[Lionsguard]

You can buy Pokemon for your grandma.. Of course it's going to outsell God of War. Animal Crossing would outsell God of War..

[SeTTriP]

ad hominem pure sneak dis there is absolutely no shame in being out sold by Pokémon.

What rock do these ppl live under?

[ufo8mycat]

Children.. simple
And you wonder why the quality in the game isn’t there? Children. When you cater to children, you can get away with low quality, as generally, children are easier to satisfy when it comes to what is fun for them. Their standards, by nature, are much lower

[OneLove]

Lmfao comparing pokemon in popularity to any other game except gta is what's funny. Even Rockstar can't make a mobile game get as insane as how pokemon let's go did.