A Pokémon Game Becomes the Second Best-Selling Nintendo Switch 2 Game

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Published Aug 14, 2026, 5:33 AM EDT

The game soars above five million sales in just four months

A huge Sharpedo machine in Pokemon Pokopia.

Pokémon Pokopia's success shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given how well it was received by both critics and players alike at launch. On Metacritic, it has an average critic score of 89 and a user score of 8.7. Meanwhile, OpenCritic says 97% of critics recommend it, and it has a player rating of 100. Those are some impressive scores. Our own review called it a "charming life sim."

However, when you contextualize that with the specific sales figures it becomes even more impressive. Over five million players own Pokémon Pokopia, according to a press release, which translates to 21% of Nintendo Switch 2's 23.68 million owners. This also means it's the second-best-selling game on the console, behind only Mario Kart World with a whopping 15 million… but that was also the only game that came bundled with the Switch 2 when the console launched, so does it really count?

Pokémon Pokopia was a gamble by The Pokémon Company. Pokémon is huge, but there has never been an official game in the series that focuses so heavily on building a community and developing the relationships between different Pokémon. It's essentially Animal Crossing meets Dragon Quest Builders 2 — developer Koei Tecmo Omega Force's 2018 success story.

The first DLC for Pokopia was recentl released, which added the Bubbly Basin region, alongside plenty of new Pokémon to discover. Most of these are water-types, because Bubbly Basin is an underwater area, which means that, thanks to Manaphy, the player can now dive and breathe beneath the surface. The second DLC, which will introduce clothing and accessories for Pokémon, is due later in 2026.

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