Pokemon Scarlet and Violet vs Palworld Sales Compared

Summary

Palworld's rapid rise in popularity has made it a serious competitor to established games like Pokemon. Despite the controversy surrounding its similarities to Pokemon, Palworld's sales numbers back up its status as a true competitor.
While Pokemon Scarlet and Violet initially sold twice as many copies as Palworld in the first three days, Palworld has quickly caught up. It has already sold 19 million units in a few weeks, compared to Pokemon's 23.23 million units over the course of a year.
Palworld's success is notable considering its limited marketing and smaller development team. It has achieved impressive sales figures even without the massive marketing budget and recognition that comes with being part of a highly recognizable franchise like Pokemon.

Palworld has become a breakout hit among players, quickly surpassing titles like Counter-Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and Elden Ring to become the game with the second-highest concurrent player count in Steam's history. Despite the controversy surrounding the similarities between the Pals of Palworld and the creatures from the Pokemon series, the title continues to increase in sales while still in its early access period. However, the similarities between Palworld and Pokemon don't end with their gameplay and creature design, as comparing the game's sales to those of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet reveals an interesting trend.

Much of the online discussion surrounding Palworld is not about the game's sales or player counter, but about how Palworld walks the line between drawing inspiration from Pokemon and straight-up plagiarizing the franchise. The Pokemon Company recently issued a statement about Palworld, saying that they have not granted permission to use any Pokemon assets in the game and are investigating for copyright infringement. While this statement doesn't necessarily mean Palworld is guilty of plagiarism, the fact that The Pokemon Company acknowledged it shows they view the game as a serious competitor, and Palworld's sales date backs up this idea.

Comparing Palworld's Sales with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Game	Copies Sold in First 3 Days	Total Copies Sold
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet	10 Million	23.23 Million
Palworld	5 Million	19 Million

Palworld's viral success is impressive for an indie title with little marketing leading up to release, but the Pokemon franchise is the highest-grossing media franchise in the world, having grossed a whopping $150 billion in its lifetime as of 2023. Still, compared to the juggernaut that is Pokemon, Palworld has been able to hold its own against individual entries in the series. The sales numbers show that even with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet counting sales of both versions, Palworld can still act as a true competitor to Game Freak's iconic franchise.

Palworld Boasts Some Impressive Sales Figures Compared to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

It's interesting to note that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet started off with much stronger sales than Palworld, selling twice as many copies in the first three days after their release. While Pokemon Scarlet and Violet reached 10 million copies sold within that first three-day period, Palworld had only sold five million. This is still an impressive feat given that Pokemon is an incredibly recognizable franchise with a huge marketing budget for its Gen 9 games, while Palworld sales shot up very quickly despite very little pre-release marketing and coming from a smaller development team.

Where things get even more impressive for Palworld is in the total number of copies sold compared to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. As of September 2023, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were sitting at 23.23 million units sold over the course of nearly a year. On the other hand, Palworld is already quickly closing in on that number, with a total of 19 million units sold in only a few weeks since release, showing that the game is on a much faster sales trajectory than Pokemon's Gen 9 games, which suffered from a myriad of technical issues on launch.

However, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are only available on the Nintendo Switch, limiting their user base to owners of this console. Meanwhile, Palworld is available on PC and Xbox, as well as on Game Pass, which gives the game a much larger pool of potential players to draw from. Still, with 12 million units sold on Steam and 7 million units sold on Xbox, Palworld has pulled off the impressive feat of outpacing sales for a franchise as popular as Pokemon while being an indie title that is still in early access.

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