Pokémania is in full effect: Nintendo says that the recently released Pokémon Sun and Moon are the fastest-selling games in the company’s history in both Europe and the Americas.
According to Nintendo, the 3DS games sold a combined 3.7 million units in the Americas since they launched on November 18th. That marks an 85 percent increase compared to Pokémon X and Y — Nintendo’s previous fastest-selling games — over the same span in 2013. Sun and Moon sold 1.5 million units in Europe during their first week of release, including 368,000 in the UK alone, making them the fastest-selling titles in that region as well. In Japan, meanwhile, the games reportedly sold 1.9 million units, slightly less than X and Y. The series as a whole has sold more than 280 million units worldwide since its debut in 1996.
Sun and Moon feature a number of welcome changes that may have helped with their rapid sales, but much of the thanks likely goes to the awareness created by augmented reality sensation Pokémon Go. Back in August Nintendo admitted that the mobile game’s success had resulted in a significant sales boost for the main games on 3DS. At its peak, Pokémon Go had an estimated 45 million daily users.
If nothing else, today’s news should bode well for the rumored Pokémon Stars, which is expected to launch on Nintendo’s upcoming Switch platform some time next year.