Pokémon Legends: Z-A marks biggest physical launch in US since Tears of the Kingdom
Pokémon Legends: Z-A had the biggest launch of a physical video game in the United States since 2023’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The achievement was shared by Mat Piscatella, sourcing Circana, a retail tracking service that has a strong track record for gaming statistics.
During the first week of release, the title sold around 5.8 million copies worldwide. As for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it sold over 10 million copies worldwide during its first three days of release and became the fastest-selling game in the history of The Legend of Zelda Series.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A has sold an estimated 1.49 million copies in Japan, including 872,552 for the Switch version and 612,905 for the Switch 2 version. The combined sales of 1,485,457 copies surpassed the Japanese launch-week sales of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which sold 1,424,657 units. Pokémon Legends: Z-A was released on Oct. 16, 2025, for the Nintendo Switch and the Switch 2.
Nintendo Life gave the newest Pokémon title a 7/10, while on Metacritic, critics ranked the game the second-best Pokémon game of the Nintendo Switch era, just behind Legends: Arceus. It currently has a 79 out of 100 on Metacritic, with 55 critics having provided input. It is worth noting that the Nintendo Life review of the game is for the Switch 2 Edition.