As if anyone were supposed to be surprised, the lifetime sales of Pokemon games have reached an eye-watering 279 million units sold, according to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu.
According to the translation (via Kotaku), the figure of 279 million is a combined total of every Pokemon game released since the original Red & Blue versions, so that includes spinoffs as well as the main series released on Nintendo’s handheld consoles.
Further math reveals that 210 million of those sales are attributed solely to the core entries, with the remainder coming from the likes of Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Coliseum. Oh, and let’s not forget Hey You, Pikachu! Although we can’t imagine that one contributed to many of those sales.
All of these numbers were accurate as of February 29 of this year, too, so expect that number to be well into the realm of 280 by now, thanks to the re-release of Pokemon Red, Blue, Green & Yellow on the 3DS eShop.
And as if that number really needed to go any higher, Nintendo just recently announced a whole new generation of core entry titles. Pokemon Sun & Moon were announced a few weeks back as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the series in a Pokemon Direct presentation. Nintendo haven’t released any game footage of the titles just yet, but expect to see more in the coming months.