Research How much each mainline generation grossed and what can be learned from them

[Yung Dramps]

So, recently I watched this video by Emperor Cubone where he looks through the sales counts of the mainline games and draws various conclusions based on what is shown:

While this video is quite good, it inspired me to do something similar for another side to this OP largely glossed over: How much each entry actually grossed monetarily. For this research I used this page on Video Game Sales Wiki. Cross-referencing with the above video shows that their listings on sales numbers seem pretty accurate so I trust their info for money made.

For starters, let's actually take a look at how much each generation grossed, both adjusted and not adjusted for inflation. As you'll see, remakes are counted as parts of the generation they were released, not as parts of the generations being remade. The sales numbers listed are in millions, with SWSH being excluded as the wiki does not have numbers on its total gross at the moment.

Money Made, Gen by Gen

Gen 1 (RBY not counting virtual console re-releases)
Unadjusted: 1725, Adjusted: 2665

Gen 2 (GSC)
Unadjusted: 1227, Adjusted: 1793

Gen 3 (RSE/FRLG)
Unadjusted: 1585, Adjusted: 2098

Gen 4 (DPP/HGSS)
Unadjusted: 1913, Adjusted: 2238

Gen 5 (BW1&2)
Unadjusted: 1194, Adjusted: 1316

Gen 6 (XY/ORAS)
Unadjusted: 1656, Adjusted: 1728

Gen 7 (SM/USUM/LGPE)
Unadjusted: 1847.4, Adjusted: 1865

Now let's divide them into ranked lists for the two categories.

Unadjusted Rankings

1. Gen 4
2. Gen 7
3. Gen 1
4. Gen 6
5. Gen 3
6. Gen 2
7. Gen 5

Adjusted Rankings

1. Gen 1
2. Gen 4
3. Gen 3
4. Gen 7
5. Gen 2
6. Gen 6
7. Gen 5

So now that the numbers are laid bare, what are some observations that can be made?

Gen 4: A Worthy Runner-Up
Excluding the obvious Pokemania-fueled behemoth of the first generation, it seems like in terms of money made Gen 4 was the franchise's next best outing. It's actually the winner in the unadjusted rankings and even when you adjust for inflation it only falls to number 2. While perhaps somewhat surprising at first, it really isn't when you think it through. Gen 4 was the defining Pokemon generation from near the beginning to near the end of the DS' lifespan, starting just 2 years after launch and ending 2 years before the 3DS released on a machine that to this day remains the second highest selling game console of all time, only bested by the PS2. Diamond and Pearl also marks the first time in franchise history that the debut game of a generation outsold the previous gen debut (DP's 17 mil compared to RS' 16 mil). Add in things like the introduction of online play and a very solid remake in HGSS to boost sales and this was a pretty big, exciting time for the series with the numbers matching up.

The Tragedy of Darth Ghetsis The Wise
You among the horde of fans begging for them to make a game like Gen 5 again but don't know why they won't? Well among other things, this is your reason. While its numbers are still amazing in a vacuum, relative to the rest of the franchise this generation is the lowest-grossing in both categories and by pretty substantial tens, even hundreds of millions of dollar margins to boot. While BW2 did sell very nicely relative to other third versions and didn't get nearly the same kind of grilling at launch as its predecessor, it unfortunately seemed to be too little too late to keep the generation as a whole from lingering at the back of the pack.

Gen 2's Bizarre Fallback?!
This is the one that really surprised me the most. This generation is looked back on fondly by many even discounting HGSS, with Gold and Silver accruing the highest raw sales of any Pokemon game aside from Red and Blue thanks to Pokemania still being reasonably fresh at this point. And yet in the unadjusted rankings it's second from the bottom with adjustment only lifting it to 3rd from the bottom. What's going on here, did I or the website mess something up? The answer is actually quite simple: Blame Crystal. At "only" 6.39 million sales and 300 million dollars grossed it is the worst-selling mainline Pokemon title, bogging down the generation very badly in the rankings.

What else do you gleam from these numbers? Anything that surprised you? How about errors in the way I compiled this data that could throw things off a bit?

While you're at it, why not check out others sales statistics I've compiled on this handy dandy document?

 

[Worldie]

What else do you gleam from these numbers?

Personally I gleam what I've been advocating since ages: that people here have a distorted perception of reality, and don't realize how much the media and "becoming mainstream" is boosting the latest gens.
The quality of a game is subjective obviously, but when you take in factor a huge mass, GameFreaks is actually striking what the buyers want: giant anime ti--- wait, wrong boards, I meant, cute fancy and colourful toys.
Funnily, it shows from SwSh popularity and sales...

Gen 5 probably sounds appealing as story and gameplay to a very adult public but... do people really expect kids to be interested in existential crysis and pokemon "slavery"'s philosophical consequences? Doesn't really surprise me that there's a discrepancy there between perception and reality.

I do suspect the very high numbers of gen 1 have a lot to do with the fact they are so old that people had more time to buy them.

I'd be interested in (if that's even possible) seeing how each game actually sold ""during its time period"", say, basically between its release and the next title, as well as a separate "post-generation" chart, of how many copies a game sold after it got outdated.
I think it'd strike a interesting debate point on how much a gen was actually received by the big public both right away and as the iron cooled down.

And I actually refer to copies sold, because actual monetary income can be misleading due to price variations and actual economic tendencies of the so called first world countries (like, SwSh probably shows higher income than you'd expect due to games costing more than their 3ds counterparts)

 

[Codraroll]

It should also be noted that the number of games in each generation has varied wildly, which could partially explain the numbers. To elaborate:

• Gen I: Only three games (four in Japan), all telling the same story, but ... you know, Pokemania. Those games were ubiquitous.
• Gen II: Three games as well: two variant games and a third version. Gen II had the Johto games and nothing else.
• Gen III: Both a pair of original games, a pair of remakes, and a celebrated third version of the base pair for good measure. Essentially twice the sales base as its predecessors. No wonder it outsold Gen II; it offered more to buy.
• Gen IV: Same as Gen III. Base pair of games, remake pair, third version of base games. And it was made for the ubiquitous DS. Of course it sold well, with so much to buy.
• Gen V: Only a pair of base games and a paired "third version". Essentially two games in one region, instead of three games across two regions. It was also released near the end of the lifespan of the DS, with BW1 being released three weeks before the 3DS was released in Europe and North America. By the time BW2 was even revealed, the 3DS had been out for a year already in Japan. These games were very much made for the last-gen console. Also remember that BW2 was released in October 2012 outside Asia, while XY were announced worldwide in early January 2013. These games were only allowed to be the "new and hot thing on the market" for less than three months before successors were announced. Given all of this, the deck was kind of stacked against Gen V, which would explain the low sales numbers. That being said, I don't think the "let's start anew" experiment helped matters much either.
• Gen VI: A pair of base games and a remake pair. Two games across two regions. The lack of a remake might have hurt the numbers a little, but this was also a low point of Pokemania and the 3DS didn't have the mountainous install base the DS had. Still, I think an XY third version could have boosted the sales numbers past Gen VIII, and the adjusted numbers up to Gen III levels. It would have needed to gross 300 million (adjusted), that's less than 20% of the XY+ORAS sales.
• Gen VII: It could potentially have been the worst-selling generation by far without LGPE, which was a smash hit in the wake of Pokémon GO and riding the back of a slew of strong Switch games which gave the console a pretty big install base. Without LGPE, it would have had the same size and scope as Gen V, and the same issues of being made for an aging console, which probably would have given it worse sales numbers to show for it.

I'm a little too tired at the moment to figure out how to adjust the sales figures for the number of games in a generation, but it could be possible to break them down and quantify the relative importance of a third games or a remake pair. As a general observation, however, it seems like the gens with a remake pair sold better than the ones without, Gen I excluded.

 

[Tmi489]

Gen 2's Bizarre Fallback?!

I would think that G2 also suffered from the GBC's lifespan (and parents not wanting to buy a new "gameboy" or "pokemon"), but it still had the same 3-4 year lifespan as the rest of the gens. Also the fact that there were "only" 3 games

I'd be interested in (if that's even possible) seeing how each game actually sold ""during its time period"", say, basically between its release and the next title, as well as a separate "post-generation" chart, of how many copies a game sold after it got outdated.

After a game/console stops production, what would they sell?
idt the info would be there, anyways.

 

[Worldie]

After a game/console stops production, what would they sell?

You'd be surprised of how many copies of games are sold after their time. People who get in a series later, and own the older console and are willing to check out the games they missed.

I mean, I myself bought XY and ORAS well inside SM lifecycle, since I hadn't played them.

 

[Tmi489]

You'd be surprised of how many copies of games are sold after their time. People who get in a series later, and own the older console and are willing to check out the games they missed.

I mean, I myself bought XY and ORAS well inside SM lifecycle, since I hadn't played them.

yeah, but wouldn't they be 2nd hand (or VC) sales, and thus not on the chart
i didnt take into account games of the same console generation, though

 

[Worldie]

yeah, but wouldn't they be 2nd hand (or VC) sales, and thus not on the chart

No? I bought them off the digital store, it's regular licenses.

I was also able to find new copies of gen 5 games in game stores, though, i don't own a DS so i had little reason to get them.

 

[CPU]

I would think that G2 also suffered from the GBC's lifespan (and parents not wanting to buy a new "gameboy" or "pokemon"), but it still had the same 3-4 year lifespan as the rest of the gens. Also the fact that there were "only" 3 games

Gold and Silver were perfectly playable on a regular Game Boy (I have never owned a Game Boy Color), though obviously you lost the benefit of the games' color scale. It was only Crystal that was GBC-restricted.

 

[Siggu]

It's sad to see Gen V as the generation that generated less revenue... but I guess it kind of makes sense. BW1 had the "only new Pokémon until post-game" formula, which was spectacular, but was also resisted early on (not to mention it was explicitly mentioned as a refresh of the series). Then you have the terrible anime season not helping attract much. Finally I'd say they are the most complex games in the series, something that does not help gain the attention of its supposed target audience.

But again, it's really sad and I guess we can attribute the Gen I pandering and that they never reused the "new Mons only" formula to this fact.

I was also able to find new copies of gen 5 games in game stores, though, i don't own a DS so i had little reason to get them.

You could play them with a 3DS though.

 

[Worldie]

You could play them with a 3DS though.

Even the BW1? I thought they were DS only games
My childhood was a lie, i missed opportunity to give more money to GF

 

[Siggu]

Even the BW1? I thought they were DS only games
My childhood was a lie, i missed opportunity to give more money to GF

Why yes, of course. Outside of the lack of the DS-GBA dual-slot feature, all DS games can be played on a 3DS with no issues whatsoever.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I'm a little too tired at the moment to figure out how to adjust the sales figures for the number of games in a generation, but it could be possible to break them down and quantify the relative importance of a third games or a remake pair. As a general observation, however, it seems like the gens with a remake pair sold better than the ones without, Gen I excluded.

Hmm... Yeah I've been thinking about that. Say, how about an average gross for all games released in a gen? Let's see what that comes out to:

Average gross for each gen based on number of games considered, still in millions

Gen 1 (RBY not counting virtual console re-releases)
Unadjusted: 1725 / 2 = 862.5, Adjusted: 2665 / 2 = 1332.5

Gen 2 (GSC)
Unadjusted: 1227 / 2 = 613.5, Adjusted: 1793 / 2 = 896.5

Gen 3 (RSE/FRLG)
Unadjusted: 1585 / 3 = 528.3, Adjusted: 2098 / 3 = 699.3

Gen 4 (DPP/HGSS)
Unadjusted: 1913 / 3 = 637.7, Adjusted: 2238 / 3 = 746

Gen 5 (BW1&2)
Unadjusted: 1194 / 2 =597, Adjusted: 1316 / 2 = 658

Gen 6 (XY/ORAS)
Unadjusted: 1656 / 2 = 828, Adjusted: 1728 / 2 = 864

Gen 7 (SM/USUM/LGPE)
Unadjusted: 1847.4 / 3 = 615.8, Adjusted: 1865 / 3 = 621.7

If we go off these, the new rankings would look like:

Unadjusted Rankings

1. Gen 1
2. Gen 6
3. Gen 4
4. Gen 7
5. Gen 2
6. Gen 5
7. Gen 3

Adjusted Rankings

1. Gen 1
2. Gen 2
3. Gen 6
4. Gen 4
5. Gen 3
6. Gen 5
7. Gen 7

Some pretty interesting differences we got here. Gen 6 did surprisingly well with top 3 positions in both categories and the situation for Gen 5 isn't as dire as I suggested it was in the OP with Gens 3 and 7 beating it out for lowest-grossing in Unadjusted and Adjusted respectively. If you go off adjusted it seems that Gen 3 was the worst performing generation that debuted the main series on a new console. The general message to me is that old-gen remakes help overall sales while enhanced versions can really hurt averages with Gens 2, 3 and 7 being way lower than they normally would be were it not for Crystal, Emerald or USUM existing. I might edit this into the OP, what do you guys think?

 

[Revenge of Depressed Gay]

I wish gen 7 sold less

Hmm... Yeah I've been thinking about that. Say, how about an average gross for all games released in a gen? Let's see what that comes out to:

Average gross for each gen based on number of games considered, still in millions

Gen 1 (RBY not counting virtual console re-releases)
Unadjusted: 1725 / 2 = 862.5, Adjusted: 2665 / 2 = 1332.5

Gen 2 (GSC)
Unadjusted: 1227 / 2 = 613.5, Adjusted: 1793 / 2 = 896.5

Gen 3 (RSE/FRLG)
Unadjusted: 1585 / 3 = 528.3, Adjusted: 2098 / 3 = 699.3

Gen 4 (DPP/HGSS)
Unadjusted: 1913 / 3 = 637.7, Adjusted: 2238 / 3 = 746

Gen 5 (BW1&2)
Unadjusted: 1194 / 2 =597, Adjusted: 1316 / 2 = 658

Gen 6 (XY/ORAS)
Unadjusted: 1656 / 2 = 828, Adjusted: 1728 / 2 = 864

Gen 7 (SM/USUM/LGPE)
Unadjusted: 1847.4 / 3 = 615.8, Adjusted: 1865 / 3 = 621.7

If we go off these, the new rankings would look like:

Unadjusted Rankings

1. Gen 1
2. Gen 6
3. Gen 4
4. Gen 7
5. Gen 2
6. Gen 5
7. Gen 3

Adjusted Rankings

1. Gen 1
2. Gen 2
3. Gen 6
4. Gen 4
5. Gen 3
6. Gen 5
7. Gen 7

Some pretty interesting differences we got here. Gen 6 did surprisingly well with top 3 positions in both categories and the situation for Gen 5 isn't as dire as I suggested it was in the OP with Gens 3 and 7 beating it out for lowest-grossing in Unadjusted and Adjusted respectively. If you go off adjusted it seems that Gen 3 was the worst performing generation that debuted the main series on a new console. The general message to me is that old-gen remakes help overall sales while enhanced versions can really hurt averages with Gens 2, 3 and 7 being way lower than they normally would be were it not for Crystal, Emerald or USUM existing. I might edit this into the OP, what do you guys think?

If I could I would alter time to make gen 7 sell less.

 

[Worldie]

The general message to me is that old-gen remakes help overall sales while enhanced versions can really hurt averages with Gens 2, 3 and 7 being way lower than they normally would be were it not for Crystal, Emerald or USUM existing. I might edit this into the OP, what do you guys think?

I think the issue with "enchanced versions" is that they don't go well with a part of the casual playerbase.

If the new game is "the old game, with just something extra", it's often hard to justify spending another full-AAA-price expense if you're not a diehard fan or a competitive player. It's also one of the reasons for which i support the DLC-system over third versions, because let's be honest, third versions are basically full-priced DLCs.
Remakes tend to offer a older game (which, expecially newcomers to the series might have not played before), with significantly upgraded graphics, new mechanics and potentially story changes, so the drive to buy it is much higher.

Doesn't surprise me that most of gen 7 sales are held toghether by Let's Go (which also had the extra appeal of being the first pokemon game on Switch).

 

[MrHands]

BW1 had the "only new Pokémon until post-game" formula, which was spectacular, but was also resisted early on (not to mention it was explicitly mentioned as a refresh of the series).

Imo that was the worst thing about gen 5 and it was rightfully criticized. Despite gen 5 introducing a lot of new Pokemon restricting you to only them felt really lame. With the exception of gen 1 it had one of the smallest catchable Pokemon pools in the series. The result was a frustratingly restricted early game. Even late game was annoying as the late evo levels made stuff like Braviary agony to grind to. Personally I hated BW1 even if mechanically they were wonderful.

BW2 fixed this by adding loads of extra Pokemon into routes. BW1 had 155 Pokemon in the regional dex but BW2 nearly doubled it! Finally the game had a mix of new and old that really let you play the game in your own way. BW2 were legitimately fantastic games but BW1 had already done the damage.

Tldr I think the criticism to BW1 is valid and though BW2 are some of the best games in the series they couldn't repair the damage done by BW1.

 

[Yung Dramps]

So I wanna cover one last thing that ties back into the actual sales numbers rather than gross: Attach rates. For the unitiated that's the % of a console's userbase that owns a particular game. While this isn't related to the main point of this post it's time for one more series of charts documenting this because screw it I'm bored! To get the best of idea of how big the games were at launch I'm going to try my best to calculate these based on the sales of the games when they were hot compared to how much their systems had sold at the time they were around. This may not be possible for older consoles, but if it is I'll include a link to where I got certain numbers from. Also only doing the initial paired games to save myself some time, so no remakes or enhancements.

Attach rates by game

Gen 1 (RB not counting virtual console re-releases)
31.38 / 118.69 (combined sales of GB and GBC but I can't find individual sales for just the original model. Also couldn't find specific sales for how many were out there when RB first launched in North America/other non-Japan territories) = 26.4%

Gen 2 (GS)
23.10 / 118.69 = 19.5%

The next ones after this have numbers for the games and consoles' sales at around the time they were just released so I'll use those from now on!

Gen 3 (RS)
8.6 (This report lists 6.6 million sales by the end of 2003 between the US and Japan. Another article I came across released just 2 days before RS' US release date said it had accumulated 4 million sales in Japan. With these facts I added an extra 2 million to factor in European markets. A bit rough but it's something) / 33.8 = 25.4%

Gen 4 (DP)
14.77 / 70 (same source) = 21%

Gen 5 (BW1)
11.5 / 146.41 (added DS sales up to and including 2011) = 7.9%

Gen 6 (XY)
11.61 / 31.09 (added 3DS sales up to and including 2013) = 37.3%

Gen 7 (SM)
14.69 / 58.85 (added 3DS sales up to and including 2016) = 25%

Hey, we can even do SWSH too!

Gen 8 (SWSH)
16.18 / 34.74 (added Switch sales up to and including 2019) = 46.6%

So if we rank these out...

Rankings for attach rate in their time

1. Gen 8
2. Gen 6
3. Gen 1*
4. Gen 3
5. Gen 7
6. Gen 4
7. Gen 2*
8. Gen 5

*Due to the aforementioned lack of info on attach rates at launch with lifetime attach rate being used instead, take these placements with a grain of salt, there's a decent chance these two gens (1 in particular) are much higher than they appear.

Now THIS is what I call revelatory! Gen 5 is once again relegated to the back of the pack with a relatively measly attach rate that doesn't even crack the double digits. On the other hand Gen 6 and 8's placements (ESPECIALLY the latter) are bound to make a fair few people here wanna smash their heads against the pavement but hey, what can I say, I'm just reporting the numbers here boys and girls. Just remember, none of these games were or should be considered failures in the slightest, even Gen 5 got reports of how well it was doing and Nintendo expressed pleasure with its performance during its launch window.

 

[Moulin Rouge!]

Gen 4 stans WON for the most part we luv to see it.

. So much acclaim, success, and quality which is difficult to get not every gen has that. Gen's 1 + 2 don't count bc Pokemania so in my revisionist history it's #1 and that's just how it is.

It's actually surprising to see Gen 5 comes up dead-last in nearly every single metric considering how much retroactive acclaim its gotten. I wasn't on the forums during this time so i don't have a first-hand account for how it was perceived during it's launch sop that probably plays a part. I really do think it was the decision to lock previous gen-pokes behind the post-game that crippled it during it's run and unfortunately it never recovered even with BW2. It's a shame it took Game*reak bombing with every subsequent release to realize it's superiority. Much too avant-garde and ahead of it's time to be palatable amongst the GP, I'm afraid. The price we pay for greatness is never getting it again whew chyle

me being one of the court jesters among that 46.6% who bought Sword along with Switch despite hopping on the anti-Game*reak train

 

[ttr]

While this comparison is interesting, it is important to keep in mind the development costs for these games as well, as the lowest grossing games have different development costs. From what we know of Gen 5 was developed on a similar engine to the Gen 4 DS games, with many sprites / assets taken from previous games. While released at the tailend of the DS's lifespan, the costs in creating these games are probably less than other generations, leading to these games being seen as more "successful" than the sales numbers show, as while the sales and attach rate may be the lowest in the series, the games themselves were probably cheaper to develop.

Comparatively, Gen 2 is probably looked on worse as other games as the Gen 2 games spent a significant time in development (from the various Spaceworld builds and the three or so years between Gen 1 and 2), leading to probable higher development costs in the successor games to Gen 1. A significant amount of time was spent on adjusting the engine and the game in comparison to other games with less of a return of investment.

Everything from the 3DS onwards appears to be on the same engine (for better or worse), so the investment in 3D models made in Gen 6 appear to be worthwhile in terms of sales, as less time was needed to spend on creating models for future games in comparison to other generations. Pokemon makes developments based heavily on the previous games, utilizing what has been done beforehand in future games (see Gen 2 sprites cleaned up/expanded on for Gen 3+ sprites). It seems hard to write off Gen 5 as less successful as less time was spent on creating these games. Overall, the DS games as a whole sold exceptionally well, and it is surprising that even Gen 4 has not seen as much push by TPC or Game Freak, as these games succeeded far above other generations. The DS games have sold very high in comparison to other consoles, so I'm surprised that there had not been as much nostalgia mining for the DS series (or the GBA series, they sold comparatively well) as other generations, it seems out of place right now. SwSh does have a lot of Gen 5 pokemon in the main dex, but the internal fondness for these games may be more than these sales numbers show.

 

[Yung Dramps]

While this comparison is interesting, it is important to keep in mind the development costs for these games as well, as the lowest grossing games have different development costs. From what we know of Gen 5 was developed on a similar engine to the Gen 4 DS games, with many sprites / assets taken from previous games. While released at the tailend of the DS's lifespan, the costs in creating these games are probably less than other generations, leading to these games being seen as more "successful" than the sales numbers show, as while the sales and attach rate may be the lowest in the series, the games themselves were probably cheaper to develop.

Comparatively, Gen 2 is probably looked on worse as other games as the Gen 2 games spent a significant time in development (from the various Spaceworld builds and the three or so years between Gen 1 and 2), leading to probable higher development costs in the successor games to Gen 1. A significant amount of time was spent on adjusting the engine and the game in comparison to other games with less of a return of investment.

Everything from the 3DS onwards appears to be on the same engine (for better or worse), so the investment in 3D models made in Gen 6 appear to be worthwhile in terms of sales, as less time was needed to spend on creating models for future games in comparison to other generations. Pokemon makes developments based heavily on the previous games, utilizing what has been done beforehand in future games (see Gen 2 sprites cleaned up/expanded on for Gen 3+ sprites). It seems hard to write off Gen 5 as less successful as less time was spent on creating these games. Overall, the DS games as a whole sold exceptionally well, and it is surprising that even Gen 4 has not seen as much push by TPC or Game Freak, as these games succeeded far above other generations. The DS games have sold very high in comparison to other consoles, so I'm surprised that there had not been as much nostalgia mining for the DS series (or the GBA series, they sold comparatively well) as other generations, it seems out of place right now. SwSh does have a lot of Gen 5 pokemon in the main dex, but the internal fondness for these games may be more than these sales numbers show.

Oh absolutely! If by any chance there exists reputable data on the budgets of these games or even a way to estimate them myself someone please let me know, I'd love to figure out which was the most profitable with expenses factored in. Also didn't Gen 1 have some pretty sizable development hell too? Not sure of the specifics but iirc its developments dates all the way back to the dawn of the 90s. Of course it's still the monstrous smash hit that is Gen 1 but that initial development cycle may have chipped into the profits just a bit.

 

[ttr]

Also didn't Gen 1 have some pretty sizable development hell too? Not sure of the specifics but iirc its developments dates all the way back to the dawn of the 90s. Of course it's still the monstrous smash hit that is Gen 1 but that initial development cycle may have chipped into the profits just a bit.

Yeah, the original design document was created/dated in 1990, with Red and Green finishing development by 1995, and held off on being released until 1996.

Iwata Asks Interview Discussing Gen 1's Developement

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-As...rain/1-Just-Making-The-Last-Train-225842.html

Additionally, Junichi Masuda discussed Gen 1's development with Polygon in 2018, and noted that Game Freak made other games to help support the development of Pokemon Red and Green.

Link to Masuda's Interview With Polygon

https://www.polygon.com/interviews/2018/9/27/17909916/pokemon-red-blue-junichi-masuda-interview

 

[GG Unit]

Hmm... Yeah I've been thinking about that. Say, how about an average gross for all games released in a gen? Let's see what that comes out to:

Average gross for each gen based on number of games considered, still in millions

Gen 1 (RBY not counting virtual console re-releases)
Unadjusted: 1725 / 2 = 862.5, Adjusted: 2665 / 2 = 1332.5

Gen 2 (GSC)
Unadjusted: 1227 / 2 = 613.5, Adjusted: 1793 / 2 = 896.5

Gen 3 (RSE/FRLG)
Unadjusted: 1585 / 3 = 528.3, Adjusted: 2098 / 3 = 699.3

Gen 4 (DPP/HGSS)
Unadjusted: 1913 / 3 = 637.7, Adjusted: 2238 / 3 = 746

Gen 5 (BW1&2)
Unadjusted: 1194 / 2 =597, Adjusted: 1316 / 2 = 658

Gen 6 (XY/ORAS)
Unadjusted: 1656 / 2 = 828, Adjusted: 1728 / 2 = 864

Gen 7 (SM/USUM/LGPE)
Unadjusted: 1847.4 / 3 = 615.8, Adjusted: 1865 / 3 = 621.7

If we go off these, the new rankings would look like:

Unadjusted Rankings

1. Gen 1
2. Gen 6
3. Gen 4
4. Gen 7
5. Gen 2
6. Gen 5
7. Gen 3

Adjusted Rankings

1. Gen 1
2. Gen 2
3. Gen 6
4. Gen 4
5. Gen 3
6. Gen 5
7. Gen 7

Some pretty interesting differences we got here. Gen 6 did surprisingly well with top 3 positions in both categories and the situation for Gen 5 isn't as dire as I suggested it was in the OP with Gens 3 and 7 beating it out for lowest-grossing in Unadjusted and Adjusted respectively. If you go off adjusted it seems that Gen 3 was the worst performing generation that debuted the main series on a new console. The general message to me is that old-gen remakes help overall sales while enhanced versions can really hurt averages with Gens 2, 3 and 7 being way lower than they normally would be were it not for Crystal, Emerald or USUM existing. I might edit this into the OP, what do you guys think?

It seems like there's kind of a prevalent story where gen 5 didn't sell well because it was too much of a departure from past games, which has caused GF to dumb the games down or add more nostalgia bait. This could very well be true from an overall perspective (like my gut tells me that gen 5 overall wouldn't be that well-represented in a ranking of the most popular Pokemon despite being the biggest generation in terms of how many new Pokemon were added, which I'm sure would impact merchandise sales and ratings for the anime and all that other stuff), but it's interesting that it doesn't look *that* bad purely from a game sales perspective.

My main takeaway from these adjusted rankings would be that the timing in a console's life cycle makes a big difference. By the time B2W2/USUM came out, I'd assume an overwhelming majority of people I'd place into the broad group of "consider themselves fans of video games in general more than they consider themselves Pokemon fans" knew that the 3DS/Switch was just around the corner and that if they needed to satisfy their Pokemon itch, they could just buy whichever main series Pokemon game was inevitably coming out for that.

Without knowing the specifics of GBA console sales or how much of an improvement it was seen as over the GBC, gen 3 probably suffered from the timing issue of being the last pre-Internet Pokemon game (the idea that to actually catch 'em all you had to coordinate getting the link cable and being in the same room as someone who had the complementary game and had caught or bred everything you were looking for had started to wear thin) and coming at a time when the median 'genwunner' had aged into being able to play more mature games while not being old enough to really have nostalgia for Gen 1 remakes yet. Incidentally, in the bottom 3 generations I only purchased 2 games (Moon and White 2) new and wouldn't even have gotten used copies of the others (Black and Emerald) if not for the possibility to RNG Pokemon I could use in newer games, whereas in every other handheld generation I bought 2 games new.

The number of people whose interaction with Pokemon is essentially "I (or my kid) like video games! I like Nintendo! I want to get the new Nintendo console! I'll get the new Pokemon game because it's typically one of the most popular and beloved Nintendo franchises! Alright I played it and it was pretty good! Now I'll play a different game!" is far greater than the number of those who are like scouring through pre-release content or early reviews to decide whether they should get it. I think when you're looking at whatever sells the best and trying to think of what it correlates with, it's going to be more top-down stuff like the economy or even how popular the particular console was relative to its competitors than something bottom-up like the metacritic type of score for how 'good' you personally or the Internet community at large thought the game was.

Now I'm too lazy to look up all the dates, so you could tell me that there was similar timing with Crystal/Emerald and GBA/DS, but even then I would say that with the increased penetration of the Internet/social media (and in turn probably nerd/video game culture) over time, that kind of information is reaching way more people than it used to.

 

[Yung Dramps]

(like my gut tells me that gen 5 overall wouldn't be that well-represented in a ranking of the most popular Pokemon despite being the biggest generation in terms of how many new Pokemon were added, which I'm sure would impact merchandise sales and all that other stuff)

Yeah you're pretty much right. Just look at the recent Pokemon of the Year poll where Chandelure, the highest voted Gen 5 mon, only got 18th place. That makes the generation the only one other than 8 with no Pokemon in the top 10, and the highest voted Gen 8 mon in Dragapult got extremely close at 11th place.

My main takeaway from these adjusted rankings would be that the timing in a console's life cycle makes a big difference. By the time B2W2/USUM came out, I'd assume an overwhelming majority of people I'd place into the broad group of "consider themselves fans of video games in general more than they consider themselves Pokemon fans" knew that the 3DS/Switch was just around the corner and that if they needed to satisfy their Pokemon itch, they could just buy whichever main series Pokemon game was inevitably coming out for that.

Now I'm too lazy to look up all the dates, so you could tell me that there was similar timing with Crystal/Emerald and GBA/DS, but even then I would say that with the increased penetration of the Internet/social media (and in turn probably nerd/video game culture) over time, that kind of information is reaching way more people than it used to. The number of people whose interaction with Pokemon is essentially "I like video games! I like Nintendo! I want to get the new Nintendo console! I'll get the new Pokemon game because it's typically one of the most popular and beloved Nintendo franchises! Alright I played it and it was pretty good! Now I'll play a different game!" is far greater than the number of those who are like looking at pre-release content or early reviews to decide whether they should get it.

Yup, releasing at the end of a console's lifetime is a pretty big sting for a lot of games. USUM especially was probably hit hard by this as while the 3DS had a kinda rocky start and overall was far less successful compared to the DS, the Switch is the Switch and is/was massive from the get-go basically.

With all that said and done, how do you guys think the DLC sales will fare? Do you think we'll ever get news on that seeing that as far as I know DLC sales/gross in general aren't really released?

 

[GG Unit]

Yeah you're pretty much right. Just look at the recent Pokemon of the Year poll where Chandelure, the highest voted Gen 5 mon, only got 18th place. That makes the generation the only one other than 8 with no Pokemon in the top 10, and the highest voted Gen 8 mon in Dragapult got extremely close at 11th place.



Yup, releasing at the end of a console's lifetime is a pretty big sting for a lot of games. USUM especially was probably hit hard by this as while the 3DS had a kinda rocky start and overall was far less successful compared to the DS, the Switch is the Switch and is/was massive from the get-go basically.

With all that said and done, how do you guys think the DLC sales will fare? Do you think we'll ever get news on that seeing that as far as I know DLC sales/gross in general aren't really released?

I think they'll fare alright since they're basically found money for GameFreak. Like this might be anecdotally, but it does seem like the Switch was one of those items that really saw a jump in sales as people prepared to quarantine and stay inside. I think even GameFreak would admit that having to push out the title for a holiday release date meant they couldn't make the make the game as good as they wanted it to be, so anything they get off of making what's almost more of a patch than a sequel is going to be a good amount of bang for their buck if there's now an even bigger base of players who have a Switch and potentially more time to play it during another quarantine winter. If the next DLC comes out in November, I don't feel like the gen 4 remakes would come out much more than a year later. Obviously speculation, but between hints/datamined stuff, the established precedent for a remake to come 2 console generations after the original and generally sell better than sequel games, and the tendency for them to want a game released around holiday season, it really adds up.

Even if we assume based on cost these expansions count as 2/3rds of a main series game in terms of the amount of work or development cost that went into them, that would be 5 1/3 main series Pokemon games in basically a 2-year period, plus there could be a new Let's Go game in that time and some other cheaper/updated version of the switch that expands the number of potential players even more. It just boils down to GF knowing there's a big enough baseline audience for any main series Pokemon game and deciding "For a given amount of development cost, it makes more money to parcel the effort into a greater number of 70 on metacritic type of games than fewer 85+ on metacritic type of games." The reason those numbers aren't released is probably because companies don't want open the can of worms that would result from explicitly stating "The DLC sold 15% as many copies of the main game, and we're definitely going to make more in the future because that was a very good return on how much additional effort was put into that vs. the actual game at release" and I don't think Pokemon would be any different.

So sure they'll sell less than Sword and Shield, and most likely even a lot less, but compared to the scenario where they delayed Sword and Shield for a couple months (and therefore also the merchandise/anime stuff) to release a $60 game closer in quality to what there is now after the first expansion and either had just 1 DLC or waited another 1.5-2 years for the Sinnoh remakes, I think this extra $40 title (I feel people have gotten so accustomed to this new normal of unfinished games/patch DLC that it bears remembering that this is more than whatever your previous favorite games cost) is going to make them more money than however many more discerning fans would've bought a game that would've reviewed as "definitely an improvement over the last few installments but definitely not the Pokemon equivalent of Super Mario Odyssey/Breath of the Wild."

 

[DreamPrince]

Wow, good work for Yung Dramps making this information! It must have been a lot of work. An interesting read for sure! I must admit, it is a little surprising to see DP being around Top 3 for most categories, considering how much hate it gets on the forums, as well only one page of plushies on the Pokemon Center ( Interesting to note that Kanto and Johto have 5 pages, which makes sense because of Pokemania, Hoenn, Kalos, Alola, have 3, while Galar has 2., which I find surprising, because its the most recent games, you'd think there would be more merchandise ), of course that makes sense the DS was the most popular console ever. Considering it sales, you'd think they would try to promote Sinnoh more, but no.

Anyway, I wonder how much do the games, if counted separately, sell for? Like between Red and Blue, do we know which game sold more? I bring this up because according to Eshop sales Sword outsold Shield, but didn't specify by how much. Do they publish individual game sales? I'm just curious.

Do we have sales on the Expansion Pass? I would imagine they would be high due to the novelty of being the first Pokemon DLC.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Anyway, I wonder how much do the games, if counted separately, sell for? Like between Red and Blue, do we know which game sold more? I bring this up because according to Eshop sales Sword outsold Shield, but didn't specify by how much. Do they publish individual game sales? I'm just curious.

Do we have sales on the Expansion Pass? I would imagine they would be high due to the novelty of being the first Pokemon DLC.

For the former I haven't really looked into that specifically but nothing seemed to come up about it during the research for these stats and and if the most recent games with the latest, most accessible sales counts remain vague about the margin by which version sold more then I doubt older generations will be much better about it.

There are also no sales for the Expansion Pass at this time.