From the rise of Nintendo's Switch 2 game-key cards to the general trend toward digital games, physical media holdouts in the games industry don't have a ton of reasons to feel optimistic in 2025, but I'm here to share one small, isolated glimmer of hope.
As reported by Mat Piscatella of Circana Research Tracking Service over on Bluesky, "Pokemon Legends: Z-A had a massive US launch at retail," in which launch week physical unit and dollar sales "were the biggest for a new physical video game launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom back in May of 2023."
Pokémon Legends: Z-A had a massive US launch at retail. Launch week physical unit and dollar sales of Pokémon Legends: Z-A were the biggest for a new physical video game launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom back in May of 2023. Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service
— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-10-27T18:47:00.416Z
Again, it's a modest and completely inconsequential win for physical media, but frankly, physical media nerds and preservationists should probably celebrate the small victories they're presented these days.
More generally, Pokemon Legends: ZA has cemented itself as a bonafide commercial success with 5.8 million copies sold in its first week. For reference, that lags behind the 6.5 million copies Pokemon Legends Arceus sold in 2022, and in fact, it's the smallest launch for a mainline Pokemon RPG in Europe since 2018's Pokémon: Let's Go! Pikachu and Let's Go! Eevee in 2018, but free from the context of being a Pokemon game, it's still inarguably a financial success nonetheless.
From a critical standpoint, Pokemon Legends: Z-A paints a similar picture. While GamesRadar's 4/5-star review is obviously all that matters, the game holds a respectable 78 critic rating on Metacritic, compared to Pokemon Legends Arceus's 83 Metascore.
