Nintendo Co. Ltd, in its nine-month earnings release for the 2016 financial year, has announced that as of the 31st of December 2016, Pokémon Sun and Moon sold 14.69 million copies. This has shot the pair to third place on the all-time 3DS sales list, just behind Mario Kart 7 (second place at 14.82 million units) and first-placed Pokémon X and Y (ranked first place at 16.06 million units).

It was also announced that Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have sold 13.68 million units (ranking fourth on the top charts). Keep in mind that Sun and Moon the games were released a little more than two months ago, and the sales are impressive indeed. For reference, as of March 31, 2014, Pokémon X and Y had sold 12.26 million copies since its release since October 12 of the previous year, while since March 31 of the following year, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire sold 9.94 million copies since its release.

From April 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016, the games globally outsold other first-party Nintendo 3DS titles, two of the listed (Kirby: Planet Robobot and Super Mario Maker) of which were only released in 2016:

It’s likely that increased marketing and the popularity surge started by the release of Pokémon GO last year has contributed to these impressive sales.

Additional contributions by Jake.