Pokemon Pokopia Is Selling Out Super Fast

Pokemon Pokopia appears to be selling extremely quickly at retail just days after its launch, with numerous fans reporting difficulties obtaining a physical copy and at least one retailer opening a second wave of pre-orders due to strong demand. While the situation suggests Nintendo has another major Switch 2-exclusive hit on its hands, it also raises some questions about the ongoing Pokemon Pokopia shortages.

Released on March 5, the latest Pokemon title entered its launch window amid overwhelmingly positive buzz from critics. It currently holds a “Mighty” rating on OpenCritic, derived from an average score of 88 and a 95% reviewer recommendation rate. It has an identical 88 score on Metacritic, which makes Pokemon Pokopia tied with Pokemon Y as the highest-rated Pokemon game of all time. The pre-release plaudits were reinforced by strong word-of-mouth post-launch, with many vocal fans taking to social media to praise the game’s cozy life sim premise that blends elements of Dragon Quest Builders and Animal Crossing with whimsical writing and hundreds of lovable pocket monsters.

Pokemon Pokopia’s Physical Release Is Already Getting Hard to Find

The positive early reception already appears to be translating into commercial momentum, as suggested by widespread reports of Pokemon Pokopia becoming difficult to find at retailers within 24 hours of its launch. While the full extent of the apparent sellouts remains unclear, early reports of fans being unable to locate physical copies at nearby stores have emerged from across North America as well as several major European markets. Meanwhile, the Pokemon Center’s Ditto plush—the retailer’s Pokemon Pokopia pre-order bonus for U.S. customers—has been listed as out of stock since at least the start of March 2026, four days before the game’s official release.

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Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

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Walmart Canada Re-Opens Pokemon Pokopia Pre-Orders Post-Release

Another indication that Pokemon Pokopia is selling quickly comes from Canada, where Walmart took the unusual step of reopening the game’s pre-orders after release. In a prepared statement, the retailer cited “massive demand” as the reason it was unable to fulfill additional launch-window pre-orders, adding that it is working to secure more physical copies of the hit Switch 2 exclusive in response to this development.

Game-Key Card Backlash Seemingly Did Little To Impact Pokopia’s Physical Sales

The game’s strong physical sales are particularly notable given one of the more contentious aspects of its release. Ahead of launch, some players expressed frustration that Pokemon Pokopia’s boxed edition contains Nintendo’s Game-Key Card rather than the full game on the cartridge. While some collectors and physical media enthusiasts speculated that the decision could dampen demand for physical copies, early reports of shortages suggest that for many buyers, the appeal of owning a physical version of a new Pokemon release outweighed those concerns, if they factored into purchasing decisions at all. That dynamic also raises questions about how representative the Game-Key Card backlash ultimately was. The criticism was real and highly visible across social media, but Pokopia’s apparent retail momentum suggests it may reflect a relatively narrow segment of the overall audience rather than a significant commercial barrier.

Another open question is how long the current shortage may last. The most likely scenario is that the scramble for physical copies eases over the coming weeks as new shipments reach retailers and some consumers who initially preferred a boxed edition decide to purchase the game digitally instead. In that event, the Pokemon Pokopia supply situation could look far more stable by early spring 2026, even if isolated shortages persist in some markets for a while longer.

It is still too early to definitively say how much of the current situation reflects extraordinary demand and how much may simply be the result of cautious launch allocations. However, given that this is a new Pokemon game, the shortages are more likely to signal a blockbuster hit than to indicate that retailers broadly underestimated demand.

Source: Pokemon Center, TheGamer