>>46717062First of all, it's not just about console playerbase. If were so, there would never be inconsistencies between the number of consoles and the number of copies of the games sold. In addition, DS was the best selling console Nintendo console yet but it didn’t achieve that overnight. If I remember correctly, Switch is at a similar pace, actually.
Secondly, one of the things the gaming media has always liked to highlight: Switch has a much better "retention" on its exclusives overall. That is, Switch audience buys more exclusives than they did on previous Nintendo consoles.
That alone should lead SwSh to sell as much as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch, since Pokémon games have always sold as much as on previous consoles, EVEN WITH Mario Kart being an "upon a generation game" as you say, and with Pokémon releasing several games.
And then finally there would be two other points to consider: first of, MK8 DX is just a rehash, unlike Mario Kart 7, for example.
Secondly, unlike previous generations, this time we had DLCs instead of third versions. In addition, both Let's Go, Legends and BDSP present very different proposals from SwSh (unlike XY to ORAS, for ex).
And on top of that, we still have the main factor that must be taken into account: the fact that this was the first traditional console game in the series. People were waiting for this for a long time. And I think that even certainly influenced the pressure the game was under. Many old fans and also non-fans have turned their attention to this game.
And your last paragraph just proves that. Even with all the controversy, it still exceeded milestones, which at least imo was expected. This novelty factor of Pokémon being in home console will still last a while.
