The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has become Zelda franchise’s fastest selling game. According to Nintendo, 10 million units were sold worldwide in the three days following its May 12 launch. To give you an idea of where that’s one of the Switch’s best games, Breath of the Wildhas sold nearly 30 million copies in its six-year existence, while Mario kart 8 has sold 53 million copies.
So to summarize, Tears of the Kingdom has sold one-third of its predecessor’s units and 20 percent of the best-selling Switch game of all time in just three days.
This is a game sold on six-year-old hardware locked at a scenic 30fps that largely takes place in an environment players have seen and explored before. Nintendo is Nintendo, of course, and the company has the kind of “magic” — if not a keen business sense — that other publishers try, but can’t hope to recreate. But numbers like this over this short period of time should say something about how players will react to simple premises executed extremely well. And it’s single player too! Not a battle pass in sight!
With the out-the-gate success of Tears of the KingdomNintendo is collecting dubs this year with the Mario movie that makes a smooth billion and the opening of Super Nintendo World in Los Angeles. Time will tell whether Tears of the Kingdom will fire mario kart 8 as the Switch’s best-selling game, but I don’t think we’ll have to wait long to see.
