The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom breaking records in the UK as the biggest Zelda release ever and the biggest boxed release of the year.
Tears of the Kingdom being one of the biggest games of the year was inevitable; Breath of the Wild is one of the most acclaimed games out there, and video games are evolving better than ever. But now, thanks to GamesIndustry.biz, we know just how massive its release was. First, it’s the biggest boxed release of the year, up 54% from the previous biggest release, though we don’t know how good overall sales are since Nintendo doesn’t share digital sales. Although, as noted GamesIndustry.bizdigital sales tend to be much lower than on other platforms, so it’s unclear how much they’ve improved.
Not only that, but it’s the biggest Zelda launch in the history of the series, with sales 2.7 times that of Breath of the Wild’s launch in 2017. Breath of the Wild used to be the biggest physical release of the week, but Tears of the Kingdom took that slot, pushing the former into second place and The Wind Waker into third.
It’s also the eighth biggest Zelda game of all time just days after launch, ahead of Skyward Sword on the Wii and The Wind Waker back on the GameCube. In terms of revenue, it gets even better, ranking fourth among the biggest Zelda games of all time behind only Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and Breath of the Wild.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are still the best-selling Switch games in the first week, with Tears of the Kingdom down 12% – though as Christopher Dring of GI.biz points out that the double release of the Pokemon games makes it a bit odd, so ignore Tears of the Kingdom being the second biggest release in the UK, behind only Wii Fit. But while it sold fewer copies than Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, revenue was up 8%, thanks in part to the Tears of the Kingdom Collector’s Edition.
Even Breath of the Wild saw sales rise, with box office sales up 31% for the week, even returning to the top 10 at number eight in the UK charts.
None of this should come as much of a surprise, since Tears of the Kingdom is The highest rated game of all time on OpenCritic – with our own review also gives the game five out of five.