Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Has Surpassed 10 Million Sales In Three Days

Man, and I thought Pokemon SV selling 10mio copies in 3 days is insane but a Zelda game achiving that too is even more insane

I mean Zelda games before BotW usually sold only about 2-8mio copies in their whole lifetime (not counting re-releases) and now we are at a point where a new Zelda game easily manages that in 3 days. Absolutely deserved

Well done, Nintendo, it's well deserved...here's to 30 million in about a month or so

That's a lot of copies

Bit of a bumper year for Nintendo ain't it?

The difference versus Pokemon (which I also bought) is that TOTK is actually a finished game.

It's already outsold all Zelda games except Link's Awakening, Ocarina Of Time and BOTW.

Frankly incredible numbers. And from a pre-release TOTK doubter, I have to say, those numbers are thoroughly deserved. The game is AMAZING!

Well, there’s definitely no longer an argument whether this was an impressive launch.

Congrats. Now I'll go shed a tear for the past Zelda games.

Guess this means this is the future of the series then if it does numbers like this. Here's hoping we still get 2D/OoT style games as in-between games while we wait for BOTW3

With all the hype and the internet going wild about TOTK, the only thing that still amazes me here is that unfinished broken games like Pokemen SV, which I also bought day one because nostalgia, are on the same level of Sales.
Imagine what a great Pokemon game would sell? Would be outselling GTAV over the first weekend probably

The Mario movie is the highest grossing film of the year and fifth highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Tears of the Kingdom sells 10M in 3 days and is already the fastest-selling game in a series that has a long sales tail.

Is anyone having a better 2023 than Nintendo?

@JoeSooper It used to be your favorite series ever but now that it's an incredible game and better than it's ever been that's when you decide to get salty about it?

@JoeSooper You are salty that millions of people are loving the Zelda franchise more than ever so you make up nonsense about the game being a copy and paste?

I'm impressed they're hitting Pokemon metrics with this release. Say what you want about these new Zelda games, but it's impossible to deny how significantly they've boosted the profile of this series.

@JoeSooper The world is so changed up now, and they've added so much, it barely feels like the same map to me. I mean, I recognize the landmarks, but exploring it feels fully new.

Me: "My back hasn't hurt this much in years"
My wife: "Maybe because you've been hunched in front of the TV for five days"
Me: "Let's do a sixth to test your theory"

@Ploppy Move that TV higher!! Get a taller stand!

I'm impressed (and disappointed) that switching to open-world and sandbox gameplay could generate so many sales. It's clearly not the Zelda brand alone that is carrying this. Prior to BotW, sales were much lower.

@JoeSooper The over world is similar, but there are plenty of differences. I am really enjoying traveling around and seeing how much the world has changed.

Kinda makes the idea of transitioning to next-gen seem a little questionable.

Why publish games for a system with an install base of 0-20 million when a 6 year old system (running 100 year old tech if you believe some people) with an install base of 130 million can still muster sales of 10 million in 3 days?

@SuperWarioWorld it's also worth mentioning that outside of the Wii, the consoles that Zelda titles were on sold significantly less than the Switch.

What a great achievement. That is awesome.

I was really unsure of this game but the last trailer sold me on it and playing it now I am so happy I did, this is so much more than merely BOTW DLC, honestly blown away so far. Even if you are dismissive of the new systems once you actually get your hands on it it's a real game changer. I had a huge smile on my face yesterday as I built a rickety contraption to sale through the clouds.

@ElRoberico

That's true, but I can't help but think that if they had made another traditional 3d Zelda, it wouldn't have sold nearly as well. I could be wrong, of course.

@gcunit I mean... Some day it is going to happen. The Switch will be almost 8 years old when the DLC of Splatoon 3 wraps up and console sales are starting to fall. This year we won't be getting new hardware (no matter how many Switch pro rumours appear) but next year is possible we would see at least an announcement for next gen.

@SuperWarioWorld It is a fair point. Specially after BoTW catapulted sales of Zelda to points it has never seen before. Don't get me wrong, it always sold really well (maybe except cases like Skyward Sword) but now it's literally selling double of what they did in the early Wii days with Twillight Princess.

But now I'm seeing exacly what I imagined would happen when BoTW launched and became the new standard: a bunch of people online being nostalgic for the older style.
It was innevitable, specially when I saw the exact same thing happen when they went from the Link to the Past style to the Ocarina one.
I guess Nintendo can always do a nostalgic game in that vein some years down the line, like how the did Link Between Worlds in order to cater to the people that wanted a return to the past. We'll see.

@jowe_gv

Yes, inevitably some people are going to be left behind. And this really was a big transition, one which I think feels a little less natural than some others we've seen (2d to 3d Zelda and Mario, for instance), which may be jarring for long-time players.

@SuperWarioWorld
You’re right Aonuma Style was holding this series back, BOTW happened in the first place because Nintendo realized this after Skyward Sword’s lackluster sales which is why the developers questioned nearly everything about the previous formula and looked at the original Zelda game for inspiration.

@SuperWarioWorld maybe people are just hungry for Nintendo goodness….I can understand Zelda smashing records, but Animal Crossing? I know it had great timing with Quarantine release, but still. Throw in Mario Kart and other Mario games still selling well. The ten year plus absence from Nintendo for many after the Wii made the heart grow fond…..

• Fastest-selling Zelda game ever
• Already the 2nd best-selling Zelda game ever
• Fastest-selling Nintendo game ever outside of Japan
• Biggest Nintendo launch ever by revenue

We just witnessed a historic launch, it won't be until the next Zelda game when these records will have a shot at being broken again.

@SalvorHardin

I agree with the series being held back. I'm still really surprised that given their ability to make a game like BotW they weren't able to make a better game out of Skyward Sword.

@KevinP It's still a fun game but I was hoping it would feel fresher. I've already explored this world in BotW.

@lighteningbolt79 I have no problem with lots of people enjoying it. Just my honest thoughts from playing the game.

@SuperWarioWorld To be fair, like I said, those same complains were also directed towards the OoT style change. I mean... The complaints were different (complains about being "more linear" and "slower" and "easier") but the style of the complaints were the same: being nostalgic about a previous Zelda style that some people percieved as better.
With complaints slowly brewing in each instalment after Majora's Mask, reaching it's maximum point when we got Skyward Sword.
Like, people look fondly to it now but some months after it launched and the hype settled... there definetly were some disscusions.

It didn't help that (like another commentor said) Skyward Sword actually sold quite badly for a Zelda game, which in part is what lead to the change in BoTW. Mainly because those complaints couldn't be ignored anymore so the devs sought a compleate change of formula.

Mark my words, people will use some generic complaints once again to justify just being nostalgic about the previous style ("world too empty", "game too long" or whatever) and then Nintendo will probably make a nostalgic one off game in the style of OoT, like how they did with Link Between Worlds. But we are probably far off from that.

Not the kind of new zelda I wanted but it's a great game nonetheless and I'm having fun creating all kinds of things. It is revolutionary. But the world feels empty and the npc interactive characters are few and far between that feel soulless and the dialogue is just childish. As a result I haven't even bothered continuing the main story since launch day. The TOTK Link amiibo is so detailed it's easily the best looking amiibo.

@Ralizah I replayed BotW in the month leading up to TotK, which may have been a mistake. But still, I would've much preferred a new map.

Don't forget that these numbers are even more impressive when you consider that Pokémon SV sales are inflated because of the two versions. Some people buy both versions of the game, like me (I regret nothing 🙃). That makes TOTK's sales all the more impressive.

@Bret I've been playing every day since friday. I just finished the wind temple.

@michellelynn0976 Yes I'm playing it. Why exactly don't you believe it was my favourite series?

I think they may want to purposefully pursue a smaller, more contained experience with the next Zelda release. Tears of the Kingdom seems like a fantastic Zelda sandbox from the little I've played of it so far, but all the abstract powers Link keeps getting are moving away from the more primitive tools we associate with Link - i.e. a musical instrument, a boomerang, and a grapple hook.

All these abstract/supernatural powers begin to take the series away from its roots and I doubt they'll want that to go too far. We shall see...

@OfficialHigeDan No, I'm not into music too much. But I get it, you think I hate it because it's popular. In truth I can still enjoy the new style but just not as much as the old.

@JoeSooper Ah. Yeah, I could see your issue, in that case. I avoided re-playing BotW for years to avoid that feeling when TotK dropped. Although seeing how different it is, in retrospect, that probably wasn't necessary.

In fairness, I think a fully new map is their only real choice with another game unless the next one sends Link to space or something.

@SuperWarioWorld Mario is probably going to be the next franchise to transition to the open world sandbox model if Bowser's Fury is anything to go by.

Awesome to see and well deserved, but not unexpected. Considering the level of hype around this game and not to mention the years, talent, creativity and more put into it, it should be selling gangbusters.

Hoping that similar effort results and development translates to the success of Metroid Prime 4 too. That game also has had a similar amount of time & dedication in its development cycle. It's posed for a massive breakout, and hopefully Nintendo can ride the hype from Metroid Prime Remastered and Metroid Dread. After TOTK, Nintendo needs a new, mature, tentpole-level game fans can ride their hype on.

"Nevertheless, 10 million in three days is simply incredible for a Zelda game. For context, Breath of the Wild now officially stands at a total of 29.81 million sales "

Why do these articles always forget the 1.7 Million sold on the Wii U. The correct number for BotW is therefore 31.51 Million.

Also Pokomon was launched close to holiday season, having BotW this many sales in May is incredible.

with 122 million switches i figured it would be more then 10 million...

Can’t wait for 3rd game with BoTW formula. At this point it’s pretty apparent what 99% of what the fandom wants.

Deserved and worth the wait. I have been struggling to put the game down. It's just so much fun.

@Ralizah

You're likely right about Mario, but I think it will have a smoother (and perhaps less divisive) transition to open-world gameplay. It's a simpler type of game overall, where the basic move set and navigation of terrain is just fun in general.

@johnedwin I would have figured with roughly 140 million Playstation users Ragnarok would have done better.

@Tober because “people forgetting about the Wii U” is the themed tagline of the Wii U where 90+% of people treated Wii U ports on the Switch as new games.

@JoeSooper Since you've actually played, your opinion is all the more baffling. I simply don't understand how you can call this game a copy and paste. Yes, the overworld is reused. But it's still different, and we also have the sky and entire underground now. And it's got a completely new story, quests, challenges... You already know all this stuff though so I'm just confused.

Nice! Keep going! Well deserved success.

@Bret

He's not a Nintendo fanboy?

I mean breaking of the weapons soured me on it and this is running on a potato so I might pick it up if N ever releases a new console and it can BC/upgrade framerate.

But Breaking of the Weapons really ruined LoZ for me. Doesn't help that the world is barren and really boring. Walking simulators are more interesting.

Congratulations! I decided to let go of my scepticism and give this game a chance. This should be a great birthday present.

I hope you get to celebrate this Aonuma-San and everyone else involved.

@Bret Believe me, I'm just as confused at everyone else's opinion. I just don't really see anything here that couldn't have just been part of a massive expansion for BotW like Sunbreak was for Monster Hunter Rise. I haven't even found any armour sets that weren't in BotW aside from the "archaic" set. I suppose I'll see if the game gets more interesting somehow.

Really enjoying my time with the game, even if it feels like I've so far mostly just tackled Shrines, Korok seeds, and sign-related physics puzzles for that hopeless Hudson Construction guy.

Absolutely well deserved. This game is a masterpiece and a perfect example of listening to your community and packing so much detail into an extremely vast world to create and explore in.

Anyone involved with other AAA games (especially Pokemon) should take note that this is how you make games. Nintendo is absolutely killing it with seemingly no signs of slowing down.

Meanwhile my new shiny Xbox and PS are collecting dust due to lack of any games.

@johnedwin How many years did it take for the Switch to get that many sales?

How many days did it take for Tears of the Kingdom to sell 10 million copies and become the second best selling game in the entire series?

This is exactly why Nintendo is understandably hesitant to put out a Switch 2. With such a massive install base of Switch owners, even a niche Nintendo game is going to sell a couple million copies, and a game with broad appeal can sell like 10 million plus without breaking a sweat.

Makes sense to milk that for everything they can before starting back at ground zero.

@johnedwin so a roughly 10% of the install base buying a game at launch isn't impressive enough? Ok

My intrigue with this game will be its legs. I can see this being the second best selling game on the Switch behind Mario Kart 8.

I'm glad this has done so well and I predict will reach 15-20 million by the end of the year. It's a truly remarkable game that's improved a lot over BoTW in every way.

Underwater exploration next please Nintendo 🙏

@UltimateOtaku91 Yup, underwater exploration would be absolutely fantastic. I really enjoyed seeing caves, temples and sunken ships in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

$70 game.
Glorified BotW DLC.
Horrendous marketing campaign.
Sells over 10 million in 3 days.
Mario Movie a badly reviewed miss.
Breaks $1billion.

And STILL folk think Nintendo don't know what they are doing hahahaha! Incredible.

@GrailUK I mean, look how much money tobacco companies pull in, with that logic. Just because a company knows how to reel people in doesn't mean they are necessarily offering a good thing!

@roy130390 Its a possibility we could get underwater exploration in a DLC for TOTK, an expansion pass is inevitable at this point, nearly every nintendo game has one.

@MrLinkTathapast Well, TotK is certainly addictive.

@GrailUK Right, and I'm not saying that Tears is a bad game, just not one that everyone will enjoy

TOTK is not BOTW DLC. It is BOTW Second Quest.

@JoeSooper The game has a whole bunch of new armor sets.

@michellelynn0976

Exactly right.

Every little detail in Hyrule has been touched. Most of it significantly, a few things more granular.

So far it feels like a totally different map to me.

I honestly don't get the "It's BotW dlc" criticism.

It makes the most sense to have a sequel set in the already established Hyrule so why make a completely new map? And besides that, the ability additions are stupid incredible, the map is extremely changed for POI's with so much more packed in, and there are two additional maps to explore much less other areas outside of the normal Hyrule map.

This game feels like it has more than twice the amount of content BotW did with a creative kicker thrown into the mix. For a game that's set in a defined world, this is a definitive example of how to make a proper sequel. Probably going to be playing BotW and TotK for the rest of my life.

I work in a retail warehouse where I spent a month and a half explaining to leads how huge this was going to be, the an entire work week making sure my shift handled every Zelda game, amiibo, etc correctly, and then spent the entire next week going through tens of thousands of lines of data to figure out how and who screwed one thing up.

It’s big.

@UltimateOtaku91 Some really silly stuff has been said in these comments (anyone still calling this BotW DLC after playing it is being ridiculous), but blind faith is not a requirement for a series to be your favorite. Does being a Metroid fan mean I have to like Federation Force?

I understand not liking BotW/TotK for whatever reason - open world, breaking weapons, pulling away from established Zelda conventions, etc. What I don't understand is liking BotW but not liking TotK.

@MrLinkTathapast I mean you can literally say that for any game though. Not every person enjoys OoT either for example.

@Arawn93 That's right, you can say that for any game, but I'm talking about Tears because that's the article we are on.

Considering the sales numbers Breath of the Wild managed and the hype this game generated, I guess 10 mil+ in 3 days isn't surprising but still extremely impressive. Wasn't sure what the total would be but the midnight launch at my local Gamestop was the first one in years that drew a good sized crowd so I expected the game would be a big hit.

@Arawn93 I'm not getting baited into this with you, you have a nice day.

I saw so many naysayers saying this "70 dollar dlc" would flop hard, guess they feel silly now. I haven't been this addicted to a game since Skyrim

Is anyone really that shocked? It was one of the most hyped games in gaming history, got perfect reviews and is an incredible game so of course it was selling very well.

@Arawn93 Just curious then I'll leave you to your thoughts, do you believe that 100% of the gaming population would enjoy Tears of the Wild?

Can we have one comment section without bickering? At the very least this is good for Nintendo which means more games for everyone.

@JoeSooper The game might have the same art design and some assets re-used, it actually runs on a different engine than BotW. Probably to make the abilities work at all without making it a buggy mess. So no a DLC it could not be.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/05/the-new-zelda-title-apparently-has-a-game-engine-link-with-splatoon-3

padadadaaaa

Thanks to you, Nintendo will now make all their games $70

It’s deserve all the success! and the vocal minority crying is not going to sell because is a $70 dollar game or a small DLC

For me, the real question would be how much it cost to be developed? That's how it will be measured the real success. pretty sure it broke even by now but you now, that's why intrigued me the most (BTW, the game is everything i was hopping for and then some)

I am truly very excited about where the series will go next. BoTW/TotK world is the archetypal Hyrule. Lush green fields etc. I’d love to see a very dark open world next. A bit like Termina was to Ocarina’s Hyrule but darker still. Plus it’ll be on the Super Ultra Dolphin Switch which in itself is exciting although I’m happy with TotK’s performance on switch so far. If someone had told me a decade ago that Zelda was going to be the gold standard for open world games in the near future I would have laughed my head off. Yet here we are!!

Absolutely well deserved. Everyone on my friends list is playing TotK.

Three days sale figures is just engrossing. Considering it sold that much in a short span. Those DLC's eat your eyes out.

@Vapeguy Every Nintendo product/venture is doomed to fail according to some. Has been for going on 20 years now haha.

@Ryu_Niiyama Doesn't look like it, it has been very "fighty" in here of late I feel...plus an overabundance of people who think they speak for everyone!

I expected 10m, so not surprised. After Pokemon sold 10m opening weekend, and there is much more hype around the sequel to the legendary BotW than there was for simply the next mainline Pokemon game (which was also very buggy at launch), I woulda been surprised if TotK didn't sell 10m or at least very close to it opening weekend.

Though the Japan sales at two and a quarter million are crazy! I figured it would sell a million less in Japan and a million more in America. Japanese total sales of TotK opening weekend have already matched BotW physical copies only sales. Meaning with a few more weeks of sales TotK may actually pass BotW sales in Japan unless like everybody who wanted the game in Japan bought it opening weekend haha.

Still, even though I expected these sorts of numbers opening weekend, it really is amazing to think about how much Nintendo has opened up the Zelda series with these two games. Zelda was always a very well received series but just with good not incredible sales considering the pedigree of the franchise. The best selling games would manage high single digit millions. Now, by making the Zelda formula open world and pushing the boundaries on that genre they've got another massive selling series to go along with Mario, Mario Kart, Smash, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing (though to be fair I think the pandemic gave AC a one-off huge boost so not sure if we could include it in this list in the future).

Honestly, I had to change the way I see the universe just to get to the third shrine. Like wth Nintendo. But it's a good thing. Just wish this game dropped after finals hahah

Excellent numbers and very well deserved. Absolutely loving this game.

You know somebody at Nintendo let this thought cross their mind, "we should have charged $100"

Gotta admit that as much as I love Jedi: Survivor on PS5 and thought I might be spoiled for TotK, I still got all the thrills starting on TotK.

I will wait to go back until I finish Jedi: Survivor once, though I might stick a little closer to the main path to finish it faster!

(Seriously, though, they are both great games. Super spoiled and no real time to play for a bit)

@aaronsullivan I'm in the same boat... I was hesitant to buy Jedi Survivor because of its release window only. I knew that even without watching any trailers of TotK that I would be more involved in that game over JS.

Both great games in their own right... but man does TotK just bring things up to a completely different level.

I guess there goes the argument that piracy hurts game sales.

Looks like the $70 price tag is fine. Next year they'll bump it up to 80. No 90...ah let's just make it an even $100 per new game.

And imagine what Nintendo could've done with a Super Mario Odyssey 2.. if they wanted to.

@JoeSooper I also replayed BotW in the weeks before TotK, but honestly I am very happy I did. Of course the map is similar / the same, but it's a direct sequel. And that's not something we see often in the Zelda series. (only Phantom Hourglass and Majora's Mask) also with the addition with Sky world and the below world it's basically 2 new games and one heavily modified one. I absolutely love all little details and the changes in Hyrule as well. And actually the changes you make in the game itself as well.

Also wanting a different map? It's Hyrule. It's basically the same map in every game that is set in Hyrule.

@Rob3008 It only took 6 years too!

@GrailUK lmao. I think we have spoken often enough that I can take that joke.

@Ryu_Niiyama phew

@UltimateOtaku91

"When someone bashes zelda and they finish their sentence with I'm a long time zelda fan or and it's my favourite series, you know their full of crap. Like why do you need to add that just to validate your comment"

I wouldn't take it as them being full of it, I would take it as them being a long time fan that feels this new direction isn't the style they have loved all these years, are are sad to see it go that way.

What an odd thing to nitpick

I mean, cmon guys, did you really think it wouldn't?!?!

@Trajan unless the pirates turned around and bought the game, yes it hurts sales. Just because a lot of people don’t pirate doesn’t mean all of a sudden piracy is ok or isn’t a missing sale. A lot of people go to work and earn a paycheck. Doesn’t mean I can now go rob a bank to get free money (especially since the money is insured and this not a tangible asset loss). Thieves are gonna steal regardless of course but don’t act like there is no impact.

I did get tired of the 3D Zelda formula. Elemental dungeon, map, compass, small key, dungeon item, boss key, etc. I love that BotW and TotK arent so precious about exact solutions to problems. The Oot-SS formula is great, but yeah it got long in the tooth after years and years of it. That said, I'd gladly take some of those between the vast open world games. Give me Wind Waker but Skies of Arcadia, please.
Anyway, the game is wonderful, and I can't stop thinking about it. Hope everyone is enjoying it.

@Ryu_Niiyama you can always move the goal posts, but to have the fastest selling zelda game while it came out two weeks early on PC pretty much invalidates the argument that pirqcy has hurt game sales.

@Tober Because they're comparing Switch sales to Switch sales.

@Classic603 Doom is my favorite series because I'm a simpleton, and a lot of the changes in 2016 and Eternal turned me off at first. Corpse-stay was integral to navigation in the early games, and I missed lived-in levels (enemies teleporting into arenas is a different thing, and I still prefer the lived-in approach). Save anywhere, mods, etc etc. I came around and love the recent games, but it took a while. Happens. I've played Zelda since the first game, as they released, and loved BotW soon as I played it. I hope some other older fans can come around.

I think it's fair to say that Zelda's development teams are to Nintendo what Naughty Dog is to PlayStation these days. What they managed to create with such an outdated piece of tech is amazing.

@sanderev Nintendo also reused the overworld map in the original NES game for the Second Quest, with different item locations and new dungeons. TOTK is BOTW’s Second Quest.

Congrats to Nintendo; clearly the market has decided that $70 is not too much for TotK!

And it's always amusing to see people are still salty over Pokémon SV's success. The bitter tears never end!

I've only had time to play about an hour of this game. Please tell me there is cross-dressing. Also, the vehicles people are building are cool. I want to build a giant shark-monster thing. Is that possible?

Well that's disappointing. More boring Zeldas to come. They should do an Animal Crossing crossover to add some excitement to it.

I am a long-time Zelda fan and this (and Breath of the Wild) is not where I wanted the series to go. Just wanted to express my opinion. They should have created a new IP, this is not really The Legend of Zelda.

Respect to those that prefer this formula but it's not for me. As someone mentioned earlier, this is also a reflection of the Switch userbase in 2023 and this is a well-marketed first-party release supported by the media. Regardless of its quality, it was going to be a hit. There wasn't any doubt about it.

Remember Animal Crossing New Horizons? It's not the best Animal Crossing game but it sold much more than any other.

At first I was rankled about the $70 price tag (though I got it for $50 using Nintendo Vouchers), but open world Zelda has become pretty much the best series in gaming, and you get like 150-200+ hours of gameplay for an initial playthrough, I'm okay if they charge $70 from now on for these mind blowing behemoth Zelda games.

I'd worry if they started charging $70 for other games (I mean maybe 3D Mario would be okay but that's it). With the size of these open world Zelda games it clearly is the most expensive to develop series they make now so if there was gonna be any game for which they charge a premium price it would be Zelda.

I'm already thinking about how cool next-gen open world Zelda is gonna be - next gen upgrades and built from scratch instead of being a direct sequel in the same map as BotW. Though I'm sure that's like 7 years away. Only bad thing about how colossal Zelda games are now is how long they are gonna take to make. Given how long it took to make TotK despite being a direct sequel to BotW are reusing so much of BotW, Nintendo better be adding a lot more people to the Zelda team in order to make sure they can put out one 3D Zelda each generation.

@Classic603 @Bret You are absolutely right. I find it obvious that long-time fans (some, at least) don't like the massive changes introduced in Breath of the Wild and I cannot understand why some "gamers" think that that feeling is "crap". I think the crap is more within those that use such argument against others that don't like the new formula.

@Classic603 trolls, bots, AI comments, etc. It's a propaganda tool built to spread slander, its a phrase that is often a tool/phrase to manufacture dissent. I don't blame them for thinking that about people who write in that manner

I get that some people like the old Zelda formula, we each have our preferences. The old Zelda is comfortable, it's very familiar and it produced great games. Heck I just played Link's Awakening for the first time this year and it was great and I enjoyed the classic Zelda formula in it (as well as the game's unique things).

But quite frankly, in terms of 3D Zelda, by Twilight Princess way back in 2006 I was already like ughhh Zelda is feeling stale and needs a fresh take. It took over 10 years for that to happen and open world Zelda blows away all previous Zeldas. BotW certainly was missing some Zelda staples and while it is a mind blowing game it wasn't perfect, but it sounds like TotK has gone a long way to fix most of the the issues that BotW had.

Zelda is an epic action adventure series, it's the kind of series that is made to be open world. The original 3D formula for Zelda worked great when 3D gaming was still in its fairly early stages, and Nintendo did try to switch things up a lot with every game, but still the formula was too limiting for the Zelda franchise. Then BotW comes out and blows everyone away who isn't just rigidly stuck in wanting the same thing over and over and over out of Zelda.

And the great thing about open world is they can do anything they want with it in the future. Basically there is no formula so it won't get old. They can totally change it open, just keeping the basic open-worldness the same. Of course TotK being a direct sequel was very similar, but the next Zelda can be totally different. All it needs to do is keep the Zelda feel and some Zelda staples and keep the ability to explore a massive world freely.

@Trajan You completely missed the point. Your initial argument of “this game sold a ton so piracy is not a problem!” has zero correlation with each other.

The fact that you pointed out this game was pirated weeks before just proves the point that it DID “hurt sales”. “Hurt sales” doesn’t need an arbitrary amount of sales for it to negatively impact sales. Objectively a loss sale is a loss sale.

It’s a fact that those loss sales were not going back to the developers at the benefit of leecher gamers so unless you want to ironically move the goalposts and claim that everyone that pirated the game [which was estimated at least in the six figures range] actually bought the game legitimately when the release dropped then in the end it did “hurt” the overall sales.

If you just wanted to justify your pirating then you are probably better off still using the “data preservation” meme excuse even if it’s complete crap for a game that is not even a month old and readily available.

@Slownenberg That's a very respectful way of approaching other people's opinions and I partially agree with some of your points but I need to highlight that the last part of your comment is the key.

The problem with BotW and TotK is not that they are open world games, the other Zelda 3D games also are (not this big) but that they are missing almost every thing that defined Zelda 3D games until then. There is more freedom and more sandbox gameplay that can be fun for some but almost everything else that is so special about the series has disappeared. This is my opinion but I respect yours and everybody else's, because I know that on this thread most people are fans of the Switch games 😅.

In any case, I like your closing idea of combining these sandbox ideas with the wonders of the older titles. In the meantime, my choice is clear.

@Arawn93 people are pirating the game while owning collectors editions.

Most of the reason for the piracy is as this site said, they don't want to play this game on bad hardware. People don't want to play a game that looks like xenoblade 3ds in 2023. The game looks great at higher resolutions.

Nintendo never gives bonuses for higher sales.

Not trying to justify anything, just stating that piracy didn't hurt this games sales. Nor did it hurt pokemon last year.

Imagine that, with a billion more people running around, they were able to push more copies.

All the more reason to continue making Switch games instead of making a new console.

2026 or later.

@Banjo- I haven't started playing TotK yet, and have avoided reading much about it. So I don't know what changes TotK made over BotW. I mean I definitely missed dungeons in BotW. But the old Zelda formula was basically explore and do quests for people and learn where to go and pick up weapons and items and hearts and advance the story, go to dungeon and do the same thing in each dungeon while solving puzzles and fight boss, and repeat until you collect whatever important items you need to go to the end of the game.

If TotK doesn't have dungeons either then I agree they need to bring those back, but other than that I don't see what would be missing.

In the open world Zeldas you still explore, solve puzzles, fight enemies, talk to people, do quests for people, build up your items/weapons/hearts, get your horse, and advance the story as you do these things. The new Zeldas just open it all up exponentially with a huge world and much more freedom, much less linearity. Other than missing dungeons, I'd say BotW felt different because of the massive open world (which is obviously a huge upgrade to all previous Zelda games) and that it added in new things. I don't think it's bad that the new Zeldas are adding in new stuff, that doesn't get rid of all the old Zelda stuff they have.

My only gripe with BotW in terms of missing old Zelda formula was lack of dungeons. The lack of linearity is a great thing. The huge open world to explore is a great thing. And I'm sure dungeons can be made to feel like classic Zelda while still respecting the freedom of open world Zelda. Other issues with BotW were non-zelda specific - I'd say lack of enemy diversity and a bit lack of content in the huge world, other than that it was just nit-picky things. From what I understand TotK is supposed to have way more content in the game, which makes sense considering it took them so long to make it I bet a lot of the development time was adding more content to the massive world.

It would seem the lack of sticking with Zeldas roots really is just about (other than dungeon changes) lacking linearity and offering a much larger world to explore freely. I can't see how anyone would say that's a bad thing. Sure more guided linear games can be nice to play. I think it worked a lot better with 2D Zelda though. A epic fantasy adventure in 3D...that's the kind of thing where you want to go off and just explore. That's something that old 3D Zeldas sorta did, like OOT it felt like you had a big world to explore, back at the dawn of 3D, but as the generations passed Zelda lost a lot of traction to other games that expanded the action-adventure genre. Zelda didn't take back the prime position in the genre until it went open world with BotW, blowing away the restrictions of the previous Zeldas.

Okay, that was way too long of a post. My point is just that it still feels like Zelda, its just way better and bigger. If TotK doesn't have dungeons then sure that is a respectable gripe. But as is obvious from the praise and sales of BotW and TotK, its a pretty narrow band of people who want Zelda to backtrack to smaller, more linear, more confined, less freedom, less adventure oriented games. Open world design was the logical progression of the series, no reason to be sad about it.

with this figure, share holder will be happy, so next switch is further away............

@Arawn93 Hey, I kinda notice that you're lashing out at anybody that replies to you. I bless your life, and hope you reach a better place. Hope you're ok. The hostility is certainly not mutual. We're just talking about vidya games, man

A few people stated a few days ago that this Zelda wouldn't outsell the first one because sequels don't sell more than the originals. Well, they were wrong on their first thought. There are many sequels that outsold the original on the same hardware and if these sales are anything to go by it will outsell the original in 2 years.

@daveMcFlave Why are you fixated on cross dressing? Most boys and men (about 99 percent of the world) wear clothes designed for them and vice versa for women.

@EvenStephen7 FromSoft. Releasing two flagship games this year.

@Slownenberg Oh, believe me, there are many more reasons apart from proper dungeons: NPCs, side quests, UI, story, script, gameplay, puzzles, soundtrack, graphics, environment, atmosphere, combat... I don't understand why you asseverate that limitations in older games are worse, is it necessarily better being able to go anywhere at any given point in time and is it necessarily better being able to solve "puzzles" in any possible way, sometimes using brute strength? Is it necessarily better a bigger world with barely anything on it? It's obvious that you prefer the new formula but that doesn't make it any better, it's just a matter of preferences.

@MrLinkTathapast Did you actually play the game?

Still haven't reached Cyberpunk 2077: 13 million copies within its first day.

@Rykdrew Still haven't reached Cyberpunk 2077: 13 million copies within its first day.
Notice no one talks about it anymore????

@Roadrunner99

Different people are fans of different things. Less than one percent of the population play Zelda games, so I'm guessing people shouldn't be allowed to do that too? And yeah, I have no problem with anyone who wants to crossdress. The previous Breath of The Wild had it, thought it was cool that it did it. Do you have a problem?

@SwitchForce Cyberpunk 2077 is still one of the most played games on Steam.

It's also one of the games with the most active communities. To give you an idea, there are more than 600,000 reader reviews on Steam alone. It's an insane number. One of the greatest of all time.

Over 20 million copies sold on Steam alone.

At this very moment as I type this to you, Cyberpunk 2077 is on the list of games with the most people playing online. Ahead games like Forza Horizon 5, Paladins, Call of Duty Black Ops 3, Fifa, The Witcher 3 and Naraka: Blade Point.

Anyway, Zelda is also a huge success!

@Rykdrew Also that isn't a Nintendo game and barely mentioned here. That's why.

@FawfulsFury If you’re talking about Tears of the Wild, yes. I played enough of it to learn I would rather be playing something diff!

It's also very impressive for an AAA open-world game. GTA is still #1, but this defines how Nintendo is nailing the formula.

@MrLinkTathapast In that case complain about the game all you want, I personally love it. Edit :I’d still like to know how much is “enough to know if rather play something else”