Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has had a very decent start to life in the UK, with physical sales being significantly higher than those of Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition at launch.
As you may have seen from our UK charts round-up earlier today, Age of Calamity managed to earn a sixth-place debut behind next-gen favourites and a new Fortnite bundle in the UK. It's this week's highest-charting Nintendo exclusive, pushing the likes of Animal Crossing: New Horizons down the pecking order for the time being.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, the game's opening week physical sales are "nearly 324% bigger" than what Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition achieved back in May 2018. Despite this, the report also notes that it hasn't matched the sort of sales numbers typically earned by traditional Zelda games; launch sales are 43% lower than last year's Zelda: Link's Awakening remake, for example.
Considering the Dynasty Warriors titles don't sell particularly well in the UK, the launch is pretty impressive – although Nintendo's 'Breath of the Wild prequel' sales pitch likely helped matters.
Have you already picked up Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity? Tell us below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments (74)
im going to i think but only when i have money
Can't say I am surprised it sold better. It is on Switch and off the back of BOTW. (Edit: Re-reading the article, 324% better than HW: DE. Still I imagine it probably did better the HW on Wii U.)
Currently at Chapter 4 at present. I don't think I am enjoying it as much as I was hoping I would; the characterisation seems exactly the same as in BOTW so... eh. Only two things stand out; Revali won't shut up, and Kohga is always amusing. Despite the framerate hiccups, still a good game though. It is also fun seeing some of the villages, locations restored, but would of been even better if I could explore them properly.
I do now want to go back and finish the adventure maps for the original Hyrule Warriors though.
I bought the physical which came with various paraphernalia like a poster and cool artwork cards. I play the game and of course the daughter abducted the paraphernalia, lol
Well it is a battle royal..
@MS7000 Pretty sure HW:DE outsold HW (Wii U) anyways if I recall the articles around that time correctly.
So, Switch still going to be the best selling console this period?
...yup.
Over 300% that is a large number but what are the actual numbers?
Got it day 1! It is actually a lot better than I expected - love the story.
@GrailUK Well for now it is watch when nintendo puts something else..
What about the combined opening weeks of all 3 releases of the original HW on Wii U, 3DS and Switch?
@Rhaoulos that happen one time ago I forgot what day lol
@link3710 I figured. =) But my wording made it sound like it being on Switch had something to do with it, which it clearly didn't.
@ShinyUmbreon what is what now? 😂
@clvr one game In 3ds wii u switch
game is pretty bad
game sold when 65 million consoles are on the market while the first one came out early in the switch lifecycle so duh... also it's using botw success to launch off of while its entirely a different kind of game lol people are not happy after buying the game if what I've seen so far as feedback is analyzed
@ChariizardEmperor well its your choice to think its bad or not..
@link3710 and the wii u had how many consoles sold vs the 65 million switch out there?
@ShinyUmbreon I'm going off of reviews, player reviews, ratings on websites were its sold, social media commentary and youtube reviews... if thousands are saying it sucks compared to BOTW and is a mediocre sequel to hyrule warriors, I believe them.
@CharizardEmperor Either a they suck no offense or b They have issues with there controls or c there not even trying..
It is a great and entertaining game.
@CharizardEmperor "Game is bad"
Says someone who has never actually played a Warriors games.
Coming from a warriors fan(I've played ever DW game since 5), this game is great and a good starting point if you've never played a Warriors game before as it's not as hard as some others.
Ugh.... I hate percentages... That's roughly 382,000 copies sold compared to Link's Awakening. However, this is only counting Europe and Japan since I was unable to find numbers for Link's Awakening launch weekend in the US. I'd guess increase the number by 50% and you have a ball park estimate for US sales.
@QueenKittenWrite Wait what Your kidding right?
@CharizardEmperor according to who? 79 on meta ain't bad, 80 from players on meta is shockingly good given its track record. Most YouTubeers are praising the game like gamexplain, rgt85 and playeressence. So you're one of those people that has confirmation bias and is actively seeking negativity or you are cherry picking universally commented on issues like frame rate and blowing it out of proportion. You claim its worse that HWDE and yet everything I have seen says the opposite. Oh wait, thousands have said its bad... yeah versus the hundreds of thousands that like it. Sure, real reliable sources.
@QueenKittenWrite I own a few warriors games and other similar styled games. This game is pretty generic and not better than the first hyrule warriors. reviews and customer feedback speak for itself 🥱
@CharizardEmperor Well Customer feedback aint always right they could just be saying that cause there haters..
@Chowdaire if you think 79 is great thats funny 😂
@CharizardEmperor They make a good point what they say dude....
@ShinyUmbreon Kidding about what? I legit think it's a good starting point for people wanting to try out the Warrior Titles.
@CharizardEmperor The combat is much smoother than the first HW first of all, and to call this generic is pretty funny considering every character is unique. Perhaps the maps can be a little repetitive, but they do a good enough job of varying. Anyway, feel free to hate on the game because you don't believe that Nintendo should of made this and instead work on something else; not my concern that you don't have anything better to do.
@QueenKittenWrite I mean what u say to char also I agree what ur saying..
@CharizardEmperor Apart from the fact that you are calling the game PRETTY BAD when this article and the general reviews imply that it is definitely not a bad game you should also try to make some effort to write correct sentences.
@CharizardEmperor Higher than HWDE, which is the whole focal point of your argument.
Ultimately its your word against mine about what we've heard from people online so I decided to settle things using metrics. It reviewed higher and is selling better.
@QueenKittenWrite you act like you know everything about this series yet just said nintendo made this game... NINTENDO DID NOT MAKE THIS GAME LOL its their IP and was marketed as a prequel to BOTW it's just a warriors style game with a zelda coat of paint hence its 79 metacritic score
@Chowdaire and BOTW takes a massive #2 on this game review sales and feedback wise... MASSIVE 😇
@Cosats your comment isn't fixing that 79 metacritic score anytime soon 🥱
@CharizardEmperor 79 on metacritic means it is a very good game far from the PRETTY BAD you are saying. Also, Nintendo helped with this game. Don't you read the news?
@CharizardEmperor LOL. Learn how to actually debate someone sometime rather than using tired old internet tricks. Emojis are the universal sign that someone has lost an argument and has activated troll mode. You haven't countered any of my points because you know at this point that you are 100% factually wrong. But I'm sure all the people on the "age of calamity sucks" subreddit are correct and reliable so you can go talk to them and boast about how you owned us zelda simps.
@Cosats seems you don't read the news, koei tecmo is entirely responsible for the development if nintendo participates its only with ideas not actually designing levels or mechanics 😂
keep overhyping this game all you want it won't change that metacritic score to match other highly rated gems on the switch
@Rhaoulos
Age of Calamity's launch was bigger than the launch of all 3 versions of the first Hyrule Warriors combined, especially so once you include digital numbers.
@Chowdaire you just called yourself a zelda simp. i can imagine the bullying you have experienced on forums.... sorry for you guy 😟
@westman98 that is indeed impressive. Do you have any source to confirm this?
@CharizardEmperor
Age of Calamity is the highest-rated Warriors game of all time if we go off of Metacritic.
@westman98 yeah because those were not linked to goty breath of the wild at all and launched on a wii u and a recently released switch that didn't have 65 million consoles on the market. So this is being overhyped. BOTW sales eclipse this game dramatically so what does that say about this title?
got this on launch im a big musou fan. (i know gamepad button abusing games but guilty pleasure). but this is easily their best ever Musou game the art style is amazing. a few bits could have worked better but a great game. BUT if you dont like Musho games this wont change your mind.
@Rhaoulos
I'm comparing percentage values.
Age of Calamity sold 4.24× better than Hyrule Warriors DE, which - according to old UK sales chart data - sold about as much as Hyrule Warriors Legends and about half as much as the original Hyrule Warriors.
Once you do the math, Age of Calamity launch sales should be just above the combined launch sales of all 3 versions of the first game.
@CharizardEmperor And the emojis continue. Also, I don't expect you to have the mental maturity to understand self deprication or the subtle nuance of using said language to secretly mock someone else. Oh, but when you have to explain humor to someone, yeesh, and you feel sorry for me?
@CharizardEmperor
It says that Warriors games are niche, Breath of the Wild setting or not.
Age of Calamity looks to become the best-selling Warriors game ever, but the ceiling for the genre's commercial appeal is still limited.
@CharizardEmperor in what world does 79 out 100 equate to "pretty bad" That means most places that don't use percentages have given it 4 out of 5 or 8 out of 10. IGN for example classes 8 out of 10 to be great.
@Chowdaire hey man if you are this deeply hurt and invested in your feelings over a warriors game that is a sign of something else but no worries there are plenty of licensed people out there that can help you out 😇
Err, that just shows how badly Hyrule Warriors did.
Chinese made F2P Genshin Impact is more of a ZBOTW game than the $60 "Nintendo sanctioned" big holiday game is. 2020 Insanity.
At least 2021 is already looking better on Switch.
@Big_Fudge pretty bad compared to BOTW is what I meant 🤷🏼♂️
@CharizardEmperor I honestly couldn't care less about the game itself. I just like arguing with people online, especially those who live in their own pocket dimensions where reality somehow reflects differently. I can see this is going nowhere so I'll just carry on with my day. Perhaps we will meet again in the near future for another "mentally stimulating" debate.
@Agramonte
It's easy to be like BOTW when you're initial game pitch is "F2P BOTW with waifus" and then make modest changes to avoid homework-copying.
I also enjoy you never-ending insistence that a Hyrule Warriors game can't be Nintendo's big holiday title, as if there was some creed being violated for such a thing occurring.
@CharizardEmperor I don't see what that has to do with anything? The comparison here is to a game release that is also on Switch, and the lowest ratio possible.
switch game sells better then wii u game
we are all shocked indeed
@QueenKittenWrite The game isn't bad just repetitive. This is speaking from my previous experience with Hyrule Warriors and FE Warriors. I skipped out here because I'm burnt out of muso games.
I think it helps that it's a BotW prequel, as opposed to Zelda FanFiction: The Officially Licensed Game
I went for Sniper Elite 4. I may get Hyrule Warriors sometime next year if there is a game drought, like there was this year.
Watching some reviews and playing the demo for Hyrule Warriors, the graphics don't look that strong in handheld with quite a bit of popup. And the games graphics in docked has issues.
Is Nintendo making games that are to powerful for the ageing Switch?
@ReikoMortis 😬😬😬 i wouldnt waste my time on that, bud
@CharizardEmperor majority of the review for thsi game is over 8.5 to an 9 so nice try troll.
@RiasGremory learn math first 💀
Should have called it “LoZ: Momma Urbosa can’t take the kids anywhere.”
@westman98 Well obviously it is not that easy to capture ZBOTW or even Zelda magic in a game (even with Nintendo involved) or this would not end up a repetitive snooze fest (or get a mediocre Oceanhorn 2)
It has not violated anything - because there is nothing "big" about this. This is no Smash, Mario Odyssey or Pokemon, it is not even Rehash link Awakening from a September launch slot. There is simply nothing else.
@Agramonte
The only thing that isn't "big" about Age of Calamity is that it won't sell 10 million copies. The production values are large, reviews are strong (for a Warriors game), and sales are on track to exceed that of all other Warriors titles by a big margin.
@westman98 Production value are a carbon copy of ZBOTW, down to the audio. And I have zero doubt it will sell millions. No different than what cloning it did for GI (it already made its 500 Million budget back)... just goes to show how much people want another one.
@Agramonte
Artstyle being the same as that of BOTW has no bearing on the size of the production budget.
There really isn’t much else Nintendo related to buy, at least new.
@westman98 Sure it does, or at a minimum what it is spent on. Tons of work was already created by Nintendo's creative team.
When you realize the world hub is a 3 sec tower animation and a map, the store is a photo still and the first "extra mission" is go kill 300 of X... they sure did not spend it on extra creative work (or optimization)
@Agramonte
By that logic, every sequel (ala Call of Duty, FIFA, Assassin's Creed, etc.) has low production budget because they are sequels that recycle the artstyle/models/textures/audio of previous titles and have the same repetitive gameplay of prior games.
@westman98 The opening 20 sec party scene in AC: Valhalla has more individual faces than the entire first chapter in this nonsense. The first side mission has an actual narrative (not go kill 300 cloned rag dolls)
When you go to a mountain, you actually go to it... and it looks like a snow covered mountain. This goes to a loading screen and a guy narrates "you are going to the mountain" and then it is the same (even the same awful low budget patches of grass) just now textures are in a white color palette.
If there was a production budget it went to buy the ZBOTW texture/audio pack from Nintendo. Again, F2P Genshin Impact has better production value than this (hell, even the free game in my PS5 does)
@Agramonte
So...Valhalla did exactly what previous Assassin's Creed games have done.
Not being an open world action RPG != Not big production values
@westman98 That is more than this by a mile. And actually has a character designer.
Saying a warrior game has big production value is like saying McDonalds is a good fast food burger. Not saying much by comparison.
@Agramonte
Let's just agree to disagree about the budget of Warriors games then. It's pretty clear you simply dislike the genre and will handwave it away as irrelevant no matter what I say to the contrary.
@westman98 for sure... we disagree no harm, no foul. Glad you have something to play.
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