Tears Of The Kingdom Continues To Prove That 'Open World Zelda' Is A Best-Selling Formula

While I loved TOTK and have it near the top of my rankings, I think the series needs to tone down the open world aspects. Maybe a middle ground between the old linear style and the new open style.

But, sales wise, the open world formula has proved vastly superior to the old style.

I hate to be the hair in soup, but going from selling 18.5 million units in just over 1½ month (may 12th till june 30th), and then selling just short of 1 million the next 3 month (july 1st till september 30th), IS a pretty steep decline.

İ have still not played Tears of the kingdom but İ am going to play it still if my plan life is going good. İ will buy it.

İs open world Zelda games better than the classic Zelda games. İ do not think it is a complete different game it is still a Zelda game. İ do not care that much. Dungeons are still dungeons and that is the biggest best important part from Zelda games.
Yess İ have played Breath of the wild İ know the dungeons in that game too. İt is still a like a classic Zelda dungeon for me, İ know people did not like it that much but still it was a dungeons.
Me too the dungeons in Breath of the wild was not perfect. İt is complete true but it was still fun dungeons.
That is why Nintendo have made Tears of the kingdom for better dungeons this time.

İ am little surprised this open world Zelda games are selling more but why?

@shgamer This is pretty standard for big games, most people will buy it on or near to release. The thing is, it will continue to sell 1 million per quarter or thereabouts for the rest of the switch's life, so it will probably end up on around 25 million. BOTW benefitted from an extra 6 years.

With sales figures like this theres no way Nintendo goes back to the old linear style, unless its remakes or remasters.

Insane numbers, especially when you consider it has only been the market for just some months. Greatly outpacing BotW's numbers.

I'm honestly happy to see the open world Zelda formula explode in popularity like this. TotK and BotW are my #1 and 2 favorite games of all-time. As much as love the standard Zelda formula and wouldn't mind seeing that return in some form(2D games or what have you), open world is the way to go imo.

I wonder what the sales would be if the next Zelda was big-but-structured, like a bigger version of Twilight Princess, rather than open world. Now the series has a bigger audience, would they stop buying it just because it had a traditional structure? Are the cooking and crafting really all that necessary? It's hard to argue with the sales, but I wonder how much of Zelda's "open world" style the series actually needs for success.

Every single entry that’s on Switch in every single IP has sold way more than its predecessors. That just means these games are selling more because they are in a console that has sold more.
You can see that with Metroid Dread, Pikmin 4, Mario Kart, any Mario game, just to name a few.

So this proves absolutely nothing.

If a Zelda with a formula like classic Zelda came out on Switch it will surely sell as much as open world Zelda.

This is a testament of the console’s achievement, not the game’s.

Switch has a huge install base, attach rate and nowadays the overall gaming population is bigger, open worlds are trendy-er, and TotK appealed to YouTubers, influencers and social media creators. You can’t compare previous Zelda games where the numbers were completely different, the audience wasn’t that big and the Ip recognition didn’t explode yet.

TotK’s “success” just can’t be recognized with something as basic as the “sales argument”

I’m a bit disappointed that the media keeps pushing this narrative for Zelda and gaming in general.

Go open world, go for success.
To be honest, every game in this era trying to go open world is creatively asinine and tiresome. Give it a decade before people grow tired of this trend and tries to go back to more designed experiences instead of sandboxes in their respective games’ original genre.

Bring back classic Zelda and stop the open world trend in gaming!

@jetsetradion For reference Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (a 6.5 years old game based on a 9.5 year old game) sold more than 1.5 million units in the same period (july 1st till september 30th) as TotK selling a million.

Totk is the sequel to very revered game, so no wonder that it was very "top heavy" sales wise.

That reminds me that I've left the game on the backburner after some 200ish hours in that first crazy month. Once it sucks you in, there's almost no letting go.

I still have two regional phenomena left to complete (I was at the Gerudo Town boss the last I had played), and I've found almost all of the shrines (I think I only consulted a guide ONCE for a shrine that I was ripping my hair out over).

And there's one particularly pesky lightroot that I haven't been able to find. I know where it is on the map, but hell if I know how to find it in the depths.

I never really got into the more linear Zeldas, so I'm not sure how I'd respond to any future games (short of Oracle remakes) that go in that direction. I also really enjoyed the Link's Awakening remake, as I expected I would.

The benefit of being a non-linear open world game is that you can jump back into it after a long hiatus, but if you get stuck in a linear game and take a break for a while, all that time spent thus far will have been for nothing as you'll have to restart the game to make any sense of where you are at, and I've done that far too many times with the Zelda series over the years (most recently with Skyward Sword HD).

@Zuljaras Nah Spiderman 2 doesn't hold a candle to TOTK.

@Olliemar28 What about the Wii U version of BotW which sold 1.70 million copies? Overall the game has sold 32.85 million copies. I think the article should amend the figure of BotW sales if you're including the total combined sales of multiple game versions.

@TruestoryYep. Disagree. I find SM2 to have better gameplay and story.

I don't think so.
I prefer playing an Open world indie game Yonder the Cloud Catcher Chronicles than BoTW / TToK.

@TruestoryYep I know it’s just opinion, but I personally prefer the first Spider-Man’s game over botws gameplay. Maybe two is different idk.

Honesty There was nothing special about TOTK. It was overrated. It was soulless and empty.

I love it. I’m sure in a decade or two I will want a smaller experience but for now, I love where Zelda is going.

I don't think it's just that they're open world games. It's also the appeal and ambition there is behind them. Its predecessor, Skyward Sword, was way less ambitious than these ones, you could feel it in every aspect of the game. You can say the same about Twilight Princess, basically a copy and paste from Ocarina of Time with a few extras. About Wind Waker, I think the art style wasn't for everyone (and they knew it).
So since Ocarina of Time we haven't had any Zelda game that has been as ambitious as appealing for everyone, until Breath of the Wild. That's the reason why. And TotK is simply MAGNIFICENT.

@Darktower77 You can't be serious... TotK is the best thing I've played in 36 years.
I guess the experiences vary a lot from person to person. For example, I didn't feel that OoT was so good at the time (although 20 years later I played it again on 3DS, and then I saw why people liked it so much lol). So you probably haven't played it the right time and right condition. It's a master piece.

While I did enjoy the open world in BotW, ToTk gets little too overwhelming for my taste with having sky islands,Hyrule and the Depths.

@the_beaver I disagree. Nothing about TOTK is a masterpiece. It has the same issue like other open world games has.

@Darktower77 Like what?

100% finished Tears Of The Kingdom, after more than 350 hours and I love the game. A big reason, why I like it much more than Breath Of The Wild is, because it feels more like a Zelda game.

So I love it, but I am also still hoping for a more traditional Zelda feeling.

@the_beaver From pointless fetch quest to bland and empty world. Then we have

Zelda just consolidated itself as the most important IP after Mario to Nintendo this gen.

Nintendo really deserves the praise when you stop to think about how long these IPs exist and we're still enjoying each and every new game.

TOTK is a great game, but I still believe BOTW is better. BOTW is more balanced, I'm playing it for the 2nd time and now that I'm no longer expecting it to play like a linear Zelda anymore it's just brilliant at every turn. TOTK is like a restaurant that costs a lot because it serves everything, but you can only eat so much before you feel like enough - I had to step down a bit due to fatigue.

I'm curious to see how Nintendo is going to handle Zelda going forward. Clearly there is demand for both styles of Zelda.

@Yoshif3 I get what you're saying. Since new Zelda titles take years to make, it's impossible to say what the main success factor actually is. Are people just hungry for a new title?

For me, TOTK is the game of a lifetime. After completing the main quest, I still had plenty of shrines and light roots left to discover, but I stopped playing on purpose, because I want to save the second run for Switch Next.

@Darktower77 I totally disagree with that. You can find bland fetch quests in any kind of game, not just open world ones, and empty world? Really? You sound like you haven't played the game, man. Like what trolls used to say about BotW.

@the_beaver I have over 30 hours on TOTK. The story is underwhelming. Many of the side quests are fetch quests like “ Pick a item from A and deliver the item to B.”

Then we have the empty open world and lack of cities. Not to mention the weapon duration which i am not a fan off.

The number of consoles sold would have to be factored into these figures also though, you could then work out the % of games sold to systems sold i.e. for TotK 132 million switch's sold and 19.5 million TotK so far mean only around 14% of switch owners own TotK so far

I seem to remember someone in here saying it would be lucky to sell 2 million copies...hmmm.

@Darktower77 Considering how big this game is, with 30 hours you have just scratched the surface. I put 200h into it and never got bored. Give it a chance, it might surprise you later on.

I don't think it will ever catch up to BOTW until it is inevitably re-released on the next Nintendo console. I personally still haven't completed the main story in the game, even after putting 150 hours into it.

I'm not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.

While I bought it day 1, I haven't played it at all yet. From finishing off Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp to playing through Return to Dream Land Deluxe to Aonuma interviews about the open world formula staying (which suggests the next Zelda would probably be around 2029) meant I just didn't get around to playing it. Judging by the current upcoming Switch lineup, early 2024 seems like a good time to start assuming the speculation of WWHD/TPHD appearing at the Game Awards is false.

While it would preferable if Zelda went back to the older styles, at least the classic Zelda styles (2D and pre-BotW 3D style) live on in the form of ports/remasters/remakes.

Not a fan of combining all those Zelda versions in that table.

Like, Ocarina of Time N64 and Ocarina of Time 3D were released 13 years apart on two completely different platforms, with the latter being a full remake of the prior. The amount of double-dipping is probably enormous.

It's one of the best video games I've ever played. I have my complaints but that didn't stop me from putting 200 solid hours into it.

I didn't enjoy it personally. I didn't even think BOTW was what it was hyped to be.

@the_beaver Dude. TOTK isn’t that different than BOTW. It has the same flaws.

Best game ever made. I hope the sequel to Tears is on the same map but a different, even older race of even more magical people have left even more magical technology for link to find and absorb into his even newer even more magical arm. And I hope the map is 10 times bigger and all we get is a compass to navigate so we have to use compass and stars like our ancestors to find our way to the elemental temples. That'd be sooo rad!

@Darktower77 Well, if you didn't enjoy BotW, what made you think you would enjoy TotK??

It's like saying Twilight Princess has the same flaws as Ocarina of Time, or God of War Ragnarok the same issues as the original. Well of course, man! It's a sequel that follows what made the original great and just expands that idea. You can't expect something very different. Players that enjoyed BotW and don't care about those "flaws" you mean are enjoying TotK. That's the point. But TotK won't appeal to those who didn't enjoy BotW. You can't make everyone happy in this life.

The next game in the series should be a proper Wind Waker sequel, with a grown-up Link.
A huge sea to sail with tons of different islands, way bigger than the original's. More towns, more dungeons, more land exploration, more pirate stuff. Same tone and art style. Man, I'd LOVE that.

That’s sad for me to read. Zelda used to be my absolute favorite series, starting back with the original on NES.
But now this series has lost me entirely, and Nintendo will not even care.

Already a bit late to make a comment...but I must say this.

I LOVE the open-world accessibility and feeling of freedom that BOTW & TOTK provide. But I will never be able to shake the feeling that something is lacking. And that something boils down to 3 major components. A dense population, settlements, and dungeons. I recognize there is a reason why so few people exist in BOTW and TOTK, so I give it a pass. But...for a future game, people all over the map in various towns would be more than enough to offer ample immersion.

As for temples...I truly despise the way certain people speak about going back to dungeons as if it would be a major regression. Quite frankly, dungeons have always been a major part of what makes the worlds in Zelda games fascinating. Try to imagine how immersive Twilight Princess would be WITHOUT any dungeons. All this being said, it's not like the BOTW/TOTK Hyrule is BAD without a ton of dungeons. I just think it would be BETTER with them.

Has anyone seen the various mods that show older dungeons imported into BOTW? It just looks so incredible to me. The gameplay of BOTW with the traditional dungeon crawling. I particularly like the addition of the Sandship from Skyward Sword. Imagine randomly finding something like that in the Gerudo Desert, and it turns out to be a full dungeon. How fascinating would that be? And realistically, it probably takes up less than 0.1% of the total map. AN ENTIRE FLESHED OUT DUNGEON, and it's such a tiny part of the map. Imagine a version of Hyrule with over 20 full dungeons spread out in various areas throughout the map. I realize that's an unrealistic and tall order...but, it would go a long way towards offering a map that feels full and alive. Random caves with random loot and enemies do nothing for me. But random caves that lead to dungeons? That's something I'd love to see.

(Ancient Cistern would be a decent example of this. That felt so much more like a proper dungeon than the actual Water Temple ever will.)

@KeeperBvK Oh no!! 30 million people said yes and 20 million so far have said yes a second time, both by far the most this series has ever sold, but KeeperBvK said no?! Double back, now! Go back to the 2D overhead grid!!! Throw out all our advancements and evolutions! WE NEED KEEPERBVK!!!

@blindsquirrel I agree, but I won’t mind if they go back to full open world every now and again. The next game really needs to be more like the older ones, though.

As much as I loved BoTW, and felt like it was a great step forward for the series... ToTK just hasn't clicked with me, and I find myself yearning for a more "classic" style Zelda. ToTK felt like I was essentially playing the same game all over again, and it felt almost like a chore, so I stopped. I still think it's an amazingly crafted game, maybe it's just too similar an experience? Wandering around a huge map just isn't appealing to me again, and I guess I'm wanting a more focused quest.

@the_beaver I expected Nintendo to improve what was lacking in BOTW but apparently they didn’t.

@Zuljaras Spiderman 2 is no doubt a great game but I think most outlets this year will be torn between TOTK and Baldur's Gate 3. I haven't played BG3 yet but hope to before end of year. Can see Spidey 2 winning some awards but not GOTY awards.

@Yoshif3 Series tend to do better on Switch, but not THAT much better.

The jump from what previous entries were selling to 30+ million units for something like BotW isn't explainable through the popularity of the system alone, or even primarily. Especially since we have remakes and remasters of older Zelda games on the platform, and they've sold a small fraction of what BotW and TotK are doing in record time.

Not to mention the games are two of the most critically acclaimed releases in history.

It's okay to have an unpopular opinion and not like the new style of Zelda, but it's PAINFULLY clear that this is what most people want from the series.

Baldur's Gate 3 is my GOTY but TotK is a very close 2nd.

@blockfight I can see Spidey 2 winning technical awards as what Insomniac achieved is pretty incredible with it.

Would love to see the next one incorporate the current open world formula and the style of Wind Waker together

Those of you clambering for a ‘more linear’ Zelda in the future are setting yourself up for a fall. Maybe the series has evolved beyond your comfort zone and it’s time to move on?

Sales figures don’t lie. Nintendo will obviously make decisions based on their profits. Their current formula is Zelda at its most profitable sooooo…

@DennisReynolds Agreed. Insomniac are a top tier developer.

@Yoshif3 that's definitely not the case, otherwise every Zelda should have sold proportionally to their respective generations.
Or at least increasingly somehow, considering all the other factors you mentioned.
We've got to admit most people want open world Zelda now, the hardcore longtime comment section gamers are a vocal minority but not the ones that define the future of gaming.

They should go somewhere on the middle. It can be open world and linear at the same time. Other games do it. Bring back those massive dungeons, make them well hidden like Zelda 1 so you need to explore the open world. Make a great story to keep players hooked and deeply invested in the world they're walking through. And I would personally like that they get rid of the breakable weapons...

For the people that ask for a more linear Zelda game like the originals: Don't worry, Nintendo is working on a new 2D Zelda that will follow that style.

@TruestoryYep Agreed preferred the first Spider-man much more. The overall pacing was just better and the focus on one Spider-man just felt cleaner.

lol so much ToTK haters here. It’s very obvious the Zelda fanbase prefers the BoTW/Tears formula over doing more OoT formula again.

People also have to keep in mind 20M people payed $70 rather than $60 so the price increase didn’t impede people’s desire to play and enjoy the game clearly.

The only real shame is it didn’t get a season pass like BoTW if just for the added QoL, cosmetics, and especially Master Mode.

@Yoshif3 Not actually true. You don't know how many people are buying the console to buy these games.

Bad science.

all it really proves is that Zelda is an increasingly extremely popular series, and that Switch has a gigantic user base compared to all their other systems with zelda games on them. ✌️

personally, if the "third" botw is just that, might skip. I bounced off TOTK "planning to go back," but the more time passes, the more negatively i feel about the experience. maybe my least favorite Zelda.

@Arawn93 I don't hate ToTk. I never played it, but BOTW didn't impress me as much I was hoping it would.

I'm not a Zelda superfan, but as someone who's played a ton of open world games, I just didn't get what BOTW did that others failed to do.

The exploration and freedom was fun. But the side content, the story, and rewards for exploration were lacking. I remember finding this cool dungeon after doing a massive puzzle in the open word. Only to find my reward is...A spirit orb.

@Arawn93

a) not everyone has to like what you like, friend.

b) open world OR going all the way back to OoT gameplay is a ridiculous false dichotomy and you know it!

c) theres no new "traditional" zelda game on switch to compare sales figures, so your claims are baseless.

d) im happy for you that you get your way, you should be happy too. ✌️ calling people haters just because you are on the "winning" side of affairs is kind of a punk move.

@the_beaver Sorry but this is terrible logic. 30 hours for a game is a lot, especially if you have a life and a job. Personally, if I'm not liking a game 30 hours in, I'm DEFINITELY not putting in another 30 just to see if it gets good later on.
There's just too much else out there to play.

@PoeTheLizard Of course, but BotW was the same, that's my point (well, a bit smaller); if you played a few hours, you wouldn't see anything. TotK is GREAT for what it is, but if you're looking for something more stream-lined, go look for something else.
The same can be applied to Baldur's Gate 3 or Starfield. They are huge games that require a lot of time to be able to see why they are special
Fortunately, there a lot of different types of games out there.

I enjoyed my 195+ hours in TotK. While there is no "perfect" game - and I did have a couple of issues with this title - the game deserves all its accolades.

That said, while I don't dislike open world formats, I wish the main narrative was more condensed to certain areas. Some traversal felt like needless padding.

I bought Skyward Sword HD over the weekend and have started to play it, having not played it since it first came out on Wii. What this has reaffirmed to me is that I will 100% always prefer a traditional Zelda game to these fandangled open world ones. I really hope they make a new one of these type again. I don’t mind if it’s 2D or 3D.

I'm going to say no big games this year deserve GOTY title.

From Starfield, to Baldur's gate 3, Spider-man 2, FF16, and TotK. Not any of them did anything to innovate or elevate the genre. They are just very polished (not in Starfields case) refined formulas. At their very core, they just feel like the same ol, same ol.

I was bored with all of them.

@blindsquirrel
I have to agree.
I get burned out so easily playing open world LoZ that it feels like it's actually a shame this is the direction the series is going.

I’d love for Nintendo to have a rotation of other game producers creating more Zelda. The open world formula is great but i still do miss the linear format. A 3d Zelda every 2-3 years would be perfect

Woah, this game beat ocarina of time? I think over time younger generations are playing these new Zelda's it doesn't mean it's the best selling of all time it just means it's the most relevant for today imo 🫡🫡

Nintendo was super late to the open world genre but they pretty much fixed it and shown the others how they can avoid shopping list open world and integrate level design in it.

Kudos to them, now what they need to solve next for the rest of the industry is open world fatigue. I think part of the answer is to mix what they achieved here with older more focused style of Zelda.

Also the obvious ways to make TOTK better are these : first, WE NEED DUNGEONS. Real ones with real complexity. Second, the depths need a purpose. It needs to be better integrated to the story. Third, Grinding is NOT something we want in a Zelda game.
Still definitely game of the year though, even if Baldur's Gate will probably beat it.

@-wc-

A) Moot point. Not everyone likes what you like either or what “Zelda should be” so what was the point of trying to bring that up? Not much of a “Gotcha!” you think it is pal.

B) No it’s not. Can you speak for every ToTK hater and their “what it SHOULD be!” instead? There are plenty of those people online (even here on NL if you actually kept track of past TotK articles and general member reactions: Hint: this is far from first time someone says game sucks unironically want more OoT formula games instead)

C) Cool I’m glad you’re glad. Call it “winning” all you want, but sales matter to make sure a certain model isn’t immediately discarded and most today Zelda fanbase don’t want to see that thrown away and regress back to OoT (which is peak irony when the original Zelda game was never like OoT either)

Also your post about “bad science” is hilariously flawed when none of the non BotW/Tears Zelda games on Switch sold remotely as well. Even if a brand new OoT style Zelda dropped we both know it won’t touch BoTW or Tear numbers because the open world formula (as shown on MANY types of games before) allows a more wider demographic to enjoy the game.

Being on the Switch doesn’t automatically mean you sell 20-30 million especially if your a $70 game. The game is actually being good is what you failed to comprehend. That is the actual flaw in your “science” deduction.

Just admit you have a bias against open world Zelda.

@Arawn93 Too bad that open world is not very great.

Please choose a response from the following list:

1. "That's just like your opinion man."
2. "You're just a hater."
3. "You're in the minority because of x."
4. "Clearly you have a bias."
5. "I'm right, you're wrong. Boohoo for you."

@PoeTheLizard No it’s sound logic.

He is still right that 30 hours means you “barely scratched the surface” for a game that size. A game size/scope should absolutely be a factor because what is the point of giving the game a fair shake if you didn’t even get through 1/4 of the game…?

It’s the equivalent of saying “I read 10 chapters of One Piece. I didn’t like it so One Piece sucks”. Sure there is nothing stopping you to forming the opinion on saying One Piece sucks, but no one seriously looking for an accurate review would come to you logically since you barely played the game before leaving. Your take is limited simple as that.

@Frailbay30 nice response. How about be a Bot too and choose one of my responses for you since you seem to be limited in discussion capabilities

A. “Linear games are always better!”
B. “Good sales,Reviews, gameplay, and size are not always everything guys.. .”
C. “I dropped the game after 1 hour so here is my take for why the game is bad…”
D. “My favorite Zelda is OoT and this game is not OoT so it sucks…”
E. “This is NoT the Zelda I grew up with so it’s bad!”

@Arawn93

a) im not the one making judgement calls on people who want more of what they already know they love. you dont realize what a hater you are and the irony is quite satisfying. youve made no point here.

b) i dont speak for every "totk hater," but i know a false dichotomy when i see one.

c) theres that false dichotomy again! have a little imagination.

and, what new non open world zelda game has been released on switch? none thats what. the "bad science" is ascribing the sales specifically to the open world aspect. please provide a shred of actual evidence or even a control group of any kind, or kindly step off ✌️

PS - don't forget, an argument presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence, in kind. my only argument is that i prefer the old zeldas (indeed, non "open world" games in general,) and your intense desire for everyone to agree with your POV is what makes this so entertaining. 👍

@Yoshif3 “If a Zelda with a formula like classic Zelda came out on Switch it will surely sell as much as open world Zelda.”

After BotW? I highly doubt it. To go back to a linear style for their big main Zelda releases would be seen as a regression by most after the scale of BotW/TotK. If the hunger for classic Zelda was there you’d think Skyward Sword HD would have sold far more than it did at 4 million (port of an old game excuses be damned, Mario Bros U was a barebones port and it’s the 10th best selling game on Switch)

id like say that you dont have to tie your preferences 1:1 with the preferences of others, at large. in fact, you shouldnt, and you get exactly zero bonus points for it.

for example my favorite nintendo games besides zelda are the lower selling ones, and while i accept that this is why we get 10x animal crossing games to fzero games, im still not wrong for liking super fast white knuckle racing over arranging potted plants in my neighbors house. or whatever.

id like to see a Zelda game that is unlike botw OR oot. 👍

@shgamer
I will say that we just entered the holiday season. Most of the people who really wanted to pick up TOTK likely picked it up roughly around when the game came out. Meaning I would bet the game may sell a bit more in the upcoming several months for the holiday season.

@-wc- If a "traditional" Zelda released on Switch i can bet it wouldn't be anywhere near the numbers of the open world games.

People forget that Skyward Sword had a fairly bad rep, its a great game taking on its own but its formula had grown stale and it was a fairly disliked entry. BOTW breathed new life into an aged series and TOTK despite what some on here want to think perfected what BOTW started. Fans can moan all they want but the sales talk and Nintendo will listen to that instead of some grumpy old school fans longing for a stale formula they previous moaned Skyward Sword for having.

@Arawn93 "(which is peak irony when the original Zelda game was never like OoT either)"

Yeah they forgot the original Zelda game is pretty much the prototype for BotW and hell even OoT toys with the full open world idea at times. BotW/TotK was inevitable since the very first Zelda game.

@DennisReynolds I gonna say no Skyward Sword getting a bad rep. if you wanna go by fans accounts, they are all over the place, but the game was critically acclaimed upon release by critics.

Im not sure about Skywards sales, but that can be partially blamed by the WII system alone. A forced requirement of most WII games was intense physical movement.

It certainly didn't help that Skyward Sword "forced" you to upgrade your existing WIImote, for the plus version in order to play the game properly.

People want to come home, and sit down to play a game. Not swing their arms around like a madman. This is a problem with alot of WII games. The Wiimote itself is a controversial device because of just how unwell it handles in most games.

@Darktower77 30 hours in TotK is literally nothing. You either haven't seen much of the game at all or haven't even tried to just enjoy yourself in it's world but instead tried to race from objective to objective.

@DennisReynolds

"If a "traditional" Zelda released on Switch i can bet it wouldn't be anywhere near the numbers of the open world games."

respectfully, i didnt say it would. 👍 i simply stated that the sales of BOTW and TOTK are not necessarily due to the open world nature, and that that particular theory is untested yet slung about as though it is a fact.

i do prefer other zelda games (i also "seem to want to" prefer botw to totk for the record,) but that has nothing to do with this.

@BTB20

"30 hours in TotK is literally nothing"

this alone turns me off to this game. ive played about 30 hours and the sheer monotony burned me out, never to return (yet... lol)

some people dont have time to waste, im one of them. 👍 at least right now.

@-wc- I didn't find it all that monotonous at all.

Zelda Classic (and more!) can coexist along the open world mainline titles. The franchise is big enough to support multiple styles from multiple studios in multiple releases within a console generation

@BTB20

good! i want people to like nintendo games 🙂

@NinChocolate

that's damn right! the either/or crowd has got it wrong. even in the lofty OOT days we had the gbc games.

@GooseLoose1 Skyward Sword was loved by critics but its only in recent time fans have started to warm to it more. End of the day Breath of the Wild came after and i do think the reception to SS all around plus sales led to the massive shift in formula

Calling people “haters” because they don’t like a game is childish. Grown people getting pressed over a video game.

Anyways, I’ve moved on from Zelda because I don’t like the new direction they went. If you like it, I’m happy for you.

TotK was my favorite game I played this year asides from Prime Remastered, would gladly sink 120+ hours into it again

@Arawn93 Again, that is 30-flipping-hours of game. If it can't hook me or give me a reason to keep playing in that amount of time, sorry, I ain't gonna keep playing it. Skyrim hooked me in the first hour; BOTW hooked me in the first hour; GTA V hooked me in the first hour. If anything, 30 hours is way generous to give to a game you're not enjoying.
I don't expect people to look to me for an enlightened opinion on a game I didn't finish, but if someone asks me why I didn't finish it, I'll tell them all about those first 30 hours that failed to grab me.

As of this week, I am part of that 20M!

"Tears Of The Kingdom Continues To Prove That 'Open World Zelda' Is A Best-Selling Formula"
The title can be misleading, because this point has been proven all the way back when Majora’s Mask followed up Ocarina of Time.

I'm loving the current Zelda format! But I still want the classic style too. What happened to the "overhead view" games?

I'm good w 2D, OoT style 3D, or open world...what I really want is an entirely new kingdom w new races a la Wonder. No more Gordon's, Zora, Sheikh, Rito, etc etc.

I'm happy that a wonderful game in a wonderful franchise on a wonderful system is doing so well. In my eyes, this is proportionate reward for the level of effort and quality put into the project.

I'm also happy that the positive news gives the grouches and cooler-thans in the world something to scoff at. Everyone needs a hobby, after all.

It's the greatest Zelda game ever made in my opinion. It deserves this success!

Mario has two distinct styles that are both profitable: side scroller and sandbox. Same with Metroid. Zelda has top-down and third-person styles. It’s a buffet for fans, so enjoy what you like! I liked both Zelda styles up until BotW, which is when the third-person style spun off into an open world style. It’s not my thing, but at least the two Zelda styles are more distinct than before.

I love both of these games, but I think as I continue to venture through Tears of the Kingdom, I think that I'm starting to experience a little fatigue from this style of Zelda. That in no way implies that I dislike this formula, it just feels like Zelda is starting to become a little bit like work. I will definitely get through all of Tears of the Kingdom, but I hope the next open world game they do has large, but smaller land masses, and a lot more bodies of water separating regions just to break up land travel monotony. I'm fine with some sky activity, and as far as the depths, I'm fine with them going ahead and letting those be traditional dungeons... they did used to call it the underworld and labyrinths back in the day.