Tears of the Kingdom sells 10 million copies in 3 days
This puts the game on course to become the best-selling game of 2023. The sequel to the equally popular Breath of the Wild already has half the numbers of number 2 from last year’s Elden ring.
Sales exceed all expectations
That the game far surpasses the sales figures of other releases on Nintendo’s online store is not surprising to anyone. The game was consistently at the top of every list of most anticipated Nintendo releases. Here at Apparata we counted down the nights until release. Why the sales figures surprise most game journalists is because the game is not for sale on any other platform. Elden Ring’s sales figures are spread across PlayStations 4 and 5, Windows, and the various Xboxes.
Other releases competing for the title, such as Hogwarts Legacy and God of War: Ragnarok, have also been released on multiple platforms. Still, none of these games could match TotK’s pace in the first three days of release. In addition, many people were grumbling about the 70 euros / dollars that the game was going to cost. That is a dubious first for Nintendo. Still, it didn’t spoil the fun, resulting in an incredibly impressive result.
In the press release that Nintendo sent out last Wednesday, it was stated that TotK is not only a success for 2023, but also for the franchise as a whole. Never before has a game in the Zelda series sold so many copies in 3 days. To put the achievement in perspective, the series as a whole has sold a respectable 130 million units worldwide. To be clear: that is without the 10 million from TotK.
The sales figures compared to those of other releases
If the throwing of numbers continues to look like coffee grounds for the reader, then we will list a few things. Horizon: Forbidden West, released last year by Sony, but developed on Dutch soil, was released this year for both PS4 and 5. In terms of range, therefore, a comparable title, and no less eagerly anticipated. This game has sold ‘only’ 8.3 million units until May this year, while it has been on sale for a whole 15 months.
The aforementioned God of War: Ragnarok has only been available for three months and is also available for PlayStation 4 and 5. This game runs much better than Horizon, but is already on the verge of being overtaken by TotK. Ragnarok has 11 million sales to date.
But then we are only talking about games that have had a similar release. When we look outside the console world, the story only gets crazier. Hogwarts Legacy has been released on six platforms, one of the widest releases of the year. This game, set in the Harry Potter world, has sold no more than 15 million units across all those platforms. It almost seems like a pittance, but it isn’t. The sales figures are good for more than a billion in retail value. According to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zatslav made 2023 the company’s best game sales year.
That leaves us to discuss one more game for comparison. The ‘Big Kahuna’, best-selling game of 2022 and top contender for the title of 2023: Elden Ring. FromSoftware’s worldbuilding masterpiece written by GRR Martin was released on February 25, 2022 on the aforementioned five platforms. It ended that year with 20 million units sold under its belt. It took five weeks for the counter to reach 13 million. As of March 2023, a paltry 500,000 have been added. The total sales for one of the fastest and most sold games of recent years has been matched in 3 days. Bwoah.
Pre-order the champagne, Shuntaro
So it looks like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is going to be one for the history books. The wait has been long, full of turmoil, hope and fear, but the numbers don’t lie. It took Breath of the Wild almost a year and a half to reach 10 million. Of course, that had to do with the fact that the WiiU hardly sold and the Switch was still relatively new at the time. Ultimately, BotW sold nearly 30 million units. The game remained popular for years after release. Should TotK enjoy similar popularity, we can only speculate on where the ship will eventually founder. Probably somewhere on another planet.
