Zelda Tears of the Kingdom doubles Hogwarts Legacy’s boxed sales in the UK at release

Impressive launch for Breath of the Wild’s sequel
Zelda Tears of the Kingdom doubles Hogwarts Legacy’s boxed sales in the UK at release
Zelda Tears of the Kingdom doubles Hogwarts Legacy’s boxed sales in the UK at release /

Update (May 17, 2023): Nintendo has announced that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has sold "over 10 million copies worldwide in its first three days, becoming the fastest-selling game in the history of the Legend of Zelda series."

Link's newest adventure is also the best-selling game for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo in general on the European market, according to a press release sent out by the company.


Original (May 15, 2023): The hype could not have been bigger for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ahead of its release, and early sales numbers from the United Kingdom confirm that the title is an audience magnet: Tears of the Kingdom doubled the physical sales of Hogwarts Legacy, easily ascending to the throne as the biggest boxed release of 2023 so far.

According to journalist Christopher Dring, this makes Tears of the Kingdom the eighth-biggest Zelda game in history – after a mere two days. It already sold more copies than Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, and The Wind Waker. This feat makes Breath of the Wild’s successor the fourth-highest earning entry into the series as well. Again, all this is from physical sales alone and based on figures from the UK, which means that the real numbers will be a lot higher and this is just a part of the global numbers.

Nintendo usually doesn’t release digital sales figures, so it’s uncertain whether Tears of the Kingdom can match Hogwarts Legacy in that regard as well. Compared to its predecessor, Link’s newest adventure sold 173% more physical copies, Dring stated. Usually, sequels to Nintendo series don’t outperform the original games, though Breath of the Wild’s stellar reputation and the much higher user base with a Nintendo Switch compared to 2017 are beneficial factors that might allow Tears of the Kingdom to break that trend.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom could not quite claim the title of biggest Nintendo Switch launch ever based on these numbers: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, which was released last year, managed to sell even more copies right at the start. The margin is thin, though, so in terms of revenue Tears of the Kingdom just squeezed by Pokémon due to its higher price.

No matter if you’re already deep into Hyrule or just starting out, you should check our Zelda Tears of the Kingdom walkthrough to make sure you didn’t miss anything or get help for a portion you just can’t get through.


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Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg