We expected The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to be big, but this is massive. Nintendo has announced that the latest game in the Zelda series has sold over 10 million units in just its first three days after the May 12 release. That makes Tears of the Kingdom the fastest-selling game in the series, drastically eclipsing the former success of Breath of the Wild, which took an entire month to reach one million sales globally.
The success of Tears of the Kingdom is particularly large in Europe, with Nintendo noting that the game is both the fastest-selling game for the Nintendo Switch in Europe, as well as the fastest-selling Nintendo game from any system in Europe. Zelda has often been overshadowed by the Super Mario and Pokémon franchises when it comes to sales, but the magic of Breath of the Wild seemingly secured a hit with the follow-up.
Region-specific figures have been revealed by some outlets, such as Le Figaro’s report that Tears of the Kingdom sold almost half a million units in France in just a few days, and gamesindustry.biz’s coverage that found the boxed sales of the game in the United Kingdom to be the highest of the year, surpassing Hogwarts Legacy.
The success of Tears of the Kingdom has also been huge in the Americas, selling over 4 million units and becoming the fastest-selling Switch and Nintendo game in that region also. In Nintendo’s home country of Japan, the game sold 2.24 million units in three days.
It’s especially impressive that Tears of the Kingdom sold so well this late into the Nintendo Switch’s life cycle. The later years of the Switch has been dominated with hits, such as Splatoon 3 which took three months to sell 10 million copies, or Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which sold 10 million units in its first weekend.
The question is, how big do you think Tears of the Kingdom will go? Sound off in the comments below. Stay tuned to GameLuster for more Zelda coverage, including sales figures, guides and our incoming review!
