The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has sold more than 10 million units worldwide in its first three days on sale. Nintendo has released this amazing figure, which makes the new adventure of the hero Link the fastest-selling title in Europe in the history of the Japanese company.
Another fact: Tears of the Kingdom is the fastest-selling installment of The Legend of Zelda series in the franchise’s more than 35-year history worldwide. It is still far from reaching the 30 million global units sold by its predecessor, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017), but it is undoubtedly on its way to achieving it.
Only with the sales data of its first three days, Tears of the Kingdom is already the second best-selling Zelda in the franchise’s history. As we highlighted at the beginning of this week, in an article in which we analyzed the keys to Zelda’s success, until the release of Breath of the Wild, the ten best-selling installments of the saga had had an average of 5.5 million views. units sold each. Hence the surprise with the astronomical sales of the last two installments.
On the other hand, as the specialized media Game Reactor has learned, the premiere of Tears of the Kingdom in Spain has resulted in some 170,000 copies during the first three days on sale. This is the second most successful launch of Nintendo Switch in Spain after the 198,000 copies that the recent Pokémon Scarlet and Purple sold at their premiere in Spain last November.
When compared to other recent hits, it’s easy to see how extraordinary the sales of the new Zelda are. Last November, God of War: Ragnarok sold 5.1 million units during its first week on sale. Even selling half as much as Tears of the Kingdom, the title developed by Sony Santa Monica and released simultaneously for PS4 and PS5 achieved the biggest launch ever for a PlayStation exclusive game.
More examples: Elden Ring, the winner of the best game of 2022 award, sold 11 million copies in its first 18 days on sale. Unlike Tears of the Kingdom, which has only been released for the Nintendo Switch console, From Software’s game could be played on five launch platforms (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series.
Finally, there is the case of Red Dead Redemption II, the most recent success from the creators of the unbeatable Grand Theft Auto. When this ambitious title set in the Wild West went on sale in 2018, it managed to place 17 million copies in its first eight days on sale. It remains to be seen if Tears of the Kingdom will manage to surpass this record.
