Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sets sales records for Nintendo

The news: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sold 10 million copies globally in its first three days, making it the fastest-selling game for the Nintendo Switch, per IGN.

Why it’s worth watching: The sales milestone also makes Tears of the Kingdom the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game in the Americas and the fastest-selling Nintendo title on any system released in the region.

• According to review aggregator Metacritic, Tears of the Kingdom received “universal acclaim,” based on an average score of 96 out of 100 from 101 reviews. 
• It’s the highest-rated game on the review aggregator OpenCritic.
• It also proves that despite the economic downturn slowing sales of PCs and smartphones, video games continue to be profitable.

Video games show resilience: In 2022, we estimated that more than half (54.2%) of the US population were digital gamers. 

• Tears of the Kingdom comes at a critical time for Nintendo, which has no new Switch hardware expected until 2024.
• The creation of Tears of the Kingdom began in 2017 as developers were looking at expansion packs and downloadable content to add to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild—the Switch’s launch title.
• The ideas and add-ons were so compelling that Nintendo decided to develop a sequel for the Switch.

Gaming changer: Tears of the Kingdom’s early success bucks the trend favoring cloud and streaming games over consoles and shows that beloved intellectual property and AAA game releases can sustain aging hardware and even lead to sales of older, related games.