Well, we weren’t expecting this. After crunching some of the numbers from Nintendo’s latest financial report, it turns out that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – which was a launch game in 2017, mind – actually sold better than its direct sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, during Q1 of FY2025 (cheers, Mr. Jon Cartwright).
Now, for a sequel to sell fewer copies than its predecessor over its lifetime isn’t paritcularly surprising (in fact, it’s usually the norm), but for the first game to sell more over a period of three months in 2024? That’s wild.
Let’s check out the numbers:
| Game | Q4 FY24 (millions) | Q1 25 (millions) | Difference (milions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zelda: Breath of the Wild | 31.85 | 32.05 | 0.20 |
| Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | 20.61 | 20.80 | 0.19 |
Okay, so the difference is incredibly minimal, but we’re still talking, what, around 10,000 copies or so. As for the reasoning, well… we’re not sure. It’s entirely possible that folks picking up a Switch console for the first time would want to start with the first game before moving onto Tears of the Kingdom, but other than that, we don’t have a definitive answer. Select discounts, maybe?
It’s a weird little nugget of information from the financial report, but one worth highlighting regardless. As previously noted, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is currently selling at a faster rate than Pokémon Sword and Shield at the moment, but this is to be expected.
Well, we weren't expecting this. After crunching some of the numbers from Nintendo's latest financial report, it turns out that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - which was a launch game in 2017, mind - actually sold better than its direct sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, during Q1 of FY2025 (cheers, Mr. Jon Cartwright).
Now, for a sequel to sell fewer copies than its predecessor over its lifetime isn't paritcularly surprising (in fact, it's usually the norm), but for the first game to sell more over a period of three months in 2024? That's wild.
Let's check out the numbers:
| Game | Q4 FY24 (millions) | Q1 25 (millions) | Difference (milions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zelda: Breath of the Wild | 31.85 | 32.05 | 0.20 |
| Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | 20.61 | 20.80 | 0.19 |
Okay, so the difference is incredibly minimal, but we're still talking, what, around 10,000 copies or so. As for the reasoning, well... we're not sure. It's entirely possible that folks picking up a Switch console for the first time would want to start with the first game before moving onto Tears of the Kingdom, but other than that, we don't have a definitive answer. Select discounts, maybe?
It's a weird little nugget of information from the financial report, but one worth highlighting regardless. As previously noted, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is currently selling at a faster rate than Pokémon Sword and Shield at the moment, but this is to be expected.
