That's interesting.
Though I still think it's a stretch to suggest that it's because of the open world design, there are so many other variables here. First, the comparison to Phantom Hourglass seems a little off, as I would expect the isometric and home console Zelda titles to have at least partially distinct audiences. Additionally, I would not be surprised if the demographic purchasing the Wii were not distinct from the Switch, and other Nintendo platforms, potentially with less overlap with Zelda's target audience.
It would be very difficult to suggest any individual component of Zelda's design was a predictor of these sales.
I don't think we're suggesting that it was solely or largely the open-world design. If you read the article it says that there are three factors that need to be taken into consideration:
- The portable nature of the Switch
- Promotional activities around Zelda's 25th anniversary (including re-releases on 3DS) in recent years
- The fact that open-world games have historically managed to find success among a certain audience in Japan
Naturally, word-of-mouth and other factors play a role as well. In terms of these other factors, I'd say the following are also involved:
- A "cool" Link that makes the game more appealing to women. (Ocarina's Adult Link was also designed with this in mind)
- An appealing visual style that strikes a great balance between realistic (body proportions) and stylized (colour palette)
- The increasing willingness of Japanese consumers to try Western-style games
- Etc.
Ultimately, it's interesting because 3DS is also a portable platform and had a re-release of the last best-selling
Zelda on it.
Ocarina 3D has sold around 630,000 units. Meanwhile, Wii, which was their last major home console success, had the immensely popular
Twilight Princess, which is also only at 560,000 units sold in Japan.
Both of those games are thought of as being more "suited" to the Japanese market because they're fairly linear in nature.
Breath of the Wild was considered ill-suited to the market because it was a more open-ended game, and the kind of game that Nintendo felt was turning Japanese players off.
It's also why
Super Mario Odyssey's success
is a big deal.
