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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Has Sold 1 Million Units in Japan

Ishaan

Ishaan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,702
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Between its Switch and Wii U versions, Breath of the Wild has sold over 1 million units to consumers at retail.

The Switch version accounts for 871,528 units while the Wii U version accounts for another 133,024 units. (Probably more, as we haven't had updated Wii U numbers in months)

This makes Breath of the Wild the first Zelda since Ocarina of Time to break the 1 million unit mark in Japan.

All sales data from Media Create.
 

DanteLinkX

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,730
I could bet it will take over ocarina of time with well... time.

It seems japanesse loved the phrase in the game when zelda says "link I'll flow you away with my breath of the wild". Good times.
 
Phil32

Phil32

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,568
Goes to show that a game like Ocarina of Time that sells nothing during its first week can grow to be huge.
 

Deleted member 8593

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
27,176
The game has ridiculous legs in Japan (and the US at least). I can totally see it topping OoT by the end of the year at the latest.
 
Josh5890

Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,118
Well deserved. Let's hope it isn't another five years before the next Zelda game
 
Madao

Madao

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Oct 26, 2017
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Panama
Get_crazy said:
I thought Zelda was more popular than that in japan.
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Zelda was very similar to Metroid in sales patterns for a long time. it was the west carrying the franchise for a long time. they finally managed to get back up there in the homeland.

now, let's see if they can do the same with Metroid Prime 4 for Metroid.
 
rAndom

rAndom

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 25, 2017
3,866
Called it.

Switch version alone is approaching 1 million retail units sold so that's also to look out for.
 
DecoReturns

DecoReturns

Member
Oct 27, 2017
22,003
Well Breath of the Wild has surpassed expectations.

Pretty sure back at the old place. Many speculated that it was going to be incredibly hard for BOTW to reached a million. But legs for days for Zelda, even after a Opening that was considered "disappointing" at the time.
 
DecoReturns

DecoReturns

Member
Oct 27, 2017
22,003
Madao said:
Zelda was very similar to Metroid in sales patterns for a long time. it was the west carrying the franchise for a long time. they finally managed to get back up there in the homeland.

now, let's see if they can do the same with Metroid Prime 4 for Metroid.
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Well Zelda was no slouch in Japan tho. It sell would sell very well.
 
Vinnk

Vinnk

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,969
Japan
Keep in mind this graph does not contain the Famicom, Super Famicom or first Game Boy Zelda. I believe the Famicom (Disk System and later Cart) version of the First Zelda is still the best selling of the series.
 
Instro

Instro

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Oct 25, 2017
14,998
Not much but probably a touch higher with digital. I imagine Switch retail alone may eventually crack 1mil though.
 

Cybersai

Banned
Jan 8, 2018
11,631
It's weird how poorly Zelda sells in Japan. Doesn't Japan love adventure games with RPG elements? And Breath of the Wild looks like anime!

They should love it
 
Sammy Samusu

Sammy Samusu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,746
Beyonce's Womb
Cool, but it will be more impressive when the Switch version alone hits 1 million at retail.

It's definitely going to happen sometime soon.

A legend is a legend.
 
Ryng™

Ryng™

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,641
Italy
Absolutely insane, it is gonna be the second best selling Zelda of all time in Japan lifetime... Never thought it could be THAT big there.
 
OuterLimits

OuterLimits

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
987
Nice. Glad to see it selling so well. Just started really playing this in the last couple days. First Zelda game I have played since the original on NES. I suck at the game though and have only played several hours.(still in the Great Plateau area,) Some enemy just hit Link once or twice and I saw the game over screen. Lol. I like how the map shows a red X where I got poor Link killed.
 
Sander VF

Sander VF

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
25,913
Tbilisi, Georgia
KojiKnight said:
Nintendo was able to maintain 2D and 3D Zelda at the same time. No reason to think they can't maintain something similar going forward... Just don't expect non-BotW style to be the big budget games.
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Honestly, this isn't QUITE like the RE4 situation. Nintendo can very easily bring back classic dungeons and "better story" (I honestly don't value Zelda stories that high, but whatever) within the formula.
 
RexNovis

RexNovis

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Oct 25, 2017
4,150
Happy for the people who enjoyed it even though I'm not among them. A bit sad that this will likely mean the series sticks to this formula for a while.
 
Lord Brady

Lord Brady

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
8,392
As a big fan of Spirit Tracks, Phantom Hourglass, and Between Worlds, I want more "portable" Zelda style games, but I'm really happy for Breath of the Wild's success.
 

Fanuilos

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
4,121
Lord Brady said:
As a big fan of Spirit Tracks, Phantom Hourglass, and Between Worlds, I want more "portable" Zelda style games, but I'm really happy for Breath of the Wild's success.
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Yeah, hopefully we'll get a Switch overhead style Zelda sometime in the next year or two.

Always happy to see BotW doing well. It was the shift the series needed and I suspect it will only get better.
 
Dr. Feel Good

Dr. Feel Good

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Oct 25, 2017
3,996
It's amazing how powerful the DS was that it could push such a mediocre title like Phantom Hourglass as one of the best selling the franchise. Looks like Switch is also doing the same for a similar mediocre Zelda title.
 
GiantBreadbug

GiantBreadbug

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Oct 25, 2017
3,992
Dr. Feel Good said:
It's amazing how powerful the DS was that it could push such a mediocre title like Phantom Hourglass as one of the best selling the franchise. Looks like Switch is also doing the same for a similar mediocre Zelda title.
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That's certainly one way of spinning it, sure

AztecComplex said:
It depresses me that a consistently high quality Japanese made franchise like Zelda struggles like this in Japan when the rest of the world can't get enough of it.
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Japan is just a smaller country with a smaller market is all. It's a huge deal that it passed this milestone in less than a year to me, especially given that the series isn't a guaranteed winner in Japan 100% of the time. Heck, it was a big deal when Splatoon 2 passed 2 million since that's a threshold rarely met in this country.
 
AztecComplex

AztecComplex

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Oct 25, 2017
10,371
It depresses me that a consistently high quality Japanese made franchise like Zelda struggles like this in Japan when the rest of the world can't get enough of it.
 
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