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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Bold Predition Achieved: Zelda has outsold Mario! (BotW vs. Odyssey)

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BotW will sell 30mil and SMO will sell 25mil



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(I updated the first post witht an abridged version of the following.)

Milestone #2: Zelda beats Mario on Switch alone.

My original prediction was that Super Mario Odyssey would be outsold by Breath of the Wild combined Wii U + Switch sales.  Well now it doesn't even need Wii U sales to help it.  Zelda just plain outsold Mario on the Switch alone.  Currently, official Nintendo numbers has Zelda and Mario even at 17.41m, but they list Zelda above Mario on their "Top Selling Switch Titles" page.  I suspect that Zelda is above Mario, but by less than 10,000 units, so they look the same after rounding.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/index.html

I thought it would be useful to put Zelda quarterly totals here.  There are a couple of times when sales are up YoY when compared to the previous quarter.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild quarterly sales (in millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020
March 31 2.76 1.78 1.09 1.07
June 30 1.16 0.84 0.84
Sept 30 0.78 0.96 0.93
Dec 31 2 1.4 1.8

EDIT: Going to put Mario's sales here too.

Super Mario Odyssey quarterly sales (in millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020
March 31 1.34 0.68 0.82
June 30 0.76 0.5
Sept 30 1 0.44
Dec 31 9.07 1.59 1.21

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 10 May 2020

Zelda’s hold in sales is astounding. Even as Mario Odyssey’s sales slips away each year, Zelda’s decline is exceptionally minor. Actually it’s basically flat. I was again too pessimistic in my post from last year. I should learn to be more like tbone.



The_Liquid_Laser said:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild quarterly sales (in millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020
March 31 2.76 1.78 1.09 1.07
June 30 1.16 0.84 0.84
Sept 30 0.78 0.96 0.93
Dec 31 2 1.4 1.8

Can we get a quarterly chart for Mario sales to compare?



Slownenberg said:
The_Liquid_Laser said:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild quarterly sales (in millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020
March 31 2.76 1.78 1.09 1.07
June 30 1.16 0.84 0.84
Sept 30 0.78 0.96 0.93
Dec 31 2 1.4 1.8

Can we get a quarterly chart for Mario sales to compare?

That's a reasonable request.  Here are both charts.  

Super Mario Odyssey quarterly sales (in millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020
March 31 1.34 0.68 0.82
June 30 0.76 0.5
Sept 30 1 0.44
Dec 31 9.07 1.59 1.21

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild quarterly sales (in millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020
March 31 2.76 1.78 1.09 1.07
June 30 1.16 0.84 0.84
Sept 30 0.78 0.96 0.93
Dec 31 2 1.4 1.8

Looks like both games had good legs in 2018, but Zelda's legs kept going after that.  I've gotta say, even though I predicted Zelda would have better legs, both games are selling better than I expected.  It will be interesting to see how far both games go in the end.



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Cant help but think theres a correlation between how well its doing and how its one of the few AAA titles that nintendo has incorporated modern gaming conventions into. Like maybe theres a decent demographic that the majority of their games dont tap into? Sacrolige i know but maybe we can get some more experimentation and 10do can finally catch up w the times. More vast open worlds would be cool. Party chat would be cool. Obviously if they wanna skip loot boxes thatd also be cool :)



CarcharodonKraz said:
Cant help but think theres a correlation between how well its doing and how its one of the few AAA titles that nintendo has incorporated modern gaming conventions into. Like maybe theres a decent demographic that the majority of their games dont tap into? Sacrolige i know but maybe we can get some more experimentation and 10do can finally catch up w the times. More vast open worlds would be cool. Party chat would be cool. Obviously if they wanna skip loot boxes thatd also be cool :)

BotW is one of the best, if not the best, open world game. However, I'm currently becoming fatigued by everything having to be open world.

Linear games can be great as well, not everything has to be open world!



tag:"reviews only matter for the real hardcore gamer"

The_Liquid_Laser said:

Slownenberg said:

Can we get a quarterly chart for Mario sales to compare?

That's a reasonable request.  Here are both charts.  

Super Mario Odyssey quarterly sales (in millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020
March 31 1.34 0.68 0.82
June 30 0.76 0.5
Sept 30 1 0.44
Dec 31 9.07 1.59 1.21

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild quarterly sales (in millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020
March 31 2.76 1.78 1.09 1.07
June 30 1.16 0.84 0.84
Sept 30 0.78 0.96 0.93
Dec 31 2 1.4 1.8

Looks like both games had good legs in 2018, but Zelda's legs kept going after that.  I've gotta say, even though I predicted Zelda would have better legs, both games are selling better than I expected.  It will be interesting to see how far both games go in the end.

Thanks for putting this together. Both games have had a fantastic start to 2020 so far.

BotW sold more but Mario Odyssey actually increase quite a bit from last year.



tag:"reviews only matter for the real hardcore gamer"

brute said:
CarcharodonKraz said:
Cant help but think theres a correlation between how well its doing and how its one of the few AAA titles that nintendo has incorporated modern gaming conventions into. Like maybe theres a decent demographic that the majority of their games dont tap into? Sacrolige i know but maybe we can get some more experimentation and 10do can finally catch up w the times. More vast open worlds would be cool. Party chat would be cool. Obviously if they wanna skip loot boxes thatd also be cool :)

BotW is one of the best, if not the best, open world game. However, I'm currently becoming fatigued by everything having to be open world.

Linear games can be great as well, not everything has to be open world!

Yeah I feel ya. Or I would if I played my ps4 more. The best AAA games I play tend to be open world, but by all means if we could get a linear game as good as, say, the last of us or final fantasy 7 remake or the resident evil 2 remake id be pumped. But I cant think of a linear game on the switch of that caliber cept maybe doom and mortal kombat and u have to download those which is means u buy a license instead of a game.  I hope overwatch 2 has a full meaty on cartridge campaign. Not holding my breath though.



This would have been inconceivable a decade ago and was even more inconceivable when Odyssey became the sales beast it is.

Nintendo's brands are mostly reaching new highs on Switch. But this leap is pretty jaw dropping.