Nintendo Quarterly Sales Update: (To 31st March 2022) Switch at 107.65m shipped

[PAOerfulone]

S.Peelman said:

Such Skyward Sword hate in here.

I agree that it wasn’t the best 3D Zelda entry, but it was good for what it was, and it had great dungeons. It’s not even my least favorite 3D Zelda. I agree it can’t come close to Breath of the Wild though.

However, the low sales performance does make me worry a bit. Because Link’s Awakening, a game also held in much higher esteem than Skyward Sword, especially as a remake, also didn’t light up the sales charts or had endless legs like Breath of the Wild has. And to top it off Age of Calamity performed much better than the original Hyrule Warriors’s Switch version (while that one was much better if you asked me). So the other Zelda games merely performed like the series did before Breath of the Wild did even though they released after.

I’m afraid Breath of the Wild in actuality didn’t make many new “Zelda fans”, it only made “Breath of the Wild fans”. Meaning the yet unnamed sequel will get good sales because it’s tied to its predecessor, but a potential Zelda after that on a new system with a new Link and Zelda and a new story and setting and a different look will crash back down to the 5-8M sales the games had in the past.

If it's in the same style as Breath of the Wild, there's no way that's going to happen.

Even if it's not called Breath of the Wild, people will know exactly what type of game they're looking at. Just because a new Call of Duty isn't called Modern Warfare or Black Ops, that doesn't stop every new game from selling a shit ton of copies. Same goes for Grand Theft Auto, Elder Scrolls, Mario Kart, and Pokemon. Just because the setting, story, and characters change (kinda), the foundation and "feel" is still very much the same, and as long as that remains, those fans will keep coming back.

Also, I don't see the point about Zelda games performing at the same standard or not being elevated because instead of "Zelda fans" you have "Breath of the Wild fans."

Link's Awakening outsold the original version almost instantly. It was at 5.49 million at the end of last Fiscal Year. So it's probably right around 6 million by now, which would mean it has nearly outsold the combined total of the original Game Boy version + the DX version on the Game Boy Color, and it's getting close to the original Legend of Zelda on the NES as the best selling 2D game in the franchise.

As for Skyward Sword, the haters can moan and hate all they want. They're entitled to their opinion (It's wrong, but they're entitled to it.) Doesn't change the fact that the remaster outsold the original version in less than a year. So even if it has shit legs from here on out, it still passed its previous mark and will likely overtake other Zelda games before it's finished. Perhaps even the original version of Wind Waker. And that in itself, is raising the bar for the franchise.