Just realised that this will be the first mainline zelda that I'll be playing on launch day. I've usually only been able to play the games a few months after launch.

First week or two sales for TOTK should be of note as it gives us a good idea of roughly where the series has truly landed following BOTW as the new base template, if it hits somewhere in the region in its first week as the other top tier first party titles that BOTW is moving alongside then the series can start to be seen in the same range as the likes of them in moving units e.g. Pokemon and AC.

Oh please be good first week sales despite the leak!!

Indeed, this goes way above where my imagination would go.

And people were like "this is a glorified DLC lol"

That's because some people are from the Sofa Kingdom.

I'm sure it will do just fine.  Piracy has been a thing this entire gen and it hasn't stopped Nintendo from posting staggering software numbers.  There are many who can't be bothered with emulation/piracy and then there are plenty more that are bothered by it. 

Nintendo should've still offered their classic games through eShop instead of through a subscription service.

I've bought the classic games so many times...and yet never play them to get my money's worth.  I love the subscription option.  I pay $80, give free subscriptions to a good friend, my girlfriend, and her son.  I get tons of DLC and don't have to worry about buying a bunch of games from the past that I'll just play once or twice.  This isn't really the thread to have this discussion in, but for me, the "I'm pirating because Nintendo made me do it" is just a cop out.  Pirate's are gonna pirate.  Just man up and be a pirate about it.

No, because I don't wanna go to prison.

I wasn't advocating piracy.  Far from it.  I just don't like it when pirates act like what they are doing is noble and that they have no choice because of the "evil companies" whose products they desire.  Again, I know this isn't exactly the thread to have a piracy debate (although it is very relevant to Zelda considering the past few weeks).  The price and availability of games in 2023 is staggering compared to the pricing and availability in 1990.  I could barely afford a game a year, and renting a game would set you back almost the same price.  That's if the video store even had the game you wanted to play.  Could Nintendo do a better job of curating their legacy?  No doubt.  But there are many considerations to be made regarding whether the code still exists, what music would need to be relicensed, and the fact that every gen they were basically asking people to rebuy legacy software.  I may not own all the titles on these subscription services, but dang I have a lot of titles to play that I didn't pay for.  And not even just Nintendo titles.  It's crazy good.