Ok guys, that's the question. The Legend of Zelda is one of the most respected franchises in game industry, so quality wise, it seems we have nothing to worry about. But, how will Zelda Wii perform sales wise?

Here is some information you may want to consider before making your prediction:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time.

It sold 2.5 million copies in 1998 despite the fact it was realeased 39 days before the year ended. 820k of those copies were sold in Japan alone.

Total sales: 7.6 million copies.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Japan first week: 393,081 copies.

Total sales: 3.36 million copies.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Japan first week: 362,811 copies.

Total sales: 4.55 million copies.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

During its first week, the game was sold with three of every four Wii purchases.

Japan first week: 146,367 copies.

Americas first week: 432,504 copies.

Others first week: 236,882 copies.

First week Total: 815,753 copies.

Total sales: 5.45 million copies.

Game Cube version:

Americas first week: 292,353 copies.

Total sales: 1.56 million copies.

Combined total sales: 7.01 million copies.

Other information:

SSB Brawl first week worldwide: 2,723,106 million copies.

Total sales: 9.19 million copies and counting.

Super Mario Galaxy first week worldwide: 1,061,126 million copies.

Total sales: 8.46 million copies and counting.

New Super Mario Bros Wii first week worlwide: 2,296,270

There you have it. My guess? I say it can sell 2.5-3 million copies on its firts week worldwide. Total sales may end up being 9-10 million copies.

So, what are your predictions?

P.S. I know that there are a lot of factors that can influence its sales. For example, depending on how well received are the changes to the formula it could end up being the new wind waker or how good the reviews are. There's always a lot of pression behind a Zelda game, well beyond other games.

Huh, I just realized that SSBB has sold a lot less than I though, Galaxy type numbers. Maybe I'll end up being right and that Mario Kart Wii will be the best selling (non-bundled) game on the Wii? That would be fun!

OT: Zelda should be able to move 6 million lifetime easily and I'm fairly certain it'll pass 7 million as well. I'll say 750k first week (ww), a tad less than TP but it'll have higher sustained sales for longer, landing it higher lifetime sales over time. The word will spread, a few will be skeptical at first since they're making some changes but they'll come around and this title will stand out (as is always the case with Zelda games) as one of the better games of this generation.

Zelda has one of the most loyal and well outspoken fan bases of any series that exists int he industry. What that generally means is you can always expect a pretty good opener for any Zelda game at least a minimum for them. Nice to have something like that eh.

Now what we are looking at for Zelda Wii is a few things.

1. Easily the most hyped Wii game that will release when it does come out and probably the most hyped game that will have released on the system EVER.

2. A game that can get both the core and mainstream gamers on first day/first week along with over a time with casual/new gamers.

3. This is going to be an even more important title for the Wii because it will be the first console Zelda game built specifically for the system itself and the first one since all the way back in 2006.

What I think this means is maybe we can break the boundaries of the sales here a little bit. This game could easily do over 2 million in its first week which is definitely not the norm for most Zelda games. Considering it'll probably release in the November timeframe (whether 2010 or 2011 and yes I mean that haha), then we can probably expect a good 4-5 million in its first year.

But this is going to be still difficult to predict at such an early stage but advertising and hype is definitely strong. I mean this game is getting more hype right now than some of the games that are just about to release and that are big. I mean Zelda is just a huge franchise when it comes to the core gaming market. Personally I think this game will open to over 1 million and sell well over 7 million lifetime, depending on if it can at least do decent numbers in Japan. But I think this Zelda game has the potential to be the biggest seller in the series considering at least 80 million systems to sell on when it comes out, coming off the huge hit that wast Twilight Princess both commercially and critically, and of course that this will be the game Nintendo makes it's big title both commercially and spiritually.

Meaning, I really don't want to be that guy that first comes out and says it, but this game has everything setup to be a 10 million seller which is a big deal right now. It'll all depend on the quality of the title (for Zelda not whether if it is good but how good it is within the Zelda series), marketing and hype (which is already huge), and how Nintendo is able to sell it pass the core to the casual and new gamers (who undoubtedly picked up Twilight Princess as well during the hype of the Wii launch and beyond til of course Galaxy came out). Zelda series has never been one to be a long time seller at the rates of say the Mario or Pokemon games, but Nintendo is on a roll lately so maybe they can turn Zelda into the same thing.

I can't wait for this game to come out and can't wait to see first trailers of it this June at E3.

B/t 4-8 million :)

Not sure about first week, but I fully believe that this will end up being the biggest Zelda yet. I expect 6 million copies sold to be the absolute low point of this game, with the roof possibly being as high as 10 million (though, more realistically, I'd expect it to end up around 8 million).

We may also want to consider the fact that this game is going to use wii motion plus. That might be considered as a factor that could hurt its sales. But then again if the game ends up being "the zelda game" I can see many people buying the wii motion plus attachment to play the zelda experience.

my goal for this game is to try and appeal this game to the new gamers as well as the traditional gamers, i know nintendo can capture that audience and gain a bigger Zelda fanbase

Considering I grossly under estimated NewSuperMarioBros:Wii's success I have to say about 6-million copies! I don't think it'll beat OOT if any game had a chance it was TP and since they didn't I doubt Nintendo's next Zelda will!

I reckon motion plus will come bundled with the game (like WS:R), and if the title is shown to use the features well and its marketed appropriately, this might in fact encourage more sales.

just a little more than twilight princess