The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sells over 10m units worldwide (first 3 days), fastest-selling game in series + Nintendo game in Americas/EU
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The thing that's hard to wrap your head around is that BOTW and TOTK are games that, if you asked someone before they came out, most people would probably say that these aren't games which would appeal strongly to the Japanese audience. They are quite obviously aimed at appeasing western trends. And now it's one of the biggest gaming IP in japan. Nintendo magic is alive and well it seems.
Nintendo had for some time official representation in the country (it had an official distributor located in Bogota and direct technical service which still operates)... But as always, our fragile economy was the cause for their closure and that was on a time where our currency wasn't so much devaluated (10 years ago, 1 USD = 1800 COP)... Now with a much more devaluated currency (1 USD = 4600 COP) and the fact most games/consoles are in the range of 20-30% more cheaper than the official local retailers, it'll be a hard task for Nintendo to reconquer this space. They already started to try (opening a local eShop store) but it'll be a slow process.
Edit: Just for make an example of the hard task... This is TotK price in an official retailer store.
Juego NINTENDO SWITCH The Legend of Zelda™: Tears of the K | Alkosto
Encuentra Juego NINTENDO SWITCH The Legend of Zelda™: Tears of the Kingdom en Alkosto. Envío gratis a toda Colombia. Alkosto Hiperahorro siempre
www.alkosto.com
Alkosto: $389000 COP
The same game in the grey market: $260000 COP
(can't link the post since is a FB group where they're promoting their store).
Colombian eShop: https://www.nintendo.com/es-co/store/products/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-switch/
eShop (CO): $408900 COP
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I don’t really agree with this take. Aesthetically they are very Japanese inspired, and Japan loves open ended games that focus on gameplay rather than story.
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Japan likes open ended games without story? Since when?
The rule of thumb as far as I'm aware has always been that story driven RPGs and linear action games appeal to Japanese taste, whereas in the west people like open ended games where story takes a backseat. The cinematic AAA story driven thing is a relatively new phenomenon in western markets I think.
On the Switch era they finally opened a local online eShop with prices in the local currency and (some) official stores have reduced their prices, so in that way they have expanded here (Peru, in South America), but working their way into a bigger presence (official stores, local distribution, etc) is too complicated due to the currency exchange, importing costs and the big gray market around here. And that's not counting that (original) videogames are a luxury here.
As an example of what I mean I'll use Tears of the Kingdom:
- On the local eShop, the price is S/.266 (≈72$)
- On an official physical store, the prices can go from slighly below the eShop price to a top of S/.350 (≈95$)
- An on the gray market, you can find it at S/.210 (≈57$)
Like I said, recent changes like the eShop or some official stores reducing their absurd prices to match or even beat the official eShop prices shows up that Nintendo is paying attention to the country, but like mentioned, the lack of an existing network makes it difficult to expand, because what they need is some kind of distribution that cheapens prices. There's no other way they could compete with importers and the gray market around here.
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Minecraft? Animal Crossing? Pokémon? I honestly cannot think of a single game that’s popular in Japan that has a story focus in recent years.
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Is there a rule of thumb for how much revenue Nintendo gets for each copy of the game sold? I know this varies wildly by digital vs physical and probably by region. But is there a basic guess that makes sense? Like $20 per sale? I know it can never be exact. But I want to get a sense of how much revenue goes directly into Nintendo’s coffers from a game.
AFAIK, retail/distribution cut is ~25%. So Nintendo gets 75% of the revenue when it sell a physical copy and 100% of revenue from digital sale.
If you're a third-party publisher, then generally you'll get only 55% of the revenue from physical copy and 70% from digital copy. Based on 2018 report from Ubisoft.
There's also a tax question, but that differs from country co country.
So, Nintendo earns a lot. It's great to be a platform holder, I guess
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Typically large publisher sheet prices are $50 or so in revenue for a $60 physical game. For Zelda since it's $70 MSRP, I imagine it would be proportional or $55-$60 in revenue per physical game sold to wholesalers / retailers at launch.
And for digital of course Nintendo gets the full $70 in revenue as they own the store and don't need to give up 30% margin.
About 60% of the price for physical sales and more for digital sales.
For the vast majority of the Switch audience Link’s Awakening was a new game. I mean there was nothing controversial about my statement, game sold well but nowhere near what botw/totk will be doing lifetime. This means that this new audience isn’t really that interested in the classic games gameplay loop.
For SS HD that game was always controversial (and I don’t know why, I think it’s the best 3d Zelda game)
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I think people are thinking about the JRPG/WRPG divide when they are talking about stuff like that. FF vs Skyrim for example. Though thats not the complete picture.
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I'd argue were already at this point lol. Was playing OoT this year and I felt weirded by him using green. My mind kept coming back to the Champion tunic.
We'd need an actual new entry to tell. Remakes are still old products being given a new coat of paint. The appeal will always be limited compared to new titles.
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Fair point but you are talking about games that are targeted at casual fans. Zelda is not a casual game whatsoever. Also pokémon doesn't really qualify IMO. The story may not be very good but it is certainly story based and until arceus and SV fairly linear.
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Yeah I'd say blue Link is more iconic at this point. If a Zelda movie/show gets made I 100% expect Link to wear the blue tunic.
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Here's something more general that by its nature includes some of those.
About time the world caught up.
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That’s not how remake and remasters usually are perceived. They were also interested enough to make it likely the best selling game of its kind.
Here's something more general that by its nature includes some of those.
About time the world caught up.
This is great, thanks for linking.
And yes, WW showed us blue link is best Link.
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Hmmmm, yeah
Link is indeed the fatest protagonist in the game. A glutton for eating all those dubious foods.
(Nah, I'm just kidding. You have a typo in your post.)
I think a mixture of current botw/totk and their strengths with a heavy dose of ER exploration/gameplay strengths and we would have a rather « definitive » open world zelda experience
Especially since From Software games are prety much a no go for Nintendo devices (or at least they show no interest in their various plateforms)
Can’t say I agree with making Zelda combat more like Souls/ER - I feel like that would be a detriment to the accessibility of Zelda for the less hardcore audiences.
I don’t think that ER’s combat is good gameplay but it has depth and I trust Aonuma’s team to make an accessible version of it. ER’s combat feels visceral and has weight, which is something botw misses in my opinion.
The minute to minute action and the creativity of the world and how you can approach each situation
I think the franchise is already nearly 140 million titles sold, without the Tears of the Kingdom sales.
When Nintendo says more than 130 millions….because if we get all the know numbers of each title this mark is already surpass.
And since the downloads title on the Wii/WiiU/3DS era is unknown, I’m pretty convinced of that.
When Nintendo says more than 130 millions….because if we get all the know numbers of each title this mark is already surpass.
And since the downloads title on the Wii/WiiU/3DS era is unknown, I’m pretty convinced of that.
Honestly, it's probably insulting to call these Final Fantasy numbers when the FF games are a crumbling brand in the Japanese market. The new FF might not even break a million. That's small time compared to current Zelda.
It's also safe to say that Zelda has firmly established itself as a top three RPG brand in Japan alongside Pokemon and Dragon Quest. Final Fantasy is probably in a lower tier alongside the Personas now.
that would radically change up the encounter design in a way I'm not sure works well with Zelda's faster design language. if I were to improve the combat, it'd be for more responsiveness. like making the analog stick independent of Link when z-targeting and keeping enemies from attacking you when they're in your peripheral
Weight doesn’t mean slow, it means impactful. Diablo 3’s combat has weight and impact. It feels highly gratifying. Quickness works
Not only would I hate Elden Ring's combat for Zelda (Zelda's is vastly deeper thanks to all the available options imo), but also: Is the news about Zelda making record sales really the right time to talk about what other games it should learn from?
I already said ER’s combat isn’t what I have in mind, but actual weight to it.
Zelda’s approach to fights is around exploiting your environment more than actual fighting skills. Which is fine, but it has too little weight for my taste and is less gratifying as a result
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I dont think Fularu means ER combat as in full on encounter design, but rather how stamina, shields and sword swings work. It could work, and swinging a sword in ER does feel better, but idk how you would handle bows and physics and all the jumping players do in Zelda. At the very least the gamefeel could be improved.
But its a small nitpick imo, its already good.
But its a small nitpick imo, its already good.
Tears of the Kingdom has a fine battle system that serves what the game needs and Zelda has never been a combat-focus game. The closest they came to that was Skyward Sword.
That said, MHR has kinda spoil me. While fans of the series thinks it’s too fast for Monster Hunter, Rises’ movement, weight, and speed is what I want for Zelda.
That said, MHR has kinda spoil me. While fans of the series thinks it’s too fast for Monster Hunter, Rises’ movement, weight, and speed is what I want for Zelda.
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Monster Hunter-style animation commitment (which is where DS/Elden Ring has its strongest similarity) doesn't seem like it would fit very well with Zelda-style combat
They'd need to redesign it from the ground up
I don't think it would bring any sales advantages, either; combat isn't the primary draw for Zelda the way it is for Monster Hunter or Fromsoft games
They'd need to redesign it from the ground up
I don't think it would bring any sales advantages, either; combat isn't the primary draw for Zelda the way it is for Monster Hunter or Fromsoft games
Don’t mean combat commitment, although you get some of that with two-handed weapons. I mean in terms of weight, speed, and movement. After playing over 700 hours of MHR, Link feels a little too weightless for me and his attacks had little impact. That and if we’re going to fight so many huge enemies that forces the camera upwards or enemies so fast that they outrun you, I want more dodge options.
This is amazing. That Japan number is even more amazing lol. I forgot what I predicted for TOTK in Japan, but I’m sure it beat it significantly.
Also I like the combat as is. It’s very fun and you can be extremely creative with it.
Edit: MC Thread Week 15 April 10-16 I predicted 1.5-2.5M (digital added) in Japan. So I think I did pretty well lol.
Also I like the combat as is. It’s very fun and you can be extremely creative with it.
Edit: MC Thread Week 15 April 10-16 I predicted 1.5-2.5M (digital added) in Japan. So I think I did pretty well lol.
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FF and Zelda sales is example of two tales of IP struggling but one not only successfully revitalize the IP but also break all its previous record to be such giant without abandoning its domestic market due to how big its potential if you can sale to the audience there.
FF on the other shift most the sales to outside market which lead to decline of its popularity in Japan. But considering how FF16 seems to be a quality product, we can see the market outside to push FF back to its glory state.
Don’t think it will quite make it but Diablo IV is going to move some serious units as well.
There is also Spiderman 2 that i feel is going to do big number as well.
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I haven't played Elden Ring yet so I can't weigh in on it but my main complaint with TOTK combat is I think enemies should be about 30% less beefy. They take forever to kill and it makes combat repetitive after a while. I also agree I think feedback when weapons hit enemies could be better.
But I do love the amount of options you have, and I'm constantly learning new things you can do.
But I do love the amount of options you have, and I'm constantly learning new things you can do.
It was talked about on France info (general news radio station). That's somewhere I didn't expect to hear the name Zelda.
Mario movie performance was talked about a lot one month ago and I think there's a kind of strong synergy between these two.
It helps that Zelda is the older franchise and mainline games release every 5 years now meanwhile Pokemon drops all the time. Having such a classic IP pull of these numbers in the current era is more noteworthy.
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Looking at those websites, they seem to be managed by NCL? Well, there's definitely progress, at least.There's been some movements in this area, but its slow
Nintendo Continues Expansion In Southeast Asia With Official Websites For Malaysia And The Philippines
Company "pleased" to bring information to its fans in the regionwww.nintendolife.com
Nintendo had for some time official representation in the country (it had an official distributor located in Bogota and direct technical service which still operates)... But as always, our fragile economy was the cause for their closure and that was on a time where our currency wasn't so much devaluated (10 years ago, 1 USD = 1800 COP)... Now with a much more devaluated currency (1 USD = 4600 COP) and the fact most games/consoles are in the range of 20-30% more cheaper than the official local retailers, it'll be a hard task for Nintendo to reconquer this space. They already started to try (opening a local eShop store) but it'll be a slow process.
Edit: Just for make an example of the hard task... This is TotK price in an official retailer store.
Juego NINTENDO SWITCH The Legend of Zelda™: Tears of the K | Alkosto
Encuentra Juego NINTENDO SWITCH The Legend of Zelda™: Tears of the Kingdom en Alkosto. Envío gratis a toda Colombia. Alkosto Hiperahorro siempre
Alkosto: $389000 COP
The same game in the grey market: $260000 COP
(can't link the post since is a FB group where they're promoting their store).
Colombian eShop: https://www.nintendo.com/es-co/store/products/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-switch/
eShop (CO): $408900 COP
Oh yeah, I'll admit I didn't think of currency, which is a pretty big deal as things can go sour much faster than you'd think. Regional pricing is one way to deal with that, but even that has its limits (especially with a region free console. I still get annoyed every time I think about cheapasses abusing egional pricing to rip off indies).
Well, just look at that belly! Someone should really lay off the beer... Then again, Gorona is just that good... Can't blame him.
(Typo was fixed, thanks!)
Remember, that one is a PS5-only exclusive. Like XVI (until XVI's timed exclusivity runs out).
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I think being PS5 exclusive may hold it back a bit. I absolutely think it should be in the conversation, game is going to sell a monstrous amount IMO. It’s going to be a big holiday for PS5.
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Insane numbers and totally well deserved. I’ve put hours into it so far and it’s amazing.