New Zelda Sells More Than A Million Copies In Launch Month
Nintendo Switch, the new home gaming system that people can also take on the go, has sold faster in its launch month than any other video game system in Nintendo history. The Nintendo Switch system sold more than 906,000 units in March, according to the NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. That makes Nintendo Switch one of the fastest-selling video game systems of all time. Notably, this sales surge was accomplished in a nontraditional month for a console launch.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game sold over 1.3 million units. That total includes more than 925,000 units sold for Nintendo Switch and nearly 460,000 units sold for the Wii U console.
With more copies of Breath of the Wild sold for the Nintendo Switch than Nintendo Switch consoles, I don’t think it’s a reach to say that Zelda carried the Switch through its launch month. The reality is Nintendo cannot pump out AAA games every thirty days, as much as I like the company and the games it makes, I am still skeptical about the Switch’s longer-term market success.
I don’t think you can make any conclusions from this data about how well the Switch was received beyond the fact people like Zelda and wanted to play the new Zelda, which got perfect scores from many review sites. Framed another way, the Wii U is still a dead console despite it achieving half a million game sales from a single title, in March.