By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the Biggest Zelda launch Ever in the UK

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the Biggest Zelda launch Ever in the UK - Sales

by William D'Angelo , posted on 14 May 2023 / 5,133 Views

Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom last Friday, May 12 for the Nintendo Switch and with just two days available it is already the eighth best-selling The Legends of Zelda game of all time in the UK, according to the head of GamesIndustry Christopher Dring. 

The game did set a record for the biggest The Legend of Zelda launch in history in the UK, easily beating the previous record holder - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

"In the UK, and after just two days, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is already the eighth biggest Zelda game of all time," said Dring. "It's already outsold Skyward Sword, The Wind Waker and A Link Between Worlds. This is based on boxed sales alone."

The latest The Legends of Zelda game was "comfortably the biggest boxed game release of the year" in the UK with sales 54 percent higher than Hogwarts Legacy. Nintendo doesn't share digital sales, so it is hard to compare total sales.

"It is comfortably the biggest boxed game release of the year, with sales almost a third bigger than Hogwarts Legacy," said Dring. However, he later corrected himself, "Sorry, compared to Hogwarts, Zelda’s UK boxed launch is 54% bigger. Not a third."

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom had the second biggest launch ever for the Nintendo Switch in the UK. Launch sales were just behind Pokémon Scarlet / Violet. Launch sales were also 173 percent higher than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Though, that game was a launch title for the Nintendo Switch.

"It's not quiet the biggest Switch release ever, as it was slightly below what Pokémon Scarlet and Violet managed last year," said Dring. "The launch is 173% bigger than Breath of the Wild.

"In terms of revenue, Tears of the Kingdom is already the fourth biggest Zelda game of all time. Just a bit behind Ocarina of Time (No.3), and Twilight Princess."

Here are the biggest The Legends of Zelda retail launches in the UK:

Pos Title Platform(s) Release Year
1 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Switch 2023
2 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Switch + Wii U 2017
3 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker GameCube 2003
4 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Wii 2006
5 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 1998
6 The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Wii 2011
7 The Legend of Zelda: Skyward SWord HD Nintendo Switch 2021
8 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Nintendo Switch 2019
9 The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks DS 2009
10 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D 3DS 2011

Here are the best-selling The Legends of Zelda games of all time in the UK:

Pos Title Platform(s) Release Year
1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Nintendo Switch 2017
2 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Wii 2006
3 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 1998
4 Link's Crossbow Training Wii 2007
5 The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass DS 2007
6 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D 3DS 2011
7 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Nintendo Switch 2019
8 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Switch 2023
9 The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Wii 2011
10 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker GameCube 2003

Thanks, GamesIndustry.


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.


More Articles

14 Comments
jagleics (on 14 May 2023)

Incredible game, spent most of the weekend playing.

  • +7
Kakadu18 (on 14 May 2023)

Well deserved. I'm enjoying it a ton.

  • +7
Azzanation (on 14 May 2023)

Well deserved Nintendo did it again. These Zelda games are the pinnacle of what open world games are all about.
Ubisoft take note.

  • +5
Hiku (on 15 May 2023)

Looks like an improvement over BOTW in many aspects, so well deserved.

  • +3
ClassicGamingWizzz (on 15 May 2023)

Everytthing i see about this game looks funny as fuck, this game is meme material, flaming exploding dicks was the best gif i saw all year.

  • +3
INCITATUSBR (on 15 May 2023)

wow "sales 54 percent higher than Hogwarts Legacy"

  • +2
Kakadu18 INCITATUSBR (on 15 May 2023)

Physical only, mind you.

  • +2
BraLoD (on 14 May 2023)

My copy arrives May 25th.

BotW was a great game, even if it was really far from being the best game ever, and I've spent a lot of time playing it, so I'm excited, specially since I'll be playing this one in the same timeframe as one of my best friends and we can chat about it.

  • 0
mjk45 BraLoD (on 14 May 2023)

Watch out Nintendo have been coming down on user created content and while you may think that the fact that you got away with stealing all those Green Greatest hits Sony labels and attaching them to your burnt TLoD copies, was due to you outsmarting Sony, it was instead due to the fact that the only ones who bought them were your gullible family who believed that they were indeed buying the precious religious artifacts you claimed them to be.
In this case though all those boxes labelled in crayon with The Legend of Dart :Tears of the Kingdom of Dragoons along with your family disowning you will see you brought down, so get ready to sell your pet hippo that you following in the footsteps of crime lords decided to buy after ripping off your family.

  • +2
BraLoD mjk45 (on 14 May 2023)

What even is this post hahaha, amazing.

  • 0
mjk45 BraLoD (on 14 May 2023)

Don't disavow your crimes we know that your only interest in The Legend of Zelda is you turning it into an open world TLoD and selling the mod as The Legend of Dart: Tears of the Kingdom of dragoons. but Nintendo has detective Pikachu watching you .

  • 0
BraLoD mjk45 (on 15 May 2023)

That's actually a great idea, even without playing it I know it would be massively better with dragoons on it.
Btw, you are probably already playing TotK right?

  • 0
mjk45 BraLoD (on 15 May 2023)

Yes playing it now but only about an hour in.

  • 0
Kakadu18 (on 14 May 2023)

Typo, it says Wind Waker on Wii instead of GC.
Edit: thanks

  • 0