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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Sales: Why did TP soar and SS flop?

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Hi guys, here is my question for you. We know that Twilight Princess sold very well globally, and there are a lot of reasons for that.

Some of us were expecting Skyward Sword to do well too, but for reasons it didn't. I have my reasons why I think it didn't do so well (against expectations), but I wanted to know why you guys thought.

Here are the sales figures for Zelda games, as a refresher:

PosGamePlatformYearGenrePublisherNorth AmericaEuropeJapanRest of WorldGlobal
1 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 1998 Adventure Nintendo 4.10 1.89 1.45 0.16 7.60
2 The Legend of Zelda NES 1986 Adventure Nintendo 3.74 0.93 1.69 0.14 6.51
3 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Wii 2006 Adventure Nintendo 3.39 1.87 0.60 0.63 6.49
4 The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass DS 2007 Adventure Nintendo 1.78 1.72 0.95 0.46 4.92
5 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past SNES 1991 Adventure Nintendo 2.42 0.91 1.15 0.13 4.61
6 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker GC 2002 Adventure Nintendo 2.60 0.99 0.89 0.13 4.60
7 Zelda II: The Adventure of Link NES 1987 Adventure Nintendo 2.19 0.50 1.61 0.08 4.38
8 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening GB 1992 Adventure Nintendo 2.21 0.96 0.54 0.13 3.83
9 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask N64 2000 Adventure Nintendo 1.90 0.67 0.73 0.06 3.36
10 The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Wii 2011 Adventure Nintendo 1.62 0.99 0.35 0.29 3.25
11 The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks DS 2009 Adventure Nintendo 1.31 0.78 0.74 0.25 3.08
12 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past GBA 2002 Adventure Nintendo 1.75 0.52 0.33 0.10 2.70
13 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D 3DS 2011 Adventure Nintendo 1.26 0.66 0.55 0.18 2.66
14 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX GB 1998 Adventure Nintendo 1.00 0.63 0.45 0.13 2.22
15 The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages GB 2001 Adventure Nintendo 0.92 0.53 0.41 0.06 1.92
16 The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons GB 2001 Adventure Nintendo 0.87 0.52 0.41 0.06 1.86
17 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess GC 2006 Adventure Nintendo 1.15 0.36 0.04 0.04 1.59
18 The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap GBA 2004 Adventure Nintendo 0.89 0.22 0.22 0.10 1.42

     

Post your thoughts, I'm interested to read them. And trolls, make sure to just GTFO plox and thanks.



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late cycle zelda's dont sell that well



Train wreck said:
late cycle zelda's dont sell that well


Yep look at Twilight Princess.



Yeah, I don't think "flop" is a fair characterization. It's sold over 3 million and it's only been out for 8 months. When it goes Player's Choice it'll probably make it to 4 million when all is said and done. And don't count out an HD re-release for Wii U.



 

Probably because it was a mediocre Zelda game. Or maybe even the Nintendo fanbase is getting tired of playing OoT for the 5oth time. Hopefully Nintendo changes up the Zelda formula with the next installment.



Sigs are dumb. And so are you!

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WiiBox3 said:
Train wreck said:
late cycle zelda's dont sell that well


Yep look at Twilight Princess.

Yep...Nintendo knew that a late coming Twilight Princess game for the Gamecube would be distarous, thats why they implimented motion controls and released as a first line wii game...



For starters it should have been out AT LEAST one year before it was actually released. It just came out too late in the Wiis life. TP did very well much due to the fact that it was available on BOTH GC and Wii.

Secondly, there were ALOT of great games released last Fall

Speaking about other games; People might have grown more... Hardened. They want more blood and gore. Looking at those sales figures it quite apparent that Zelda has a core of fans around 3-4 million. People in this day and age wants more matured games. that's why TP sold so much better.



I'm on Twitter @DanneSandin!

Furthermore, I think VGChartz should add a "Like"-button.

I love how for Nintendo that 3M sales is a FLOP.

Also, this is a pure case of lies, damned lies, and statistics.

If you look at the first 10 weeks after launch -- it is TP has 2.19M (2.23M adjusted for later two week later European launch) while SS has 3.03M (3.04M adjusted for one week later North American launch).

Yes, the first 10 weeks Skyward Sword "OUTSOLD" Twilight Princess by 38 percent not adjusted for launch differences (36 percent adjusted).

In other words, Skyward Sword did perform better. What is missing for it is all the ensuing years of sales. It probably will never achieve them because when it was launched in the console's life cycle. But to try to say that Skyward Sword did not sell is just not true.

Mike from Morgantown



      


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sperrico87 said:
Yeah, I don't think "flop" is a fair characterization. It's sold over 3 million and it's only been out for 8 months. When it goes Player's Choice it'll probably make it to 4 million when all is said and done. And don't count out an HD re-release for Wii U.


I'd want a Windwaker HD over anything, TP and Skyward Sword were mediocre.



Well I got TP bundled with my Wii. And I got it around launch time. Does that mean anything?