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Nintendo UK has confirmed that the Switch has sold more units in its launch weekend than any other piece of Nintendo hardware in the company’s history, and that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now the biggest-selling Nintendo launch title in Europe, even out-selling Wii Sports in its first weekend of sales.
Since Wii Sports was a pack-in title for the Wii, this suggests that Breath of the Wild also sold more units than the Wii itself during its first three days on sale.
While Nintendo UK didn’t provide any concrete sales figures in the announcement, the claims mirror the success the Switch has had in the US as well.
As MCV reported earlier, Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has allegedly told the New York Times in an as-yet unpublished interview that the Switch has sold more units in its first two days than any other machine in the platform holder’s history, beating the company’s previous record set by the Wii.
In the same interview, Fils-Aime also said that Breath of the Wild has become the fastest selling standalone launch title in Nintendo of America’s history, beating Super Mario 64.
This implies that US sales of Breath of the Wild didn’t quite beat the number of Wii units sold in the territory, but it nevertheless points to a highly successful launch for the platform holder in both regions.
Previously, Nintendo only published sales figures for the Wii after the platform’s first eight days on sale, which hit over 600,000 in the US.
Meanwhile in Japan, Famitsu has reported the Switch sold an estimated 330,637 units during its first three days on sale between March 3rd and March 5th. This surpasses the first 48 hours figures of the Wii U in Japan, but the Wii’s still out in front with an estimated 371,936 units sold during its first two days when it went on sale back in December 2006. Still, considering the Switch wasn’t released during the Christmas holiday season like its predecessors, over 330,000 units is still highly respectable.
Famitsu also noted that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold an estimated 193,060 units at retail on Switch. This figure doesn’t include any download figures, but considering the Wii U’s best-selling launch game in Japan, New Super Mario Bros U, only sold an estimated 170,563 units during its first two days, it seems Nintendo’s decision to launch with Zelda instead of Mario has paid off.
