Key recommendations
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has had a strong start on Nintendo Switch in Japan.
- The game sold 201,210 physical copies in Japan in its first week.
- Echoes of Wisdom surpassed the first week sales of 2019's Link's Awakening in Japan.
New sales figures from Japan bear this out The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom got off to a strong start on the Nintendo Switch. while Echoes of wisdom may not achieve the same levels of success as Tears of the Kingdom in the region, initial sales are still encouraging for Nintendo's latest entry in the Zelda the franchise.
The past few years have been exciting for Zelda fans. The award-winning one Tears of the Kingdomcontinuation to Breath of the Wildit was released in 2023 and a live action Zelda the film was announced later that year. In 2024, Nintendo announced Echoes of wisdoma new top-down perspective Zelda game developed by Grezzo. With the game now available on Switch, fans are starting to learn how well it's doing in terms of sales.
According to physical sales data from Famitsu, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was the best-selling title in Japan for the week of September 23-29, 2024. With 201,210 copies sold, the game surpassed its closest competitor, Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki – Farewell, O Zemuria. EA Sports FC 25 and Moeyo Otome Doushi: Kayu Koigatari were the other new games at the top of the list, while the Asobi team is popular Astro Bot broke the top 10 again. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizonstwo of Nintendo's perennial favourites, came in at number eight and ten, respectively.
Estimated physical game sales for Japan (September 23-29, 2024)
1. [NSW] Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – 200.121 / NEW
2. [PS5] Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki – Farewell, O Zemuria – 29,554 / New
3. [PS4] Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki – Farewell, O Zemuria – 17,838 / New
4. [NSW] EA Sports FC 25 – 13,332 / New
5. [PS5] EA Sports FC 25 – 13,265 / New
6. [PS5] Astro Bot – 6,381 / 34,902
7. [PS4] EA Sports FC 25 – 6,379 / New
8. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 6,030 / 6,011,624
9. [NSW] Moeyo Otome Doushi: Kayu Koigatari – 5,396 / New
10. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 5,383 / 7,920,305
Although sales look promising, the game has not taken off Tears of the KingdomThe previous week of sales by a considerable margin. After its launch in May 2023, Tears of the Kingdom it sold over 1 million units in its first week in Japan. However, Echoes of wisdom it's a very different game. In addition, Tears of the Kingdom probably got a boost of hype considering how innovative it is Breath of the Wild it was originally on Switch.
With Echoes of wisdom only for a few days at the time of this sales data, it will be interesting to see if the game can maintain its momentum in the coming weeks. It is worth noting that the game surpassed the Link's Awakening remake on Switch with over 50,000 copies in its first week. The 2019 remake of the Game Boy game continued to be a significant success for Nintendo, selling over 6.46 million units. Given the Nintendo Switch's much larger install base at this point in its lifecycle, Echoes of wisdom could see similar, if not better, results, especially considering the very positive reviews it received from critics. However, fans will have to wait and see what kind of staying power the game has on the charts in Japan and other regions.
