The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Enjoys UK’s Biggest Physical Release of 2023

There was really never any doubt that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom would be one of the biggest critical and commercial hits of the year, and sure enough, it’s living up to those expectations in the days after its launch. Not only is it currently sitting at an impressive Metacritic score of 96, it seems like that level of universal success is being reflected in the open world behemoth’s sales as well.

For instance, in the UK (as per Gfk data shared by GamesIndustry’s Christopher Dring on Twitter), Tears of the Kingdom has enjoyed the region’s biggest physical launch of 2023. That means its physical launch is bigger even than Hogwarts Legacy’s, which is saying something, given how impressive of a launch the action RPG had.

On top of that, with just two days of physical sales, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has also already become the eighth highest-selling game in the franchise in the UK to date, having already surpassed the lifetime sales of previous instalments like Skyward Sword, The Wind Waker, and A Link Between Worlds. Its launch is also 173% bigger than that of Breath of the Wild.

Tears of the Kingdom hasn’t quite managed to become the Switch’s biggest launch to date, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet still holding that crown, though the Zelda title is apparently just “slightly” below it. Meanwhile, in terms of revenue generated, it has already become the fourth-biggest Zelda game to date, trailing narrowing behind Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess in the third and second spots respectively.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available on the Nintendo Switch. Stay tuned for our review in the coming days.

It is comfortably the biggest boxed game release of the year, with sales almost a third bigger than Hogwarts Legacy. It's likely Hogwarts had a bigger digital launch than Zelda, but we won't know as Nintendo doesn't share digital data

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) May 14, 2023

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 (No.2).

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) May 14, 2023