Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch has become the second best-selling game in the entire Zelda series, just a few million units behind Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the GameCube and Wii.
The news doesn't come as much of a surprise. Nearly every video game critic has expressed their admiration for the open-world adventure. Breath of the Wild represents Nintendo at its peak: redefining a beloved game that then redefines the genre altogether. The Switch title incorporates new elements into open-world games that will likely be used by future developers in their own games, because of how intuitive, creative, and simply genius they are.
Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
It shows too. Breath of the Wild has gone on to win several awards, most notably a Game of the Year trophy at 2017's Game Awards, beating other excellent games such as Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and Nintendo's own Super Mario Odyssey.
Breath of the Wild's achievement comes from Nintendo's recent earnings report, which states that the Switch version of the game has sold 6.7 million units globally so far, plus 1.08 million units for the Wii U version. Of course, there's still plenty of time for Breath of the Wild to become the best-selling Zelda game ever. It just needs to sell past 9 million copies, and it'll topple Twilight Princess off its throne. Considering that the Switch is selling like hotcakes, it's probably just a matter of time before Breath of the Wild crosses that milestone.
Nintendo Earnings Report
Aside from boasting stellar video game and console sales in its recent earnings report, Nintendo also shared its future plans, which include creating titles that feature longer gameplay for an improved player experience and producing more DLC.
"[W]e plan to implement even more downloadable content and events that build excitement for games," said Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima. This lines up with the company's recent efforts, releasing additional content for games such as Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms, and more. All have been generally well-received by fans and critics alike.
As for making games longer, that's actually not much for a problem for Nintendo, as its games often have longer playthroughs than any other game out there. Some players, for instance, have already logged hundreds of hours into Breath of the Wild. However, the same can't be said for Super Mario Odyssey, as that games takes a lot shorter to complete.
As it stands, Nintendo is on a roll right now, especially with the Switch becoming a bombastic hit among gamers — even those who primarily play Sony or Microsoft consoles.
