The UK chart for boxed game sales has arrived, bringing with it lots of fun little statistical factoids that I love to geek out over. It’s possible that I need to seriously examine my life choices, but for now I’m going to enjoy the numbers and hope that you do to.

Obviously this week saw the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which quickly rose to become the highest reviewed game ever on Opencritic. It’s now in the hands and seems to be earning itself a whole lot of love which is hardly surprising.

The first piece of information is that Tears of the Kingdom is already the UK’s biggest boxed launch of the year, overthrowing Hogwarts Legacy by 50%. That’s impressive when you consider Hogwarts Legacy was a multiplatform release, although we do also need to consider that Hogwarts Legacy saw high digital sales, too. Nintendo, sadly, does not disclose digital sales to chart companies which always makes it harder to get a firm grasp on the details. We do, however, know that the Switch tends to be weaker in digital sales than other platforms, something which I attribute to the fact that Switch games hold their resale value on the second-hand market far better than other platforms.

Tears of the Kingdom is Nintendo’s second biggest launch in the UK in terms of revenue. Really, though, it’s the highest because the current reigning champion is Wii Fit with the balance board which obviously skews the revenue numbers quite a bit. Although it’s worth keeping in mind that Tears of the Kingdom also launched at a slightly higher pricepoint.

Biggest Zelda Launches in the UK, Boxed Sales Only

Pos	Title	Platform(s)	Release Year
1	The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom	Switch	2023
2	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	Switch + Wii U	2017
3	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker	Wii	2003
4	The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess	Wii	2006
5	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	N64	1998
6	The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword	Wii	2011
7	The Legend of Zelda: Skyward SWord HD	Nintendo Switch	2021
8	The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening	Nintendo Switch	2019
9	The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks	DS	2009
10	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D	3DS	2011

It’s already the biggest Zelda launch in the UK selling 2.7 times more copies in the first week than Breath of the Wild. In terms of unit sales, it’s doesn’t beat out last years Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, shifting 12% less copies. However, it is the biggest UK Nintendo launch in terms of revenue, again probably due to Tears of the Kingdom having a higher RRP, plus a £100 collector’s edition.

In terms of the overall Zelda brand, Tears of the Kingdom has already claimed 8th place. Taking revenue into account, it’s actually the 4th biggest game in the UK. I have no doubt that it will end up claiming the top spot on both of these charts.

And the final piece of Zelda information is Breath of the Wild has received a boost in sales, jumping up 31%, taking it from 19th on the boxed chart to 8th. Pretty impressive.

Shifting away from Zelda, there isn’t too much surprising on the charts this week. Hogwarts Legacy drops into second with a 68% decrease in sales, while Star Wars Jedi: Survivor took a 50% percent loss. Meanwhile, Dead Island 2 is still doing pretty well. It has dropped 3 places but is still sitting at a respectable 6th place. The only new game to chart was TT Isle of Man 3 which reached 31st. It’s a niche title, but I did enjoy the prior games quite a bit.

Last Week	This Week	Title
New	1	The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
1	2	Hogwarts Legacy
2	3	Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
5	4	FIFA 23
4	5	Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
3	6	Dead Island 2
6	7	Super Mario Odyssey
19	8	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
11	9	Animal Crossing: New Horizons
8	10	Minecraft Legends