Come along, because this news is a treat for anyone who loves Hyrule: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released on March 3, 2017, on Switch and Wii U, and two years later, in March 2019, it had still not left the list of the 20 best-selling games in Japan’s physical stores. Not even for a single week.
The numbers came from Media Create, which published the weekly Japanese retail sales ranking. According to the list, the game had sold 1,307,507 physical units in the country and was close to becoming the Zelda with the most physical copies sold there. In a few weeks it slipped out of the top 10, but it never left the top 20. Very few games can boast something like that, if any other ever managed it.
Look at what a lovely trajectory: in its launch week, the Switch and Wii U versions combined sold 230,000 copies in Japan, and the Switch one was that week’s best seller. From then on, the game kept staying, week after week, for more than a hundred weeks in a row. Not bad for a Zelda that reinvented the series with a huge open world, without losing the adventure feel we love.
What came next
Breath of the Wild became the best-selling Zelda of all time: as of June 2026, it had 35.76 million copies, 34.06 million of them on Switch. The game won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2017 and at the D.I.C.E. Awards, and has a 97 on Metacritic. The sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, came out on May 12, 2023, and the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition arrived on June 5, 2025. My little gamer heart never tires of this Hyrule.
Where to buy
Source: Media Create, via Eurogamer.
Lady Combo
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