Why We Think Nintendo is Disappointed by Tears of the Kingdom Sales

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Hi, Nintendo just released their financials and we have some thoughts. On the surface everything is looking strong and positive but if you dig a bit deeper there could be things that point to the slowdown of Nintendo Switch and give us a hint on when Nintendo will be moving on to its new hardware. Let us know what you think of all this in the comments! Thanks for watching and we'll see you later.
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[@APsGTG]

Tears of the Kingdom deserves this. Literally BotW 1.1 that took 6 years to come out its ridiculous. Putting you back in the game exact same world with a worse story with everything in the exact same format as the previous game, absolutely ridiculous. Same world with the same format of plateau, 4 runes, jump off, go to 4 main areas, go to Ganon. Same shrines, same millions of koroks, same memories for a story once again told in the past in a boring way, same enemies, same fighting style, same Sheikah slate, same everything. Boring sky, barren empty depths. Awful rewards. Building that should’ve been put into a new IP instead of weirdly shoved into a Zelda game. I want my money back honestly. Never been more disappointed in a video game release. Great video. Love the breakdowns. Subscribed.

[@alecamp5369]

You guys literally said it. It’s been 8 months vs the 6 years BOTW has been out. TOTK will se a boost due to Eshop sales and the Switch 2. To say that TOTK sales are disappointing at 20 million in less than a year is crazy.

[@kamuilasia5813]

You have to think like a company. They want growth

[@alecamp5369]

@@kamuilasia5813 being the fastest selling Zelda game isn’t growth? Again 20 million units in less than a year.

[@MichaelSalinger]

@@kamuilasia5813 It took Breath of the Wild almost 3 years to sell as much as Tears of the Kingdom has sold in 3 quarters....

[@mkjjoe]

@@alecamp5369 From another perspective that's a smaller in proportion of the current install base, compared to BOTW in its time. There's more of everything today, more players, more potential buyers, more competition with more budget, more expectations...

[@visas_marr]

@@MichaelSalingerless than 3 quarters even! These numbers are just May 12-December 31 which is about 7.5 months

[@XiTSlash]

Imagine being disappointed about a game selling 20M+ copies in less than a year...

[@benmalsky9834]

I know, it’s very silly.

[@roseforyoubabe]

most of that was in the first few months it was a very disappointing holiday season for totk

[@MedalionDS9]

It helps to move the goalposts. Most of those sales were front-loaded.

[@benmalsky9834]

@@roseforyoubabe I’m sure it will pick up momentum over time.

[@MedalionDS9]

@@roseforyoubabe Exactly.

[@shigerumiyamoto9612]

Why should Nintendo be upset by this? It sold 2/3 of what botw sold and for a higher price too

[@thierrys85]

$1.4 billion in less than 8 months. Just the one game. Nintendo is very happy, don't worry. 😅

[@skandashiva1805]

Wonder if this video title is click bait

[@XanderVJ]

They expected the game to "have legs". Meaning, keep selling at a relative high rate after launch. For instance, BotW sold 2 million copies during the 2017 Christmas quarter alone. TotK has sold less than half of that during the same analogue time, despite the fact that the installed base was magnitudes bigger.

[@gregd6611]

@@XanderVJ It's not really apple to apples though. BotW "had legs" during its first holiday, as the DLC was still on the horizon, or at least the second part of it. So that keeps the game fresh with higher sale numbers to grab those that wait for "all content to be published" types, meaning that the game is "complete". TotK couldn't share that as it was complete at launch (as in no significant content updates, I"m aware they've done numerous patches to fix glitches, etc). So that there is not "apples to apples" as 1 game still had promise of new content with the other not. Secondly, BotW has had 7 years to reach the numbers presented. Tears is not even a year old. Yes there are millions more Switches than 2017, but there are many Switch owners probably moved on to PS5/Xbox/PC, where in 2017 BotW was that system seller. I'd argue that Tears is still a system seller, but no where in the same ballpark that BotW was. There's a reason BotW for like a month or 2 had surpassed Switch console sales, and no it wasn't the Wii U version of the game helping with that. So at this point, yes Nintendo would expect Tears to surpass Breath, but was more on their own accord for not having DLC, and probably the delays sort of hurt it as a result since it released around Boulder's Gate 3 and other major hits, where a release in 2022 may have garnered more sales for people having more time before those games launched. But it's always hard to say if this would have helped it or not.

[@APsGTG]

Because it had BotW legs to stand on. Given that it was pretty much the same game with not much implemented, hardly even a new fleshed out map, sales halted far more than BotW did over the quarters, and deservedly so. That game should not have taken 6 years for how truly barren it was despite reusing the same map.

[@themonado5030]

Where does it say that they are disappointed with the sales?

[@shigerumiyamoto9612]

They don't. Its just discussing the fact that the game sold 18 mill in rocket speed and then it just dropped.

[@thewolfgabe3656]

I would frankly call being the 2nd highest selling game of the year hardly a disappointment. Also we don't even know what exactly Nintendo's sales expectations for the game actually were.@pixelshroom3413

[@justin.7849]

@@shigerumiyamoto9612That is clickbait then

[@ridgenyan-botxv367]

@pixelshroom3413 You think they don't understand how a company that they've worked for for YEARS would think? Obviously the sales are extremely impressive from the average person's perspective and they are good, BUT that the sales are slowing down so rapidly is indicative of a problem. Are people growing tired of the Switch? Is the quality of the game not meeting the audience's standards? Could this decline severely cripple the potential sales of a future instalment? Those are the sort of questions they'd be asking themselves, especially given how BOTW was a such a landmark title for the Switch of a franchise that is so heavily regarded as quality. Why should the sales drop-off so quickly? There could be a million reasons but they absolutely would be asking themselves why.

[@mrwho995]

The entire point of Kit and Krysta's channel is that they have a completely unique insight on youtube into how Nintendo thinks about this stuff. If Kit and Krysta thinks Nintendo is probably disappointed in these numbers, chances are very high they're correct.

[@JoeyTheKid101]

Guys, please actually watch the video before commenting. Plus, Kit and Krysta both worked at Nintendo for over 10 years. Obviously they know what they’re talking about in regards to Nintendo’s mindset

[@alexbuechergames]

It’s not even been out for a year and already at 20 million. Sure, sales have slowed down, but BotW had 7 years to get to 30. Even if TotK has a shorter life span due to the next console, I can’t imagine them seeing it even as a disappointment. It’s also been a very strong year in games generally, are there any big AAA games that had long legs? Hogwarts Legacy released earlier and on multiple platforms and even with that is less than 2 mill ahead of Zelda

[@E2STOPTV]

They definitely gonna pass the 30M I have no doubt, it's a question of when and I think that it'll happen once they make a port/remaster to the switch 2.

[@mkjjoe]

Comparisons to BOTW are tough, it took almost 4 years to get to 20 million with over 100% attach rate on release, TOTK launched with a Switch install base of over 125 million. However yes this year was competitive, but that also goes with the idea that despite TOTK being a solid game in itself it didn't (arguably couldn't as a sequel) truly impress people on the level BOTW did.

[@alexbuechergames]

@@mkjjoeyeah; there was some people who weren’t into it, no doubt

[@packers12to80]

It just felt like more botw honestly. And I didn't want that. Others felt the same way. I have more hrs in links between worlds on my 3ds then i do totk since totk has been out 😂. It just felt like a game I already played.

[@smashmonkey6304]

The issue is when it sold. ToTK sold almost all of its sales in the first month of its release and the holiday season didn’t help. It kind of signals it won’t be the same kind of evergreen title that BoTW was.

[@Knechtion88]

Keep in mind 20M units at $70 is $1.4B in revenue, while 31M units at $60 is $1.86B. Considering sales and other factors, they’ve likely made the same revenue even with the difference in units sold.

[@unstopology]

I regret buying Tears of the Kingdom because it was disappointing to me. This is just my opinion, of course. After the initial amazement wears off, the game seems more of a DLC than a full game. I was hoping for a lot more villages and new areas. Also, I wish there were no depths and more sky areas instead. I really do like the fusing mechanic, although it still doesn't fix durability. The house is better but still so limiting, and I can't even put more fish in the house pond. The building mechanic, while cool, is also too limited, IMO. And why are the durians gone??? I still liked the game but I just think it could've been so much more.

[@ranchman693]

I feel there are a few factors to consider 1. It's was $70 on a system who's games are $50-60. 2. People felt like it was more of the same. I totally feel like the next game needs a new world/art style. 3. It hasn't been out for that long. I'm sure in 5 years when Nintendo is about to release the next Zelda, this one would by then catch up to BOTW. That's just what I think though LOL

[@APsGTG]

Tears of the Kingdom is the same game as BotW. It will never reach the same numbers BotW did. People that played the first game don’t need to play the second. Tears of the Kingdom was a cashgrab.

[@eduardopazhurtado3882]

@@APsGTG according to you. It's so different from BotW. You can clearly tell you didn't play the game.

[@hododod246]

@@APsGTG No. You are cashgrab.

[@wdavis911]

While it is a very good game, and in many ways superior to BotW, it is just so much of the same thing over and over, too many korok seeds, caves/bubul gems, hunting monster quests etc. They definitely have to come up with a new world and art style for the next game, and please bring back traditional Zelda elements, the dungeons were better but nowhere near as good as they used to be in older Zelda games.

[@PauLtus_B]

I think it's a pretty rare case where I feel the 70 dollars is quite fair. I was also surprised how different it was.

[@ianboast9928]

I'm not surprised by the dramatic slowdown in Tears of the Kingdom sales results. For me if you didn't enjoy the Breath of the Wild gameplay formula the sequel won't change your mind. It's a great release for people that want more of the same.

[@mrgrumpy888]

The most disappointing thing is that Bayonetta 3 has sold only 1 million copies :/

[@Oceanandskylinevidss]

I know right, the battle mechanics alone should have pushed the game. It did look rough but its amazing to play.

[@mrshmuga9]

Maybe the whole “demon on a leash” thing turned people off, but ya I don’t know why even the ports (that a ton of people haven’t played so it’s new for a lot) didn’t sell very high. They’re action-packed games that make you feel like a badass. Meanwhile, Street Fighter will sell higher to plenty of casuals, even though the skill ceiling and its complexity is so much higher. And you’re mostly playing online where you’ll get your butt kicked.

[@ldsmaster1247]

I MISS SEEING YALL ON MY NINTENDO SWITCH. THANK YOU FOR BEING APART IF MY CHILDHOOD!😭 I’m so happy I can still watch you guys

[@user-vk2cd9qw7i]

KZbin app!

[@_Just_Another_Guy]

Why is Nintendo not disappointed in Splatoon 3 sales though? Is it because they expected that Splatoon 3 wouldn't sell as much as Splatoon 2 because both are on the same system? It's interesting that there's less of a gap between the release of the first Splatoon (on WiiU) from 2015 to Splatoon 2 in 2017 than there is between Splatoon 2 (2017) to Splatoon 3 (2022) yet Splatoon 3 didn't sell as much as Splatoon 2.

[@AREAlhero]

Yes that's precisely it. An iterative, incrementally better sequel will never outperform the sales of its predecessor on the same system. Significant amounts of players will not choose to reinvest in a similar experience that they already had if they did not love it. The same exact factor is occurring for TotK on a larger scale, because even fewer players will have completed their experience with BotW.

[@madnessarcade7447]

Splatoon. Is a newer ip I don’t think it’s the samething

[@eliserss]

that doesn't explain it though since both splatoon and splatoon 2 were system sellers meanwhile splatoon 3 has fallen off a cliff in terms of sales@@madnessarcade7447

[@BlueAizu_]

@@madnessarcade7447 It's relatively new compared to a longtime staple franchise like Zelda, but Splatoon is downright _beloved_ in Japan (to the point they have Vocaloid style hologram concerts with Callie and Marie) and also sales that are nothing to sneeze at internationally. it's hardly small time.

[@baked7423]

splatoon 3 sold faster and is gonna outsell splatoon 2 eventually. It's closing in will likely outsell by the next holiday.

[@chuckbatmangaming]

20 million copies in the 8th year of a console is still crazy impressive...but I'm sure in this context its a sign to Nintendo that yes, people are ready for new hardware. We're not in 2020 anymore where Animal Crossing became the second best-selling Switch game in mere weeks, sales numbers are definitely going to take a downward turn

[@natoriousthehopeful2786]

I mean I doubted that it would ever sell as well as breath of the wild, given that it was a sequel, but I still absolutely loved tears of the Kingdom: the story was leaps and bounds above everything breath of the wild did, in my opinion

[@Wiseguy1138]

Agreed!

[@mkjjoe]

I think that type of story delivery was more fitting in BOTW, going for more ambitious ideas while "playing it safe" with the same structure is what hinders it. I don't know how much of the drop in sales is due to fans getting over a "honeymoon phase" quicker, and how much is just the current market constantly one-upping for attention... but I agree it was a safe bet that it wouldn't surpass BOTW in sales anytime soon.

[@a3f32r2]

Nintendo 100% knew TOTK wouldn’t sell to the same level as BOTW. Sequels almost always sell less.

[@John6-40]

​@@mkjjoeImo, the decline in sales is a clear sign that the people who want traditional Zelda to return noped out of TotK. With how slow sales are now, I'd say that TotK will consistently be 10 million behind BotW on the sales charts. People who love these games don't want to hear this, but the games are divisive for a reason. Some just aren't feeling this type of Zelda anymore.

[@JohnKerbaugh]

Unlike most sequel content I think TOTK more than most does not demand playing the prior work.

[@DeformedLunchbox]

This is a bit of a clickbait title.

[@Italian_Rock]

TOTK was a tough spot for me… it was my GOTY for 2023 but before the game came out I did feel like it was DLC. They never showcased enough “new” which there was plenty of… ex the depths

[@mkjjoe]

New but rather shallow

[@John6-40]

I bought both and played both for around 400 hours each. I'm ready for a return to more traditional Zelda. Even though I doubt that's going to happen. I'm sure plenty of people who bought BotW but not TotK did so for that reason. They need to bring the Nintendo charm back to Zelda.

[@chunkymonkey7983]

​@@John6-40It's plenty charming

[@APsGTG]

@@chunkymonkey7983it’s most definitely not. BotW was charming and exciting because it was new. BotW 1.1 I mean Tears of the Kingdom was not new and this was not good. Less than 1 million sales over the holidays when BotW did more than double that I believe.

[@redcrimson1028]

Clickbait video smh. This video makes no sense. Totk sold 10 million in three days and then 21 million in a month! What more do you want? It took 7 years for botw to sell 30 million. Totk sold near that in one month.

[@Melee_Yoshi]

It helps that BOTW was a launch title for the Switch and wasn’t $70

[@PureBloodedwolf]

Good point

[@theteeman]

That is true and it was a Wii U port as well with reasonable cost and like you said, it wasn't $70

[@John6-40]

Helps, yes. The biggest reasons? Probably not. Zelda is always going to get attention, so the game should sell well if it's a great game. Look online at any post discussing TotK and all you will see are people arguing about the direction of Zelda. This is the main reason for disappointing sales. Half of the Zelda fan base can't stand these games.

[@APsGTG]

@@John6-40BotW was fine. Tears of the Kingdom was an utter cashgrab that shouldn’t have taken anywhere near 6 years to come out. Worst Zelda ever released, felt like EA made it. Theres a reason baldurs gate won game of the year over Tears of the Kingdom.

[@noelsilva8887]

I’m sorry but Nintendo never said they was disappointed. The only people are saying this is you tubers that are spoiled and just always look at all the bad things about a game selling 20+ million?

[@ToxDuris]

Ppl are so dumb. Yes the game sold 20M, the problem is that it only sold 700k during its first holiday quarter. It was extremely front loaded and the game has no legs. That's the problem.

[@mrwho995]

Amazing how so many people completely missed the point of K&K's video.

[@mrshmuga9]

People either didn’t watch the video, have zero comprehension, or just really hurt by any potential negative news on Nintendo. And it’s not even really negative to the customer so they shouldn’t feel hurt anyway.

[@Patrick-cc7qm]

They charge $70 for it. There was no way they expect the sequel would outsold the first one in less than a year. Also the switch games sold well in a time where everyone was lock inside their house during covid. The first one has dlc's and even went one sales a couple of time. They have to be crazy to expect higher sales number.

[@chunkymonkey7983]

I don't think they did expect higher sales numbers.

[@benmalsky9834]

You guys really don’t understand how amazing 20 million copies sold in less than a year truly is.

[@WhyYouWahYoo]

They do. Nintendo doesn’t. Watch the video bro

[@benmalsky9834]

@@WhyYouWahYoo I think it WILL probably outpace BOTW someday.

[@medeusmediuth7543]

I think their point is that Nintendo doesn't understand that

[@benmalsky9834]

@@medeusmediuth7543 They probably do.

[@rolandodr98]

I think some people are overlooking the fact that TOTK spuld over 18 million in 1.5 months, but could barely sell 2 million in 6 months (including the holiday season)

[@John6-40]

KZbin content for the game also fell off a cliff. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Zelda die off so fast after massive hype.

[@waffles245]

​@@John6-40 it's cuz botw was mysterious. Totk ruined the mystery

[@edwardbrennan3963]

You know what. I think the software slowing down is due to nintendo never doing selects or any decent sale. People have budgets, and if you want to move software, you need to take a hit on the older titles that people want to experience so they have more money to buy the newer titles.

[@seraph4581]

Just feels like this game felt overall. It came in swinging and died very fast.

[@DonCapybara_86]

The comments here are missing the near halt that TOTK sales have reported since last financial report, that's really weird for a game like this. Really keen eye of Kit and Krysta.

[@MichaelSalinger]

I don't get this line of reasoning. Breath of the Wild launched in 2017 and sold 4.7 million copies in its first two quarters, and another 4.2 million over the holiday quarter, for 8.4 million in its first year. By December 2019, a full two and a half years after it had been released, BotW was still only at 16.34 million sold, $4m less than Tears has sold to date after only 3 quarters. The next data we have for Breath of the WIld is March of 2021, at which point it had 22.1 million. Tears is fine.

[@jenniferhamels1176]

Another way to look at it. BotW came out when the Switch had a lower install base. But the attach rate was way higher compared to Tears.

[@thierrys85]

​@@jenniferhamels1176Early games, especially launch titles, always have bigger attach rates, that's just because the number of games available at launch is extremely limited. Heck, Snipperclips probably had a higher attach rate than TotK early on. That's because there were only a handful of games out, compared to literally thousands right now.

[@MichaelSalinger]

@@jenniferhamels1176 Sure, but one has to recognize that a) the number of total switch units at the time was far, far lower than it is now, and b) the games available for that system were far, far fewer. The attach rate for BotW is necessarily going to be much higher than Tears, and there is no way that a title released at this stage of the Switch's lifecycle (given how unbelievably successful the Switch has been) can ever hope to reach the attach rate of the early games. Tears would have to sell about 64 million copies to match the attach rate of BotW....

[@mrwho995]

Not to be snarky but I think you answered your own question. Breath of the Wild sold 4.2 million over its first holiday quarter. Tears of the Kingdom came out later in the year, with an install base 5 times as large, and sold less than 1 million in the holiday quarter. What K&K are saying in the video is that Nintendo will be disappointed in how quickly Tear's sales fell. Going from 18.5 million in its first quarter to 1 million the quarter after and then less than 1m the quarter after that is an extremely sharp drop-off in comparison.

[@John6-40]

​@@mrwho995Exactly. With that steep of a decline in sales, there's no chance that TotK will catch up to BotW. Not in attachment rate or overall sales. I'd say Nintendo massively underestimated the people who want more traditional Zelda.

[@robertwahlstrom]

I also think the problem might be that Nintendo is not lissening to the fanbase that want 2 things. A bit more mature story, sure they don't need to go full Heavy Rain where you cut of your own fingers and stuff but they can still add a bit of mystery and drama to the story. Ganon being evil for just the sake of it sorta don't cut it now addays, even Zelda 3 had more mystery and drama in it's story, even today I can remember Aghnahim sending one of the maidens to the dark realm with no clue on how to get her back and you can also feel how serious they took their villains back then. Now it feels like villains are an after thought. People want a bit more fleshed out traditional dungeons. I mean Xenoblade have a million times more interesting villains in every single game.

[@Evenmoresteven]

I will say that I loved Tears of the Kingdom, but I didn't have the same urge to explore everything simply because I spent so much time in that world playing BotW. I would've played it a lot more had there been a new map. And the depths doesn't count, it got monotonous and boring lol.

[@gintoki4838]

Clickbaity title, do better guys

[@NishiOxnard]

Interesting video, thank you! I'm always curious about these numbers but even when I do see them it's hard to really get what they mean or compare them to other things. And normally maybe I'd think the text about only focusing on Switch means no other consoles, so good to hear how that might not be the case up ahead!

[@dampflokfreund]

Thank you for this very interesting video. My own little theory is why it sold so well at launch and then kinda dropped is because people were likely expecting something else. For example, if I had known the story would be set in the past just like BOTW, having to find korok seeds again, venturing into the same-y looking shrines and dungeons that use that terminal system again and would have known the game's depths and sky islands were so repetitive, I would not have bought the game, even as a hardcore Zelda fan. Now as people play it and share their opinions months after the release, and the flaws become apparent. In hindsight, I regret my decision to buy the game. Personally, I don't think the game will have legs and I predict 2 million more copies sold at maximum in 3-4 years.

[@matheusgenaro]

This is a weird analysis. I understand you have your previous knowledge on the inside of Nintendo and it is true that Zelda sold "less" during the holiday period than what some may expect (around +1M instead of "only" 780M this quarter). But it is a $70 game (so 20M copies is like 23M in revenue compared do BotW), it is a sequel (extremely difficult to surpass the original in sales) and it was one of the fastest selling games ever for Nintendo. You simply don't sell a gigantic volume that fast and keep the pace as it is (unless your are GTA). Also, the million sellers this quarter (Mario Kart, Smash, Animal Crossing...) were all games sold as bundle with consoles (which counts to the sell through).

[@John6-40]

No, you're the one being weird and fanboying an explanation rather than being honest. Sales have slowed massively. To the point where the game sold 18 million in one month, and 2 million in the last 6 months. That's terrible. At that rate, it'd take roughly 7 years to pass BotW, and that's assuming BotW didn't sell another copy. The sales have been slow regardless of how anyone tries to spin this.

[@shigerumiyamoto9612]

​@@John6-40botw took 4 years to reach 20 million though..

[@matheusgenaro]

@@John6-40 but what would be a reasonable expectation of sales? For instance, before the game released, I thought a 25M life sales would be achievable, I never expected it to surpass BotW. How many units it should have sold during Q3 to not be considered a "disappointment"?

[@APsGTG]

@@John6-40this is why I worry for the future of Nintendo. These fanboys will praise Nintendo into the dirt. No matter what lacklustre product this company releases, these people will praise it like it’s divinity, giving Nintendo no reason to improve. Hopefully the poor sales numbers speaks to Nintendo more than these fans.

[@XradicalD]

I think Nintendo hit that golden spot between the advantages of having a "home console" and a "portable console". As in usually people buy only 1 home console but are willing to buy multiple portable consoles (Like the game boy family), and the switch takes advantage of the later (We have 3 switches on our home for example). So I don't think they're in a rush to drop anything new. While the industry is in dire need for Nintendo to push the power of the Switch, I don't think they really feel pressured to do so with the system sales. And I assume they don't want to repeat the Wii U's mistake of "the same (successful) system (the wii) but more powerful!", I know the Wii U's issue was more broad than that but I'm sure they do have that in mind. At any rate, I do wish the Switch got a refresh but I'm not holding my breath on it. If it happens, neat, if it doesn't, I'm not losing sleep over it.

[@John6-40]

A new Switch is coming out this year. Write that down. Read between the lines. They have no major game announcements (yet) this year. Patents have been filed. They're pushing out a bunch of smaller remakes, which often happens at the end of a console life span. Also, Switch sales have definitely slowed down. Not to mention, we're at 7 years. That's already longer than any Nintendo console ever. This can't happen soon enough. The Switch is laughably underpowered by 2024 standards. The thing is closer to a PS3 than a PS4.

[@mrshmuga9]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@John6-40People said the same thing last year, lol. The only possible signs are remakes and rumours about the hardware getting more specific. Anything will be considered “slowing down” when you’re talking the post-Covid bump, and the fact that market saturation is extremely high. But console sales aren’t the whole story. The amount of people _still playing_ (and buying software) is very high. One of the reasons why devs aren’t abandoning making PS4/XBO ports either when even mid-late developed PS4/XBO games could’ve been current-gen exclusives. “Switch is laughably underpowered” so what? It’s sold better than PS4 and Xbox One. Clearly power that doesn’t matter. It was underpowered when it launched, because it’s a handheld. A lot of the most successful consoles were the least powerful during their generations. It’s not as important as people make it out to be. A Switch successor is inevitable, but people have been crying wolf (including with Switch Pro, which never had any concrete evidence) for years now.

[@FirstEmperor]

@@John6-40 But it's not longer than any Nintendo handheld (which the Switch certainly is). The original Game Boy was in its 7th year when Pokémon came out in Japan.

[@samantharacheldiaz1161]

Can we say this video is totally unecesary

Related to sales numbers & as a massive Splatoon fan, Splatoon 3 sold around 10mil within the first couple launch months and has only sold around another 1mil SINCE?! Something about that doesn’t make sense to me.

[@spinzaku97]

Seeing TOTK get less than a million for the holiday season was certainly a big shock, but it probably boils down to a couple reasons. First, BOTW is $10 cheaper than TOTK. Second, TOTK is a sequel which kinda makes it less accessible than its predecessor for someone who doesn't know what they're getting into.

[@crudeprudedude8195]

I feel like most people commenting here forgot/don't know that one of the main things that recur during Kit and Krysta's time in Nintendo for more than a decade is this is a company that always sets up massive sales goals that keeps getting pushed higher and higher that it becomes impossible to reach. (And of course they wouldn't say this out loud 20 mil is not nothing lol) With that and the game's dropoff during the holidays, I am not shocked that Nintendo would be disappointed

[@upsidedownjim]

A sane comment, nice to see!

[@mrshmuga9]

Especially when a lot of their games have longevity. This seems to have fizzled out almost instantly.

[@crudeprudedude8195]

​@mrshmuga9 2023 was just packed with too many games! If we probably even had half of the amount of bangers from last year, I think TotK would've stuck around longer than it did

[@mrshmuga9]

@@crudeprudedude8195 There's plenty of heavy hitters coming out every year, and yet those other Switch/Nintendo games still had better longevity. It would only be a good explanation if it release the same week as another huge game. But that would only impact initial sales, and likely have better longevity. But that didn't really happen. Street Fighter 6 and Final Fantasy 16 were the closest heavy hitters and they were a month away. So it had plenty of space to get initial sales. I think it just wasn't as interesting to people as BotW and moved on to playing other games. Hence why Christmas sales were low. If someone waited for Christmas to get it, by that time they might've seen what the game is about, find it not that interesting, and instead got something more interesting (or new to still be in the honeymoon phase) like Mario Wonder or whatever.

[@mrshmuga9]

TotK might also be intimidating to BotW’s new/casual players with the vehicle crafting tools. Even if it isn’t that complicated (to make or create solutions), it might appear that way and turn them off. Plus, launching so early in the year, by Christmas time people might have wanted different games launching around there (like Mario Wonder). Plus plus, they came out pretty early saying “no DLC” so there wasn’t a chance for a second bump either.

[@TriforceWisdom64]

I've been fairly negative to this game, but seeing all the comments on this video criticizing it, I feel like that misses the point. Tears could have been objectively the best game ever made and would have barely sold more. BotW was THE must-have title for every Switch owner for the first year or two, and it was the only first-party open-world exclusive on Switch until Scarlet & Violet. That game was guaranteed to have high sales and long legs. That Tears has done as well as it has so far is impressive, not disappointing.

[@jacobroundy2055]

Agreed, a lot of people seem to be conflating the quality of the game with the reason why it's not selling more. I just don't think that's the case - there are a lot of other factors at play here. And 20 million at $70 is pretty damn amazing!

[@56ty_]

I need to see the exact numbers, but one key difference I saw was the lack of conversation about it post launch. That may be part of the cause.

[@APsGTG]

@@jacobroundy2055less than a million copies sold over the holidays speaks volumes. BotW and Tears of the Kingdom are now selling at the same pace. Tears of the Kingdom didn’t even win game of the year. Reality speaks for this lacklustre game.

[@mrwho995]

I feel like most commenters are misunderstanding what Kit and Krysta were actually saying. They weren't saying Nintendo will be disappointed that Tears of the Kingdom has sold 20 million. They're saying that Nintendo will be disappointed that, despite having such an incredibly strong start, the sales during the Holiday season weren't that great. They're saying Nintendo will be disappointed by the sharp sales dropoff, not that Nintendo will be disappointed by the initial spike. 18 million in the first quarter of release is absolutely outstanding. But 1 million the very next quarter, and then even less during the Holiday season, is kind of awful in comparison.

[@crobinson2624]

20 million units sold in eight months for Zelda Tears of the kingdom is nothing to scoff at compared to 33 million units for Zelda breath of the wild, over a seven year period. I can’t imagine Nintendo being upset with these sales figures.

[@John6-40]

BotW grew with the Switch. There were only roughly 20 million consoles sold in the first year, so BotW had to grow with the install base. TotK didn't have that problem. There are 140 million Switch owners now. So I wouldn't expect TotK to have similar steady sales as BotW did. Hence why the sales stats for TotK have already plummeted to less than 1 million for the Christmas season.

[@kami4242]

Sales of TOTK slowed to a crawl though. It only sold 750,000 between October and December of last year. Pretty uncommon for a game of its size during the holiday season. At the pace it's going it likely will never reach BOTW sales

[@crobinson2624]

@@kami4242 the game released in May last year, most people who wanted the game bought it before Christmas. Not to mention Nintendo embraces the “evergreen” strategy of keeping their games priced at full price and selling them throughout its shelf life.

[@dacienvegas2712]

20 M+ is a huge privilege in this day an age, why would anybody be disappointed?

[@XanderVJ]

It's not that the sales are low, it's that the game seems like it won't be an evergreen title like BotW was. The sales kept falling despite the Holiday season boost, which indicates the game isn't reaching to the entire audience it was supposed to.

[@dacienvegas2712]

@@XanderVJ Or we could wait 7 years and check the sales then. TotK will likely run better on the next console (backwards compatibility) or they will sell it again as a deluxe version. 8 months is a tiny sample, specially for a Nintendo title.

[@superkoopamocha]

By March 2018, BOTW had sold 8.48 million units. I wouldn't believe in the slightest Nintendo is disappointed by TOTK. TOTK had a very impressive boost at the beginning, but that's due to the big Switch install base. It took BOTW 3+ years to hit 20 million And now TOTK is sitting in the evergreen throne, selling 2 million copies every quarter while not being a new game anymore.

[@mkjjoe]

That's all relative to the reference we use, indeed the install base is much bigger from the start so to already have much slower sales soon after release at a lower attach rate, and not selling too much in the holiday of the year it released aren't necessarily encouraging to project. If the goal is to sell as much as possible, not call it a day at arbitrary thresholds. From another perspective yes, 20 million is really great. I guess it'll come down to how they transition to Switch 2 where they'll likely market a performance patch, and if BOTW isn't ported then TOTK will most likely surpass it.

[@John6-40]

By March of 2018, there were only roughly 20 million Switch's in the hands of consumers. When TotK dropped, there were roughly 5 times that many consoles around. Of course TotK sold better initially. That doesn't mean TotK will catch up. Most people who want a Switch have one now. They also have TotK if they want that game. BotW sales stayed steady because more new people were buying consoles. That growth has largely stagnated. So what will cause a huge bump to TotK sales? Do you have an answer for that?

[@Chronoflation]

It's not 2M per quarter. Q3 sold 1M and Q4, holiday season, sold less than 1M. The game sold 18.5M by end of June, 19.5M total by end of September, and now it's barely over 20M after holiday sales. If the holidays couldn't give the game a bump, it is effectively dead. Sales will continue to decline unless they rerelease it on Switch 2, in which case it'll likely launch with a few million more sales, but the Switch version is likely on track for lifetime 25M sales or less, and they were probably expecting to have that many by now, with some 30M+ lifetime. That goal will not be achieved. They're probably regretting how much dev time they gave the game cause I'm sure they have business models that show the game is performing with 6 years of dev time what they'd expect from a 3-4 year dev time release. I'm sure they're regretting spending multiple years of dev time on not increasing their profit a worthwhile amount. Heck, the extra years may have even cost them potential sales, had the game launched in 2022 or 2021

[@mrshmuga9]

@@ChronoflationWell it also launched at $10 more, so it doesn’t necessarily have to sell the same amount of units to equate BotW’s total revenue. Plus BotW has had a bunch of sales. Depending on how much development cost of course. If that extra $10 is because they went over budget and that’s to make the profit per game equivalent to $60 then it’s irrelevant. But yeah, a huge drop-off like that isn’t good, especially when most Switch games (or really, Nintendo in general) are evergreen titles. And not even just ones from the launch year. I haven’t checked, but I think Animal Crossing still sold past the point of Covid hype and after they said DLC would stop. I’m surprised they kinda cut it off early given how well it sold and they released tracks fro Mario Kart. But maybe they want an Animal Crossing ready for Switch 2’s launch year. I can’t imagine it takes much to add some new content though with a smaller team so it’s still weird.

[@APsGTG]

@@John6-40people don’t realise this. They will do anything except accept Tears of the Kingdom was simply a game people didn’t like.

[@Guardian5985]

The game was good imo and had improved mechanics and additional maps in the sky and depths. Some people might've skipped it due to mainly the same map, same game engine, and weren't impressed. I put 300hrs in BotW, but only 120hrs on TotK, mainly because I was familiar with the map and basic mechanics of the game. Overall, it's still a good game, but feels outdated.

[@jaguar4120]

The fact it uses the same map is a huge turn off.

[@John6-40]

As a 43 year old Zelda fan who has played every mainline Zelda, I'm just tired of this style of Zelda and I know I'm far from alone. The map, art style, breaking weapons, and all of the Zelda traditions that they dumped make TotK feel like BotW again, and I never want to play that Zelda again. They need to move on from this and give us something fresh, while also bringing back some linearity and traditional elements. They don't need to fully go back to old Zelda, but they just can't do "this" again.

[@mrshmuga9]

@@John6-40As a traditional fan, I’m _open_ to the idea of an open-world Zelda. I think things like the caves and even something basic like enemy camps do more for the overworld than what you’d usually get in a 3D Zelda game. They were barren. But like with most open-world games, they need to scale it down significantly so they can fill it with worthwhile content. It’s really just enemy camps, and shrines. Caves in Tears are cool… but it’s also not different than camps/shrines, just a better way of incorporating that content. Quests aren’t interesting, mostly forgettable, and the rewards are oftentimes not worth it because it’s just resources you have an abundance of already. Armour is neat, but once you get one with decent defence or can handle extreme heat/cold, it’s mainly cosmetic. But a cosmetic you have to get in pieces (unlike conventional costumes) and since you have no clue where the other ones are without just googling everything, you’ll soon lose interest. Especially when getting them (underground) isn’t particularly fun on its own anyway. But studios foolishly keep pushing for bigger worlds, as if travelling further distances is somehow more interesting than a smaller (yet still big) world with better crafted areas/quests/rewards/etc. like, if BitW was half as big, it’d still be huge and enough room to explore. How much more/better quality content they could add because of that, I don’t know for sure, but I’d wager it would help.

[@APsGTG]

@@John6-40BotW was great with what it did in terms of innovating. All they had to do was mix BotW with the older Zelda’s and they’d have created the perfect game. Instead, they expanded upon BotW, made it worse and outdating BotW by putting it in the same world completely removing the thrill of exploration, and giving the game the EXACT same format of gameplay (wake up on a plateau-like area, get the four runes, jump off, go to four main areas to do four dungeons, go to Ganon. shrines, koroks, and memories instead of a real story. Nothing new. Literally ctrl c ctrl v of BotW). No traditional dungeons. Same world. Barren sky barren depths. Awful story. Same enemies. Just a bad Zelda game overall, worst I’ve ever played.

[@jasonfanclub4267]

But I love that you also release the shorter videos. Sometimes I just can't listen to the whole thing

[@John6-40]

Agreed. I want to put these 2 in my KZbin rotation, but I rarely watch videos that are longer than 20 minutes. Let alone over an hour.

[@zelda_stark]

This was very interesting to hear more about what Nintendos point of view is. I wish they would make another random game like Triforce Heroes though or the two from the DS. I just miss the old games but this video was informative on where Nintendo is coming from.

[@kevinsmith163]

Really? I thought you two were above making clickbait videos like this. Nothing about TOTK’s sales are disappointing. Where are ya'll getting this information from that Nintendo is disappointed?

[@Oceanandskylinevidss]

Thank you both for giving us insight on how and what Nintendo thinks.

[@WhyYouWahYoo]

1. Seeing Pikmin 4 sell 3 mil was awesome. 2. Im actually the opposite of you guys; I no longer think the Switch will beat PS2, I really thought this holiday would get us there, but now… ehhhh I dunno. 3. Tears will be fine; they’ll release an updated Switch 2 version and it’ll probably catch up eventually 4. What’s up with Splatoon 3? Amazing sales at the start and now they REFUSE to give updated numbers?!?

[@shigerumiyamoto9612]

Switch is very likely to hit that ps2 numbers. Just because a new console releases doesn't mean they will canibalize the switch sales imediately. PS2 reached its number in over 10 years in the market.

[@hododod246]

Selling 21 million in 8 months is better than selling 21 million copy in 4 years (that is what happened to totk). The reason is that 1 dollar of today is more valuable than 1 dollar of tomorrow. Also given totk 70 dollar. Nintendo even might have made more money from totk than botw. Having said that selling less than a million copy during september, october, november and december period is concerning. During these months there were insane amount of negativity around totk on internet especially when the game awards nominees were announced. People really wanted totk to fail so that BG3 would win.

[@John6-40]

Good. Hopefully this will make Nintendo realize that the generic open world of BotW and TotK sold well because people love the Switch (140 million sold and counting) and Zelda, but a LOT of people who bought those games walked away disappointed after the initial excitement wore off. The games were incredible. Yet missing that Nintendo "magic" for lack of a better word.

[@berserkguts6212]

Game sold more than FF7 remake + rebirth and 16 combined and with a smaller budget and is called dissapointing LOL

[@baked7423]

People not getting why nintendo might be disappointed by this. Yes it's a bit silly and even if they actually aren't, the falloff is pretty big which u could look at two ways, 1. is the hype was so big everyone bought it and 2. everyone who wanted it bought it and now it's mostly a few stragglers who are trying totk before botw or those who didnt like botw and are trying totk which doesnt seem that large or they didnt recapture their interest. Obviously selling 19mil in like 4 months is good and over 20 in less than a year and Almost selling a mil each quarter is good which vastly surpasses botw but the growth isnt quite there yet. Nintendo did not develop the game for 6 years just for it to fall off. Even disregarding the fact launch titles have an advantage, at this rate totk wont catch up since botw is still selling almost as much as totk atp in the lifecycle which is the point. Plus if we are transitioning to a new console there's a solid chance it flatlines considering people will move on. Factors for why are likely cuz possible $70 price tag or people felt it was too similar. If the holidays didnt reinvigorate sales then the long run prob isn't which is where the disappointment lies. On a more positive outlook, this means there is actually incentive beside good will for nintendo to have backwards compatibility or make a next gen edition/patch. Maybe a better title might be ‘why Nintendo might be disappointed’ but I digress For reference, there was news today from SE about how they will change/improve plans to sell their games in the future i.e. focusing on quality over quantity. Despite ff16 selling 3 million copies, it flatlined hard and while met expectations, didnt meet their high end target. It's no wonder companies are trying to expand and attempted live services because honestly nintendo is the only company to really have their evergreen titles sell a lot over long periods of time. Nintendo themselves told ubisoft that similar games on same systems can struggle to sell more even if they do good. So u can say they expected it and are satisfied but also they lowkey wished for more. Remember that this is only Kit & krysta's perspective and even if they are wrong about how nintendo feels, technically they aren't wrong in the bigger picture. Look at another game in a similar spot to BOTW & TOTK: xenoblade chronicles. While xc3 sold faster than any game in the series approaching 2 million copies, it is sorta is falling behind xc2 which is still selling decently well YoY. Eventually it might surpass but it also might not and possibly could even be under XCDE which is around similar sales which would be disappointing. Obviously factors such as being the 3rd game and the other games being out longer which extends to Zelda as well but considering these games are marketed and made with new players in mind, you'd expect to see growth. So while sales are good, from a business perspective it's easy to see why high expectations are very common (tho square takes it to the next level) One final example is BDSP, it was mixed online and lambested by some fans but sold 15 million copies. One might look at that and say "oh gamefreak doesnt have to improve" or "people still bought it see" but that game dropped off the hardest. Legends arceus which came out a few months after in a pretty tame release date, is about to surpass it despite it also being only a single version. People who wanted BDSP got it but afterwards no one wass interested. Thats a way nintendo might look at TOTK which to them would make them feel pretty mixed

[@corey2232]

No, they're definitely not.

[@TakisEnjoyer]

TotK sales will never go above of what BotW did and i think Nintendo understand that. That's kinda the reason why rarely see direct sequels from them, it's hard to sell more when one game is fully connected to another.

[@glentendo285]

"the game hasn't sold as much as Super Mario Party" SMP came out 6 years ago....TOTK hasn't even been out a full year yet!! LOL. I guarantee you SMP did not even sell 10 million in its first year. Love you guys but these takes are really odd and feel like you are just trying to spin a negative take for content. TOTK was almost the biggest game of the year, losing to Hogwarts Legacy by only 2 million. Keep in mind....Hogwarts is a MULTIPLATFORM game....and it came out MONTHS before. TOTK...on ONE platform...was almost the biggest game of the year ahead of Call of Duty etc. This game is an undeniable mega mega hit. I do not understand the glass half empty takes here. Expectations for Zelda are just insane.

[@Ninjondo777]

It’s so fascinating to hear your guy’s insider interpretation of sales data and what it means for the company, awesome video

[@cxa24]

I suspect that sucks for me although it's certainly wonderful that Zelda has evolved beyond nerds

[@maliciousbugman]

@@cxa24I too am glad that Zelda stopped being Zelda and instead became a game for people who didn't give Zelda the time of day before.

[@alwaysbroke6533]

I would have liked to get tears of the kingdom, but I'm not made of money and super Mario wonder is more fun to play with the family.

[@panasit]

Of course they will say 2024 will focus on the Switch, they want to sell the pink Peach joycon.

[@KingSigy]

I think the one thing to remember is that ToTK has only been out for 7-8 months. BoTW has been out for seven years. While it could potentially be disappointing that ToTK didn't sell another 5-6 million over the holidays, it is still selling at a faster rate than BoTW did.

[@pinto5012]

TOTK’s low holiday sales is possibly due to consumers opting for a different game, like SMBW, due to the $70 vs $60 price difference

[@John6-40]

Options hasn't slowed games like BotW, Odyssey, Mario Kart or dozens of others. Sometimes we just need to accept reality. Then we can figure out why that happened and what can be done. Imo, a lot of people are tired of the BotW style of Zelda.

[@XanderVJ]

BotW also had a very strong competition during its first holiday season. Don't forget we had "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" and freaking "Super Mario Odyssey" then.

[@deadpoolcoolkidg1222]

​@@John6-4010 million sales in 3 days says differently🤡😝

[@deadpoolcoolkidg1222]

​@@John6-4020 million sales in under a year says otherwise🤡🤣😝

[@chocolocojames213]

I managed to get the collector's edition of the game, but I just couldn't get into it after about 20 hours. Do love the art style tho 😊😊😊

[@cardarom]

I think it’s fine honestly. TOTK is now the second best-selling Zelda game and it’s in ONE platform. No other game has that, not even BOTW. I think they’ll embrace the feedback, cash the money, and move on; but the feedback from fans would’ve been enough to move on from the formula. Sales are fine

[@MajoraWaffle]

what is that headline??? stop trying to herald yourselves as messiahs of knowledge for a company you don't even work for anymore. somehow i severely doubt 20+ mil in less then a year is at all a disappointment to even the most bullheaded of corporations.

[@janstrom3482]

If Nintendo is disappointed, it is nothing compared to my disappointment of them reusing the botw map for totk... Totk is fine but not magic due to that "simple" fact.

[@mahendrap1960]

Also bad story design

[@APsGTG]

And bad game design. Ultimate freedom with nothing to use it for. “Make your own gameplay” is lazy developing. This isn’t Minecraft.

[@mahendrap1960]

@@APsGTG yes dude, I kinda miss storytelling from zelda Ocarina of time sd sense of adventure

[@amandaslough125]

​@@APsGTGMinecraft is better. Better balance. More meaningful choices with your freedom. Tears is like making a game about the Minecraft Redstone system and forgetting there's supposed to be an action adventure puzzle game with it.

[@APsGTG]

@@amandaslough125 lol exactly. “Create any redstone contraption to travel anywhere!…” but why?

[@matthewbarrios1028]

I think it is also very important to keep in mind that the pandemic provided a massive stimulus to home gaming. Kids and parents all needed things to do while in lockdown up to when things really started to open back up. That is why 2021 has so many sold. You couldnt find a Switch in 2020 hardly on the shelf. I bought my daughter a Switch Lite because the regular ones were sold out everywhere. I hope they are taking that in to consideration with their new console. If 20+ million copies sold of TOTK is "disappointing," console sale next gen are going to be devastating. I do not believe the next one will sell as well. It is also the trend of Nintendo consoles. NES better than SNES, GB better than GB Color, DS more than 3DS, Wii more than Wii U.

[@XanderVJ]

Again, the problem is not that they sold 20 million copies. The problem is that it only sold 740,000 copies on its first holiday season, after selling less than one million the previous quarter. In a game that was expected to be evergreen, ie a game that keeps selling at a relatively high pace after launch. Those are the expectations that haven't been met. And they weren't THAT unreasonable considering that BotW sold a whopping 2 million copies during its first holiday season alone, and kept selling around 1.5 million new copies almost every quarter after that.

[@Scarftail]

So I'm not aware of any sequel that was released for the same console that matched or exceeded its predecessor (with the very rare exception of Kirby). This also happened with Splatoon 3, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and likely also Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Late-life sequels break records at launch and then sharply decline shortly afterwards because they sell to the already saturated market versus games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Breath of the Wild that release early and are system sellers.

[@thierrys85]

Where are we getting this information that Nintendo is disappointed in these sales from? "Source: trust me bro"?

[@MaximumCarnage-]

Clickbait

[@anthonyzayler5449]

They both worked in marketing at Nintendo for many years, so they have insight in how the sales team think atleast.

[@fernandoaleta9807]

They literally worked there for more than a decade

[@808zhu]

They should do an expansion of the game, particularly adding to the ultrahand mechanic 😀 I could play a whole game built on that alone.

[@SebastianSkadisson]

I think you got the right idea. To me the best indicator for a console's lifetime is how many Tripple A publishers other than the manufacturer still release their big new games on it. And i feel like its already slowing down on that front for the Switch.

[@NOMAD-_-]

Is that why it’s not getting dlc while breath of the wild did

[@MikeSpangler5]

This is such clickbait, do better. The game sold over 20 million in less then one year. To try and extrapolate all these silly conclusions by marking it as a "disappointment" is incredibly shortsighted.

[@skandashiva1805]

Did Nintendo say they were disappointed with TOTK sales?

[@LeveledHeadGamer]

Slowness? 20 mill in under a yr? Please

[@mkjjoe]

With a 130+ million install base

[@LeveledHeadGamer]

@mkjjoe 9 months, bro... BOTW has only sold 30plus in years 7 years, which means TOTK has already sold 67% of the BOTW numbers

[@mkjjoe]

@@LeveledHeadGamer yes but it's relative to potential buyers and how quickly sales speed can evolve. BOTW had a considerably smaller start because of a naturally much smaller install base, but proportionally it had an almost perfect attach rate and kept strong for years. It was under 10M in its two first years and surpassed 20M in the third. It's hard to compare with different contexts and periods (like the pandemic). After a huge start TOTK "only" sold around 800k copies for the holiday quarter and BOTW still sold over 300k. We'll see how it goes for TOTK which may be pushed by backward compatibility on a Switch 2 and maybe a performance patch, but the comparison isn't as easy as saying it sold a lot.

[@KlaasKerkhof]

TotK was an incredibly boring game in my opinion. This is coming from someone who loved BotW and was super hyped for TotK. Wether the next game is open or linear, they should definitely make the world much smaller and less empty and with less grinding.

[@fabioalvesshow]

Everytime i see both of you the first thing who came to my mind is "Nintendo minute is never a minute" ❤

[@PieSniper]

I just think Nintendo is going to string us along as long as they possibly can and have us buying lots of games on what is now effectively dead hardware. You literally can't play first party Switch games online on anything less than a business speed internet connection, which is ABSURD. I think we don't see a February Direct at all and they're literally just trying to makes fools of the lot of us.

[@upsidedownjim]

Did Nintendo do much in the way of marketing for TOTK over the Holidays? Maybe their singular focus on the newest game has hurt them a bit. Also, have marketing geared towards casuals who picked up BOTW - explain why they should care and not just hardcore Zelda fans. I liked exploring more in TOTK cause I could fly around and get to locations easier plus the map tracker. Could be an appeal to casuals.

[@kyoudai5567]

March 2024 will be the Switch's 7th year anniversary; and it only then will be entering and just then beginning its 8th year❤ @Krysta

[@francoperalta5986]

Did anyone at Nintendo actually say that they are or is this putting words in their mouth? I mean sequels selling half as well as the previous game is a systematic occurrence. Look at past Zelda sequels, like Majora's Mask and Spirit Tracks, they never do as well as their direct predecessors. They must know this.

[@weforgot]

I feel like TOTK will get re-released on the Switch 2 and I feel like it will sell a bunch once that launches. I would play it with 4K ray tracing. The game is already amazing, but I feel like on new hardware it will really shine!

[@matteogagliardi8688]

I think a lot of people that don’t necessarily play a lot of video games probably bought BOTW because as Kit said it’s kind of been the “if you get a switch you should get this game” game throughout the years. But then probably didn’t play it that much mainly because its a long game and then of course these people wouldn’t feel inclined to buy the sequel. So that’s why I think Tears of the Kingdom wouldn’t have quite the same sales. I don’t think it reflects the quality of the game at all.

[@oddishu]

1:16 I'm sorry but how does Krysta always manage to get the time frame wrong? Lol. If the Switch officially came out in March of 2017 and if we're in February of 2024, would't that mean the Switch has only been out for 6 years and 11 months? Like I understand that the Switch was officially revealed in October of 2016, and people that have been working for Nintendo (Kit and Krysta) have most likely known about the Switch since maybe, 2015? It might seem way longer to them than us "commoners" but Idk. It's just a pet peeve of mine when people exaggerate the date/time frame. Like when the Switch officially hits 7 years on March 3rd, 2024 and when we hit 7 years and 1 month on April 3rd 2024, people will round up to 8 years. Like no. Thats not how time/rounding up works.

[@upsidedownjim]

They are saying after March 3rd 2024 it will have completed 7 years and be in its 8th year. Being a month away from that is not unreasonable to start saying 8th year. Like a new born baby is zero years old in its first year of life or when someone dies and is say 70 years and 4 months you’d say they passed in their 71st year.

[@EthanMiguelScott]

I mean, but is that hope of beating PS2 too alluring and enough to make Nintendo fumble this transition?

[@mrwho995]

The perception of the game seems to have got a fair bit more negative in the past few months, at least online. Probably a lot of that is just because people who disliked it were complaining about it for longer than the fans were praising it, but I wonder if that seeming shift in consensus damaged the tail of the sales. Obviously, even if sales tapered off faster than Nintendo wanted, I'm sure they'll be ecstatic about the sales in a broader sense.

[@mkjjoe]

We can see that in franchises with a passionate fan base, Zelda is no stranger to it but after BOTW expectations put TOTK in a particularly intense spotlight. It faces everything people wanted and didn't get, but also some design choices that enough people aren't too happy with. It's funny because 90% of the constructive criticism we've seen for the last couple months is often dismissed as a hate trend, but this is criticism I've seen and shared myself within two weeks of the game's release. There's also been the infamous interview with Aonuma where he appears to dismiss concerns about non-linearity, but it was blown out of proportions based on a translation without a lot of context. However I do wonder how the more "hardcore" part of the community affects sales. Critical and negative reviews are only part of posts and videos but there's a lot of people going wild with the mechanics and not taking it too seriously. I think it fundamentally has more to do with being a rather safe sequel in a busy year.

[@APsGTG]

⁠@@mkjjoelol I saw you on another Zelda video talking about how trash totk was, keep it up. There’s a good reason it didn’t win game of the year.

[@mkjjoe]

@@APsGTG tbf I wouldn't have spent countless hours in it or given it Best Action/Adventure if it was literally trash 😄 It has qualities but suffers as a sequel and could be deeper in important parts. I share the frustrations but it helps to be kinda neutral about pros and cons, we want to see the best bits in future games.

[@Abram2202]

I’m glad Nintendo is trying to innovate for the next generation of Zelda. Leave botw/totk in the past and focus on the future of the franchise. I would really like to see them go back to a more mature look and make use of the next generational graphic capabilities

[@llauram3650]

That is a huge drop from the initial sales, which I think shows the audience for ToTK was much less casual than BotW. Tears of the Kingdom was just too complicated for a mainstream audience.

[@a.jthomas6132]

If there is a way to fixed the Tears of the Kingdom story is to give the game it's own DLC side story. And since it is divided into two, why couldn't have a playable Princess Zelda with her own gameplay that is much differ than Link's? Alot of fans really wanted to see more of Hyrule of the distant past, get into more in depth of Ganondorf's background, Zelda have her own time travel adventures while Queen Sonia trains her to mastered her Recall abilities, and exploring the Zonai Origins. I think it would of been a great DLC, along with the Master Mode, if not for the decision Fujibayashi and Aonuma had made in canceling any DLC plans.

[@legomaster2538]

Don’t forget Kass.

[@soccerman0021981]

I think it's more of a case where BotW oversold because of the hype of the Switch launch combined w/the new direction for the Zelda series. There were lots of new players brought into the series simply because it was the "it" game to play at the time on the new hardware & they were curious to try it out. TotK selling 20 million is nothing to be disappointed about at all.

[@DGFTardin]

I'm not holding my breath but I hope this make them reconsider pricing games at 70$. That would be a positive aspect of these negative news.

[@SolidPython2099]

Not gonna happen

[@adam145]

They sold 20 million copies in a few month. I think that sent a pretty clear message lol

[@leemo5580]

The reason im didnt buy TOTK is because im waiting for the Switch 2 hoping it would be enhanced with faster load time. Idk if there are people thinking same as me.

[@upsidedownjim]

Furukawa’s comment from a Bloomberg article: The existing Switch will be Nintendo’s “main business” heading into 2024, President Shuntaro Furukawa said on a conference call after the earnings report. The company’s plan for the next fiscal year will be shared at its next earnings briefing, he added. Too bad the exact quote isn’t included but as written Switch 2 could be revealed in their next earnings call.

[@andrewreynolds5720]

The "QUOTES" should be around the "HEADING INTO" part..........its all about the wording people

[@trixniisama]

Must be annoying to see everyone misinterpret what you said in the video lmao

[@mrhobs]

The lack of story and any serious motivation in BOTW made me hesitate to pick up TOTK… idk if I’ll ever even give it a fair chance… maybe some distant day…

[@amandaslough125]

If your local library system has games, I recommend getting it through there. Or borrow it from a friend. If you gal in love with it, then give it a proper sale.

[@mrhobs]

@@amandaslough125 Yeah, good idea. Betting my library can get ahold of this for me... but honestly, there are two many games in my backlog as it is. Even small indie games take me a long time. Not complaining, just got a lot to look forward to without TOTK. But yeah, maybe if I ever properly finish BOTW, I'll be interested in trying it out.

[@cesarswc13]

everyone who bought the first game will buy this too since it enhances everything on the first game to its limits and all the added features its usually what people do.

[@saxoman1]

Its wild seeing so many commenters (willfully?) misinterpret what you guys are saying about TOTK sales lol. But that title being a little clickbaity doesn't help. But I agree that the holiday sales are weirdly low for TOTK.

[@cloudhill]

They had to have a reasonable forecast for TOTK, with plans already in place for it to be ready for the next console, so hitting over 20+mil after 8 months seems like it would be above expectations at this point.

[@mrshmuga9]

It’s not 20M after 8 months, it was 18M within the quarter (or shorter) that it released, and then a hard drop-off to 1M from there. Most Nintendo games have a good start with good longevity. This has basically fizzled out already. It’s not going to gain another 10M this point.