Summary
New sales numbers from Japan reveal thatThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomhas had a strong start on the Nintendo Switch. WhileEchoes of Wisdommight not reach the same levels of success asTears of the Kingdomin the region, the initial sales are still encouraging for Nintendo’s latest entry in theZeldafranchise.
The last few years have been exciting forZeldafans. The award-winningTears of the Kingdom, the sequel toBreath of the Wild, wasreleased in 2023, and alive-actionZeldamovie was announcedlater that year. In 2024, Nintendo announcedEchoes of Wisdom, a new top-down perspectiveZeldagame developed by Grezzo. With the game now available on Switch, fans are starting to learn how well it is performing sales-wise.
According to physicalsales data from Famitsu,The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomwas the best-selling title in Japan for the week of September 23-29, 2024. With 201,210 copies sold, the game beat out its nearest competitor,The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki – Farewell, O Zemuria.EA Sports FC 25andMoeyo Otome Doushi: Kayu Koigatariwere the other new games near the top of the list, whileTeam Asobi’s popularAstro Botcracked the top 10 again.Mario Kart 8 DeluxeandAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, two of Nintendo’s perennial favorites, landed in the eighth and 10th spots, respectively.
Estimated Physical Game Sales for Japan (September 23-29, 2024)
[NSW] Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – 200,121 / NEW
[PS5] The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki – Farewell, O Zemuria – 29,554 / New
[PS4] The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki – Farewell, O Zemuria – 17,838 / New
[NSW] EA Sports FC 25 – 13,332 / New
[PS5] EA Sports FC 25 – 13,265 / New
[PS5] Astro Bot – 6,381 / 34,902
[PS4] EA Sports FC 25 – 6,379 / New
[NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 6,030 / 6,011,624
[NSW] Moeyo Otome Doushi: Kayu Koigatari – 5,396 / New
[NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 5,383 / 7,920,305
While sales look promising, the game has fallen short ofTears of the Kingdom’s previous week one sales by a considerable margin. Following its release in May 2023,Tears of the Kingdomsold over 1 million units in its first week in Japan. However,Echoes of Wisdomis a very different game. In addition,Tears of the Kingdomlikely received a hype boost, givenhow innovativeBreath of the Wildwasoriginally on the Switch.
WithEchoes of Wisdomonly out for a few days at the time of this sales data, it will be interesting to see if the game can maintain its momentum in the weeks ahead. It is worth noting that the game has outperformed theLink’s Awakeningremake on Switch by more than 50,000 copies in its first week. The 2019 remake of the Game Boy game went on to be a significant success for Nintendo, selling more than 6.46 million units. Given theNintendo Switch’s much larger install baseat this point in its life cycle,Echoes of Wisdomcould see similar, if not better, results, especially considering the very positive reviews it has received from critics. However, fans will have to wait and see what type of staying power the game has on charts in Japan and other regions.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
WHERE TO PLAY
Save Hyrule—this time with the wisdom of Princess Zelda!The people of Hyrule are being stolen away by strange rifts—and with a certain swordsman among the missing, it’s up to Princess Zelda to save her kingdom in the latest adventure in The Legend of Zelda™ series!Team up with the ethereal creature Tri and use the Tri Rod to create “echoes,” which are imitations of things you find in the environment—then recreate those echoes whenever you like to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Use echoes like water blocks to reach new heights, make bridges out of old beds, throw rocks at foes, or find your own combination of echoes to do things your way. you may even make echoes of monsters to fight at your side in combat!
