Hyrule is helping Nintendo rule the sale charts.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was not only the best-selling video game in May, it brought in a slew of new buyers for Nintendo’s hardware. New data from Circana, which tracks video game sales, shows the Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in both unit and dollar sales during May.
Consumer spending on Nintendo’s hardware reached an all-time high for this console cycle in May. And unit sales haven’t been this high since the heart of the pandemic, when people were still under stay-at-home orders and obsessed with Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Industrywide, hardware sales spiked 56% in May, jumping from $216 million in 2022 to $338 million this year. (The PlayStation 5, like the Switch, also saw double-digit dollar sales growth. Xbox sales were lower.)
Game sales were up 9%, according to Circana data. It’s important to note, however, that those numbers are significantly lower than the actual amount, as Nintendo does not disclose data regarding digital sales of its games. Even with that caveat, Tears of the Kingdom has leapt to become the year’s second best selling game in Circana’s rankings.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been a smash since its release. The long-awaited next entry in the Zelda franchise sold more than 10 million copies globally in its first three days of availability, with U.S. Sales topping 4 million.
Nintendo has been counting on Tears of the Kingdom to reinvigorate Switch sales, which have stagnated of late as the console ages. And analysts have been confident it would as well.
“Nintendo has the potential to beat out its guidance as the highly anticipated new Zelda game should help to spur on hardware sales and potentially deliver software sales upside,” said Nick McKay of Wedbush in a note to investors at the game’s launch.
Many analysts also expect Nintendo could cut its price on the Switch later in the year, which would likely give the game, the game system (and the company) another boost.