Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ‘nears half a million physical sales’ in France

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has reportedly made a flying start in France.

The Switch exclusive sequel was released on Friday and sold almost 500,000 physical copies during its launch weekend, according to Le Figaro (via Google Translate).

By way of comparison, FIFA 23, the best-selling video game last year in France with 1.7 million units, sold 420,000 copies physically across PlayStation, Xbox and Switch consoles during its launch weekend.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom guides:

Master Sword location | How to increase inventory space | How to increase hearts and stamina  | How to get warm clothes | Wingsuit location | Hylian Shield location | Duplication glitch

“On Friday alone, we sold 100,000 copies of Zelda, including 80,000 pre-orders,” said Charlotte Massicault, the multimedia and gaming director for retail chain Fnac . “This is a historic level for Fnac . Saturday evening, we were at 117,000 sales and we crossed 120,000 on Sunday via our website.”

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom also made a fast start at UK retail, comfortably achieving the biggest boxed launch of any game in 2023.

According to figures from market research firm GfK, the title sold 54% higher than Hogwarts Legacy, the best-selling game of the year so far.

Le Figaro claimed Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sold 200,000 physical copies over the weekend in the UK, which is a more digital-oriented market than France.

Further reading

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But Aonuma says the decision isn't up to him

Switch recently surpassed Wii to become France’s best-selling home console ever.

Nintendo claimed in January that one out of every two consoles sold in France last year was a Switch.

987,000 Switch consoles were sold in 2022, taking its lifetime total to 7.1 million and overtaking the previous French record held by Wii of 6.3 million sales.