Horizon Zero Dawn's game director talks about launching close to Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Mathijs de Jonge has commented on Horizon Zero Dawn being released so close to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

I don't think they'll affect each other much, for a variety of reasons.
Both look like they'll sell gangbusters.
I like Horizon because it feels like a mix of Turok, and a futuristic robo-dino version of Far Cry Primal.
Both very good things in my book.
I like Zelda because, well...jesus, where would I even start without ending up bypassing the character limit for posts?XD
Being able to capture and register your own horses, hang-gliding, cooking, climbing as far as your stamina can take you with no need for specific pre-designated grip spots, overworld bosses, 900 Korok Seed puzzles, over a hundred big and small Shrines on top of main dungeons, heart pieces / containers to find, rare ingredients, stamina upgrades, giant claymores and hammers, new races to meet...
The list goes on and on, so I'll just stop there.XD

[Moonman]

I have (well will have in March) PS4 and Switch. Interested in Horizon but Zelda's getting bought/played first. Both games are going to sell really well.

[ZeekQuattro]

When I'm finished with Zelda I'll get Horizon. Two open world games that close to each other is too much for me. By the time I'm finished with Zelda BOTW Horizon will be on some kind of sale anyway so it all works out.

[Gemmol]

never thought about it like that, but I like what you said, it should be on sale after you play 100 hours or more in zelda

[LamerTamer]

Plus they will have patched out most of the bugs in Horizon by then. Nintendo tends to release finished games. Nintendo has this weird idea that games should be complete and work out of the box, What a concept, everyone else not so much. So play the finished Zelda then buy and patch the broken Horizon later, best strategy.

[lizard81288]

Plus Nintendo games never go on sale, unless it is a measly 5% off or something dumb.

[remixx116]

@lamer

Well guerilla games is known for its technical prowess, I doubt you'll be waiting for it to be patched to death.

Especially seeing as though it's already gone gold.

Nice try tho bro

[Deadpooled]

Warning - wonderfulmonkeyman is blarting out at the thought of zelda!

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

And you're spaming for the sake of flame baiting. Congrats; you've earned your markdowns.

[Deadpooled]

'Congrats; you've earned your markdowns.'

And so have you earned the monstrous amount of markdowns for jerking off with Nintendo Defence Force fanboy comments since the Switch reveal. U_R_Weirdos won the 'Most Deluded Comment on N4G - January 2017' award for taking delusion to the next level but you were very close to winning it.

[freshslicepizza]

zelda will definitely have a much higher attach ratio but horizon has well over 55 million potential customers already.

i expect 2 million zelda sales in the first two months and 4 million horizon sales in the first two months.

[Uken12]

It's also launching on Wii U. So I would probably expect more than 2 million. I agree that Horizon has a chance of selling more. But Zelda is one of the biggest titles in gaming period. Horizon is a new IP, which may be a reason why it could not sell as well as Zelda could.
Zelda also had that fantastic trailer. Personally the best game trailer ever. I wasn't sold on BOTW until I saw that.
I hope they both sell very well, these developers deserve it.

[rainslacker]

I doubt they'll effect each other either. It's not like having COD and BF releasing at the same time, where one will cannibalize the sales of the other.

There will be three kinds of people buying Switch

1. The Nintendo devout gamer, which may not own a PS4.
2. The multi-console gamer, which will likely buy both if they're into these kinds of games.
3. The people who are attracted to Swtich through Nintendo's marketing, which will likely buy Zelda.

WiiU may throw a wrench in the grand totals, but not so much that it probably will make that much of a difference.

[rivaldoo777]

Can't wait to see these Nintendo suckers cry when NS flops

[Maybay]

People shouldn't be suprised if Horizon outsells BOTW. The reason? The PS4 has a bigger install base, and Sony will advertise this title very well. Nintendo's doing the same for Switch, though it has a non-existing market (which is only launching with 2 million consoles for March 3), and the Wii U version doesn't seem like it'll be the top selling one (though I may be wrong).

Yes Horizon is a new IP and Zelda is an old critically acclaimed franchise, though numbers do play a factor. 50 million (and up for the PS4), while 13 million + 2 (Switch's launch allotment).

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

it should if were basing it off PS4 install base but looking at how Mario Kart 8 sold about 61% of Wii U install base.
It probably be better to ask which sold better by E3

[Mrveryodd]

Nothing else to play ... Would help that 61%

[_-EDMIX-_]

? and?

That is a far cry from 36 million from the Wii's sales bud.

Factor this.....people bought Mario Kart for Wii that were not known to clearly buy this series generations before....where are they now?

8 million isn't bad, but 8 million again also isn't 36 million.

This means, that its likely Zelda might sell less then the ones that released on the Wii when you factor we are not looking at a 100 million install base. Even when Wii had a MASSIVE install base, by the time Skyword Sword released, that fad was already dead and its sales show greatly how fast those casual fans moved on

Consider...Mario kart has not sold this low since 2003 with Double Dash with the Gamecube.

sooooo yea.

If we go by that, we can assume naturally the sales of Zelda will be lower then the past titles simply based on math.

Twilight Princess sold 8.5 million on both combined. But...Gamecube sold around 20 million, Wii U sold 14....

Switch isn't getting wii sales bud, sooooooo I'm not seeing the combined sales of Wii U and Switch getting Zelda to move those type of numbers. Again....why did Skyword Sword sell 3.5 million even though Wii had more units at the time of its release? Sorry bud, I just don't see that happening.

Mind you, Mario Kart is a more popular series then Zelda. So if Mario Kart isn't move 36 million, Zelda isn't move 8 million buddy. That just seems very unlikely based on how Twilight Princess got those sales. ie Skyword Sword sales show those fans did not return if they were even gamers in the first place as suppose to Wii casuals now likely playing iphone or Facebook games.

I don't know how you factor BOTW outselling something like Horizon with less of an install base and by a series that doesn't actually move Mario Kart numbers.....

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wi...
http://vgsales.wikia.com/wi...

[Utalkin2me]

@OtakuDJK1NG-Rory

Yeah, but if you look at every other Nintendo console it doesn't come close to that. Just the WiiU had very little console sales is why it was 61%. Kind of a skewed number.

[badz149]

I don't know if Horizon ZD will sell gangbusters but now that Sony already knew that the Switch and Zelda both will be released around the same time, I guess they are gonna ramp up marketing for it. I expect it to overshadow or at least match Nintendo's marketing campaign for Switch.

[DillyDilly]

BOTW is also on the Wii U so dont count that out as well & no doubt people kept their Wii U's for this instead of the Switch

[Rippcity]

That's why I kept my Wii U. Nintendo is out of their mind if they think I'm going to upgrade to a Switch to play the Zelda I deserved to play in 2016. I'm definitely getting Horizon day one and I'll wait for a used copy of Zelda. I refuse to give Nintendo anymore of my money.

[moegooner88]

The LoZelda series isn't Mario, it sells modestly. Check the sales of Skyward Sword for instance. GG has nothing to be concerned about.

[Vegamyster]

Modestly? Skyward Sword sold a little under 4 million and the Wii version of Twilight Princess which arrived shortly after launch sold over 7 million.

[moegooner88]

Yes modestly. Under 4 million with a user base of 100 million isn't great. It is modest.

[Vegamyster]

Twilight Princess came out 5 years before Skyward Sword and sold more despite having less than half the install base, the Wii had 100 million units sold but how many of those were collecting dust by 2011?

[Gemmol]

I would agree with you if sony fans buy more first party games, but if you go by the sales sony release or even what VG chart release, sony first party games do not sell in high number as nintendo first party, and like what the person wrote on the bottom he believes when it comes to nintendo system there is nothing else to play, I disagree, but its his opinion. Now zelda is not mario kart and sony do have higher install base, but Im still going with zelda out performing it, but not by much

[G20WLY]

Not all Nintendo games are huge sellers. Mario is the big one, in it's various guises.

Look at the sales of the last 3 Zelda games. The highest by a mile was Twilight Princess, which sold 8m. Uncharted 4 has already sold over 9m and it's still a good seller to this day.

And that's not even close to Sony's biggest seller.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed.

I think BOTW will be an amazing Zelda and I feel it will sell better then the recent enters where the series has been on a decline, but I see it ultimately selling less then Horizon. I see Horizon even likely outselling Uncharted 4.

Thought Uncharted was established, I feel clearly it catered to its established fans, where something like The Last Of Us moved like 8 million units.

Uncharted 1 moved like 4 million units. So it very much shows, that over time during the PS3 gen, Sony's install base has become more trusting of new IPs.

With Horizon, i feel it has enough going for it, that it can get those sales, at least matching Uncharted 4 and The Last Of Us, if not outsell it over time.

I don't really see BOTW outselling Horizon. Simply because of the series decline over time, Wii U's low sales, Switch having zero sales etc.

I like the numbers folks lol

Over the years, Zelda has sold less and less and I feel maybe it was series fatigue, maybe it was because the series was in a bad spot in regards to just not evolving to keep established fans (like myself, went from Zelda OoT to Elder Scrolls, Balders Gate, Fallout etc and never went back), who knows.

Twilight Princess is the last good Zelda game to meet great sales, like 8 million and a lot of that was due to the Wii...THE WII, that is enough to question if this Zelda will move those units. When the Wii released, its first part titles sold REALLY well based on the whole "waggle" concept.

Consider....when the Wii install base grew years later, Skyward Sword, a game that actually uses a more advance form of motion........sold less.

As it goes folks.

Wind Waker 5.57 million
Twilight Princess 8 million
Skyword Sword 3.75 million

I can't assume BOTW will see 8 or 10 million or anything like that based on the Wii, anymore then I could assume Mario Kart on Switch (ie a BRAND NEW MK) would move 30 million.

Once you factor the while "wii" thing, its irrelevant. Its a number that actually doesn't really factor well as many of those sales are to people I don't really believe where established fans that actually even exist in the market to buy this new game.

Consider this folks.....where were those Zelda fans when Skyword Sword released? I think the fad died and those fans left. Skyword Sword is even MORE MOTION then Twilight Princess and still sold less, even with the install base being LARGER when it released. Maybe Skyword Sword is a real representation of the amount of real established Zelda fans that exist as "diehards", but I feel BOTW will get all those "diehards" as well as bringing back some older fans, like me!!! I'm getting it on Wii U though.

My guess is 4 to 5 million lifetime sales for BOTW
My guess is 8 to 9 million or even more for lifetime sales Horizon

http://zeldadata.com/zeldad...

http://www.vgchartz.com/gam...

[Realplaya]

Maybay don't forget for 1st party games the Wii U has a crazy attach rate so there are 13.5 unites there. Then the Wii U pre orders have been bumped up so it's possible there will be 3 million systems and the Zelda pre orders are on point. The only reason zero sales is because all Sony games get a price drop and bundle within the first year. But Zelda has legs and more than likely you won't see Zelda drop for years.

[no_ripley]

lol, yeah sure

[sullynathan]

Breath of the wild will be the better game

[StormLegend]

Both will be great games and both are coming to different systems. PS4 owners will buy Horizon and Nintendo owners will buy Zelda and owners of both will buy both of them.

[DaFeelz]

"Owners of both will buy both of them" Yep, I am. Truer words my friend truer words...

[sullynathan]

I don't think both will be great, Zelda will be the great one and horizon might be good.

[UCForce]

Those two games are completely different.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

All you do is troll Sony so why would anyone take you seriously

[Abnor_Mal]

His name is Sullynathan, he is saying, I would think, that his job is to sully anything PlayStation. Uncharted being its biggest IP and Nathan Drake is basically the face of PlayStation, he will sully Nathans name and games and the platform his games are on. Not saying what I said is fact, but its what i've always thought when I see his name, could be wrong though.

[sullynathan]

No, my name is sully Nathan because sully and Nathan drake are from uncharted. If you think I'm trolling Sony then you're an idiot

[porkChop]

I don't think you can compare the two. They may seem similar on the surface, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Both games will be great in their own ways.

[LexHazard79]

I agree, no shade here on Horizon Dawn.
Zelda games are usually top of the line experiences. I dont know much about Horizon Dawn other than it has great graphics.

Atleast with Zelda we have other games to go by and how they each were recieved by the gaming community. So yeah im looking for Zelda to continue to be great.

[UCForce]

Horizon Zero Dawn has great gameplay. Not just graphics.

[no_ripley]

people on this site lololol

blinded by the HZD hype.

they'll never learn

so sad

[UCForce]

Really ? People hype this game because they want to see something new from GG and they did showed it. Even you don't like it, that's fine by me. But I will fully support GG to improve HZD even further. In previous event and now, the game got positive feedback from consumers and critics. Also, it's not blind, it's their choice.

[UCForce]

The only sad thing is you. You want the game to fail because your mockery are just bad. I remember you angry about Resident Evil 7 how is changed the directions without give people a redemption. Again, it's your opinion. But like I said, way too negative it will make you emo.

[Deadpooled]

At least you're not going into this level of delusion => https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[DigitalRaptor]

I like your confidence.

I hope they will both be fantastic games.

[StormLegend]

Had my money saved from Horizon Zero dawn months ago and will sooner or later get the switch for zelda.

[FallenAngel1984]

It's exciting that both awesome titles are releasing only a week apart from one another

[conanlifts]

I sold my ps4 to buy a ps4 pro not too long ago. But i have opted for switch due to zelda and i also wanted more family games. Plus i have played almost every ps4 exclusive to date. With that in mind i have chosen to play zelda first. Having said this horizon obviously stands out graphically and looks like it will be an amazing game. But for me it looks like i will wait until the end of the year to grab it when i get the pro. I simply do not have the time to do this game the justice it deserves if i want to play zelda as well.

As far as most gamers are concerned...50 million + own a ps4..only around 13 million wii u consoles and maybe 2 million switch consoles in March. Its not likely to have a big impact on either game.

[Sm3000]

Is that a picture of aloy shooting link

[ShadowWolf712]

That's a Stalker, I believe.

[greywolf39]

Why is there even a doubt?!?! Why should be guerrila be scared of zelda. They made epic game and the other thing is SONY has 60mil consoles and Nintendo will have how many?

[Kabaneri]

I hate when similar games come out so close to each other, its gonna be so hard for me to focus on one!

[Tussin187]

I can care less how close it is to Zelda. I'm be playing it day 1. And people who want Zelda will play that game. Both can coexist and do well. It doesn't affect me because I don't have a WiiU and don't plan on getting a Switch.

Hopefully, those who have both systems can enjoy both games. I hope they both do well especially for Nintendo fans because Zelda pretty much skipped an entire generation. Horizon can't come soon enough for me though.

[DaFeelz]

Eh, Zelda may have a mild effect on HZD, nothing drastic. Two different audiences, despite a similar genre. I have both preordered and paid in full. Day one for each. I'm gonna binge play HZD until Zelda and depending how good that is, HZD may have to wait a little (big Zelda fan) until I'm done. Time is my only problem

[Gemmol]

i agree, not enough time

[Ceaser9857361]

Finally the Pro launches here in India this 22nd of Feb and i cant wait to play Zero Dawn on it... Never played Zelda game but the game looks good hope it does well too..

[Yohshida]

Not on same System = no Problem

[OCEANGROWNKUSH]

Horizon was a definite day 1 buy for me... until Nintendo announced the release date and well, lets just say Horizon unfortunately will have to wait.

[captainexplosion]

Both are the kind of games that are super hyped up but don't sell like people assume because they really only appeal to the hardcore. Because zelda is the only launch game it will likely outsell Horizon. Zelda doesn't interest me a bit though.

[G20WLY]

People thar buy Switch like have or had a Wii U to play Zelda on. Everyone else will have sense to wait on Switch, given Nintendo's recent past.

[no_ripley]

well, Zelda is in it's own league

[BlakHavoc]

I don't think it'll affect either product. The Switch could potentially take away sales from Horizon but I doubt it. Outside of the fan base i don't think many ppl are even aware that the console is coming lol. Everytime I ask someone if they plan on buying a Switch they're not even aware that there's a new Nintendo console on the horizon. Zelda will be fine, it has a dedicated fan base and there's plenty of ppl that will buy it on WiiU or even buy a Switch just to play it.

[_LarZen_]

Ordered both games. And will play Zelda first. That way if there are any issues with Horizon it will hopefully be patched by the time I'm done with Zelda :)

[LAWSON72]

I got both preordered, and got the weekend off. It shall be a hell of a marathon

[watchem]

Zelda who?

[LoveSpuds]

I really don't see how they can be considered to be similar games. They are open world games, sure, but tonally and mechanically they are completely different. This is just a narrative being pushed by journalists to generate some kind of controversy or conflict where none exists.

For my part, I have a WiiU and will pick Zelda up at some point but there is no way I am buying another Nintendo machine while there is so little to play on it, I want to see more than Zelda and Mario (even though they do look fantastic) before I will buy another Ninty machine.

I have been excited for Horizon since its reveal so I have my pre order in already for that, I will wait to see how Zelda runs on Wii U before I pick that up but its already behind the likes of Nioh, Horizon and Persona 5 for me.

[il-JumperMT]

To buy Horizon CE or Buy Horizon Normal Edition and Switch + Zelda

[lunatic0001]

I think both have an audience to do well...Personally I will be getting Zelda first and playing until I feel like I accomplished enough then I will move to horizon which by the time I had my fill with zelda...It will probably be cheaper too...Can't wait to play both

[lellkay]

I genuinely think from a graphical and technical stand point, content wise, story wise and unique game play wise. Horizon: Zero Dawn will be the far superior game. Obviously this is just opinion. But I truly believe that Zelda will be solid title that is while being good, will cruise on its nostalgia and name value. If BOTW was not a Zelda game, and on PS4/Xbone i bet it wouldn't get anywhere near the scores it will get at launch.