140°

Comparing The Legend of Zelda's Japanese and USA sales figures

Aside from helping to transport gamers to a virtual fantasy world in which bottles contain fairies, postmen can fly, and people have long and pointy ears, the developers of Zelda strive to make Nintendo money. After all, if the games in the series didn’t turn a profit, the developers would have no choice but to discontinue the franchise.

Fortunately, even after 25 years, the Zelda series is still going strong. Yet strangely it seems to sell twice as well in the US as it does in Japan.

A user on the NeoGAF forums has posted a graph picturing the sales figures for each game in the series, and comparing Japanese sales to those of the USA. Hit the jump to see this chart, which shows how the games financially compare to one another.

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zeldauniverse.net
miDnIghtEr20C_SfF4876d ago

USA is the most important place for game sales. There should be no surprise that games sell more here in the states. That's just the way it is. That's why USA is the most important. You want to make money, you sell it in the states. One month of sales in the USA, is like a whole years worth of sales in Japan.

That's why I always crack up seeing people brag about Japanese numbers. Usually one month of USA, or hell, even UK numbers just trash those Japanese numbers easily.

mike1up4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

Nintendo releases much more games in Japan. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Xenoblade are excellent examples of games that almost didn't make it to the US this gen.

This is generally the case with Nintendo i.e. Fire Emblem, Earthbound etc..

Sprudling4876d ago (Edited 4876d ago )

While the US might have the highest numbers, it's unlikely that it has the highest profits. US consumer prices are just too low. (I'm talking about US vs EU here, not Japan.)

This is just a total guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if a game sold in EU has 50% higher profit margin compared to a game sold in the US.

And still you complain about the prices...

(Also, UK is just a small part of EU.)

erasure2424876d ago

LOL ... OK.. so it has the most sales... but not the most profits.. LOL... what school did you go to?

mike1up4876d ago

Wow, very surprised here. My only explanation is that more Nintendo games are released in Japan. With less options, more US Nintendo gamers consider titles like Zelda a must buy. It's a stretch, i know.

Who knows, maybe it's a cultural thing.

Sprudling4876d ago

Who knows, but one thing is certain. Japan has a population if ~128 mill, USA has a population of ~313 mill. To be fair you have to multiply the length of those red bars by 2.5. Suddenly it's not so surprising any more, is it?

Derpy4876d ago

Going by population is kind of pointless. To make such a compassion, you have to go by how many consoles for a particular game were sold in each territory to get some idea of user-base on each system. While I am not sure of how many of each of the Nintendo systems sold in NA vs Japan, I do know that this doesn't always parallel population. For instance, the Turbografix 16 (PC Engine) sold much better in Japan than NA. So in order to understand for instance what these numbers mean for the first Zelda game, you have to have an idea of how many NESes sold in each area and the same for the systems that the other games were for. Without including that information, the chart in the article doesn't really tell us anything.

60°

Link Should Talk, but Choose His Words Carefully in The Legend of Zelda Movie

Link should have a voice in The Legend of Zelda Movie. While he mostly stays quiet in the games, he canonically does speak but usually holds back on expressing his thoughts. In a movie format, it is better for the character and the story itself that Link speaks.

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gamesandwich.com
got_dam25d ago

I just hope it's not a bunch MCU Snarky McJokeface dialog. Started playing veilguard free on PSN (would not recommend) and it's a perfect example of how dialog in contemporary entertainment is garbage.

Relientk7725d ago

It's gonna be Chris Pratt again lol

"It's a me Link"

50°

Nintendo Hopes To Continue Making Both Top-Down 2D & Dynamic 3D Zelda Games

Nintendo is hoping to continue working on both top-down 2D and dynamic 3D The Legend of Zelda games in the future.

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twistedvoxel.com
163d ago
70°

The Winds of Time mod combines two Legend of Zelda classics

A Legend of Zelda fan has been modding various aspects of Ocarina of Time into The Wind Waker over the last few years. They recently gave a big update on the project and it looks great.

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gamesandwich.com