Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sales pass 18m units, as Nintendo celebrates record quarter

Nintendo has had a record quarter, largely thanks to Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which has sold 18.51m units as of 30th June.

That is more than half of Breath of the Wild's sales thus far, with the Tears of the Kingdom predecessor now sitting at 30.65m copies sold.

Nintendo shared these latest figures as part of its Quarterly Results. Here, the company stated its most recent Zelda release constituted "approximately half" of the first party software sold this fiscal year.

"Consumers who played the previous entry, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, have been the primary driver, but as the weeks have passed, we have seen that a growing percentage of purchases are being made by consumers who have not yet played that title," it wrote. The company added sales remained "solid" for its previously released Nintendo Switch titles during this quarter, as well.

Nintendo stated this quarter saw global sell-through of first-party software reach the highest level for a first quarter since the launch of Nintendo Switch in 2017.

As for the console itself, Nintendo said unit sales for the entire Switch family of systems rose by 13.9 percent year-on year to 3.91m units during this quarter. Meanwhile, software unit sales grew by 26.1 percent year-on-year to 52.21m units.

The company also attributed "solid" sales of games such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

"The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which began its theatrical release in various markets around the world on April 5, has now been viewed by 168.10 million people worldwide," Nintendo said, adding as of 26th July global box-office revenues totaled $1.349bn.

The company noted the film has been well received across the globe, helping Nintendo "build a lasting affection for our Super Mario IP".

It continued: "By expanding Nintendo IP in areas outside the dedicated video game platform we create new opportunities for consumers to encounter Nintendo IP, and this invigorates our overall business. Based on the various effects that we have confirmed through the release of this movie, we will continue our efforts towards visual content-related initiatives."

Looking ahead, Nintendo highlighted upcoming releases such as Detective Pikachu Returns, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, WarioWare: Move It! and Super Mario RPG, all of which are scheduled to release this year.

For more on Nintendo, sources have told Eurogamer a next-gen Switch console, which will remain playable in a handheld configuration, is expected to launch in the latter half of 2024.