Tears of the Kingdom pre-orders are already outpacing Breath of the Wild in Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is already outperforming Breath of the Wild in terms of pre-orders in Japan.

Back in 2017, Nintendo put a new spin on the familiar Zelda formula with a gorgeous open world for players to explore as they saw fit. Breath of the Wild is not only seen by many as the best game in The Legend of Zelda series but is frequently among the top contenders for the best game of all time. Now more than six years later, fans are eagerly anticipating the release of Tears of the Kingdom and judging by its pre-order figures, the upcoming sequel is set to be even more popular than its predecessor.

As spotted by Twitter user Pierre485, data from Japanese retail chain COMG shows that total pre-orders of Tears of the Kingdom have already surpassed those of Breath of the Wild. This was posted on March 17, eight weeks before the game’s launch, so there’s still plenty of time for Tears of the Kingdom’s pre-order numbers to climb even higher. 

It’s worth keeping in mind that these figures are from just one chain of retailers in just one country and that it has a relatively small market share. "COMG is a specific chain of 14 stores," Pierre485 explains in a follow-up tweet. "COMG marketshare is ~0.1%. Meaning 1 pre-order generally translates to 1,000 copies across Japan."

While the data isn’t perfect, given that Breath of the Wild has sparked a ton of new interest in the series, and the Switch has a much bigger install base than it did in 2017, Tears of the Kingdom could very well end up outselling Breath of the Wild, both in Japan and across the globe by quite a considerable margin at launch.

Tears of the Kingdom launches exclusively for Switch on May 12, and its pre-order incentives from some retailers have been rather unusual. Fans who get their orders in early with GameStop in the US get a piece of wood, while Amazon Japan is offering players a spoon.

Check out our The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom pre-order guide for the best prices worldwide.