Nielsen IQ retail data shows the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive opening 35% ahead of Breath of the Wild while roughly matching half of Tears of the Kingdom’s first week, making it the UK’s biggest boxed launch of the year to date.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2 has delivered an exceptionally strong physical launch in the United Kingdom. According to Nielsen IQ retail data reported by The Game Business editor-in-chief Chris Dring on November 8, 2026, the remake’s first-week physical sales are the second-biggest in the entire history of the Zelda series in the UK market.
It opened 35% ahead of what The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild achieved on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Wii U in 2017, while reaching roughly half the first-week physical volume of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Dring noted “plenty of install base-related reasons” for the comparisons: Tears of the Kingdom launched when the original Nintendo Switch was already at a very large installed base (around 125 million units at the time), whereas Nintendo Switch 2 stands at approximately 26.35 million units as of the end of September 2026.
Beyond the Zelda ranking, the remake is comfortably the biggest physical game launch of 2026 in the UK so far. It has outpaced major multi-platform releases including this year’s Resident Evil Requiem, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and EA Sports FC 27. It is also described as the fastest-selling “old-school” Zelda adventure covered in the available tracking data.
These figures cover physical copies only and do not include digital downloads, which are expected to form a significant portion of overall sales for a Nintendo first-party title. Absolute unit numbers have not been publicly confirmed, and Nintendo has not yet issued its own official sales update beyond earlier statements that the game is off to a “very strong start.” Japanese weekly sales data from Famitsu is expected later this week and should provide additional context.
The performance is particularly notable given the relatively early stage of the Nintendo Switch 2 lifecycle and the fact that this is a full remake of a 1998 Nintendo 64 classic rather than a brand-new mainline entry. Developed primarily by Nintendo EPD (with support from Monolith Soft), the remake features rebuilt high-definition visuals, a free-moving camera, quality-of-life improvements, voice-acted cutscenes, and a remastered soundtrack while preserving the original structure and dungeons. It launched worldwide on November 5, 2026 as part of the Zelda series’ 40th anniversary celebrations.
Famitsu’s review scores, published around the same period, awarded the game 9/9/9/10 (37/40), matching the 3DS version’s score and sitting just below the original N64 release’s perfect 40/40. Early Nintendo Switch 2 eShop charts also show it in the top spot. Together with the UK physical data, the early indicators point to a successful commercial and critical reception that should help drive both software and hardware interest heading into the holiday period.
Players and observers will be watching closely for official global sales figures from Nintendo and the Japanese retail numbers due soon. For now, the UK data confirms that the Ocarina of Time remake has connected strongly with both long-time fans and a new audience on Nintendo Switch 2.
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Source: Chris Dring via Nintendo Everything
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