Nintendo said The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo Switch 2 sold more than 5.2 million units worldwide in the first four days after its launch, in a news release issued on 11 November by Nintendo Co., Ltd. of Kyoto.
The game went on sale worldwide on 5 November. Japan accounted for 810,000 of the units. Nintendo called the result the highest global sales for any Nintendo-published Nintendo Switch 2 game in its first four days, with a footnote saying the count comes from Nintendo and includes both physical and digital versions.
Nintendo of America published the same figure on 11 November, describing the game as the fastest-selling Nintendo-published Nintendo Switch 2 game globally and in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. That page carries a matching footnote crediting Nintendo internal sales data covering digital and physical sales.
What the record covers
The two announcements are worded differently. The Kyoto release states a four-day global sales record and the Japan total, but names no other territories. The Nintendo of America page adds the regional claims for the U.S., Canada and Latin America and omits the Japan number. Both are limited to games Nintendo publishes itself.
That qualifier does the work. The comparison is with Nintendo-published Switch 2 titles over a four-day window on sale, not with every game released for the console and not with lifetime totals. Nintendo published no unit figures for any other title alongside the announcement, its own or another publisher’s.
Software from other publishers sits outside the comparison, including shooters such as Call of Duty: Warzone on Switch 2. The claim is about one company’s output on one console in one short window.
The number is Nintendo’s own rather than an outside tracker’s. Neither the Kyoto release nor the Nintendo of America page splits the 5.2 million between digital and physical copies, and Japan’s 810,000 units are the only regional figure given, slightly under 16 percent of the worldwide total.
Nintendo’s wording is that the game “sold over 5.2 million units worldwide.” The releases do not say how much of that represents purchases by players rather than copies moved into retail channels, and no breakdown beyond the Japan line was given. No sales figure covering the period after the first four days has been published.
For scale on the publisher, the Kyoto release says Nintendo has sold more than 6.2 billion video games and over 870 million hardware units to date, across the systems it has made since the Family Computer launched in Japan in 1983. The company was founded in 1889 to make hanafuda playing cards and is led by president and representative director Shuntaro Furukawa.
What the remake changes
The Switch 2 version is a full remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. The structure of the original stays in place: Link travels between two time periods as Young Link and Adult Link, using the abilities and items available in each era to progress.
Nintendo of America’s description of the Ocarina of Time remake lists reimagined visuals, orchestral music, voice acting, expanded cutscenes and reworked camera and movement controls. The Kyoto release puts it more briefly, saying the game was developed for Switch 2 with reimagined visuals and enhanced playability while preserving the experience of the original.
Nintendo of America calls the remake an entry point into the series for players who have not started it. The game spans the land of Hyrule and unfolds across the two eras, with Link’s abilities changing between them.
The game supports ZELDA NOTES, a service inside the Nintendo Switch App for compatible smart devices that offers features to support gameplay. A free Nintendo Account is needed to use the app; a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership is not. Nintendo’s US store listing gives a regular price of $59.99, and the game is rated for animated blood and fantasy violence.
Part of the Zelda 40th anniversary
Nintendo of America ties the launch to the Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary celebration, which marks four decades since the first game in the series went on sale in Japan in 1986. The celebration also covers other games and products, a worldwide concert tour of music from the series beginning in 2027, and a live-action The Legend of Zelda film due in theaters on 30 April 2027.
Nintendo runs a dedicated site for the anniversary at zelda40th.nintendo.com. The four-day total is the only unit figure the company has attached to the 40th anniversary line-up on Switch 2 so far.
Alongside the sales announcement, Nintendo pointed parents to its Nintendo Switch Parental Controls smart device app, which it offers for Switch 2 games. The Kyoto release was published six days after launch, and Nintendo has not said when it will next update the Ocarina of Time figure.