Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladi...eportedly-boosted-japans-gdp/?sh=451085ed5f9dZelda: Tears Of The Kingdom’s Record Launch Reportedly Boosted Japan’s GDP
Siladitya Ray
Forbes Staff
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Aug 16, 2023,07:54am EDT
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Updated Aug 16, 2023, 07:54am EDT
TOPLINE
The launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in May alongside other high-profile Japanese video game releases may have helped boost the country’s second quarter GDP, Japanese news outlet Mainichi Shinbun reported, highlighting the economic impact of one the most highly anticipated games of all time.
Following its launch in May, Tears of the Kingdom became the fastest selling Nintendo game of all ... [+]
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KEY FACTS
Despite private consumption in Japan dropping by 0.5% compared with the first quarter of the year, spending on semi-durable products—which includes video games—rose by 2.8%, the data showed.
Citing an unnamed official from the Japanese Cabinet Office, Mainichi Shinbun reported that new video game releases during the quarter significantly contributed to the sharp rise.
Several high-profile Japanese-made games were released during this period, including Nintendo’s Zelda game, Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 and Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XVI.
While both the new Street Fighter and Final Fantasy games recorded strong sales, the highly anticipated Tears of the Kingdom became the fastest-selling Nintendo game of all time, according to Guinness World Records.
Japan reported a better-than-expected annualized GDP growth of 6% in the quarter, but this was largely driven by a boost in exports as domestic consumption and investment numbers were worse than anticipated.
BIG NUMBER
18.51 million. That is the total number of copies of Tears of the Kingdom —both digital and physical—Nintendo has sold as of June 30th, the video game giant disclosed in its quarterly earnings report earlier this month. To put the number into context, sales of the new Zelda title accounted for “approximately half” of all Nintendo-made games sold during the quarter.
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KEY BACKGROUND
Tears of the Kingdom was released exclusively on Nintendo’s Switch gaming console in May this year to rave reviews. The game, which was a highly anticipated follow-up to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild managed to sell 10 million copies in just three days. Counting only the sales of physical copies, Tears of the Kingdom is the second best-selling game of the year in the U.S. so far, only behind Warner Bros. Harry Potter-themed game Hogwarts Legacy.
Told you guys Japan's future relies on ACG (Anime Comic Games). Officially a very big buck industry.
Damn shame Nintendo doesn't port their games to PC!
Let's see they are gonna do the magic again with the latter half of the year with Armored Core VI.
