There are certain franchises that transcend certain media, and for gaming, one of them is undoubtedly The Legend of Zelda. This series may have started as a simple top-down adventure title, but it quickly evolved into one of the definitive action-adventure series out there, and one that occupies several different gameplay styles all at once. In the Switch era, the franchise saw record heights and sales, including giving Princess Zelda her very first solo title. With the Nintendo Switch 2 getting Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment later this year, and the next mainline title inevitably in the works, it makes you wonder how much the franchise has done in its lifetime.
Thankfully, Insider Stealth has that answer, and it may surprise you a bit:
The Zelda series has sold over 170 million Units:Breath of the Wild – 35+ millionTears of the Kingdom – 22+ millionOcarina of Time – 14+ millionTwilight Princess – 9+ millionRest of the Zelda series – Approx. 90 million
— Stealth40k (@stealth40k.bsky.social) 2025-08-13T14:53:51.793Z
The reason you might find this surprising is that this is considerably lower than the Mario franchise, which has almost a billion software units sold. So, why the big gap? Simply put, Nintendo has never been afraid to put out Mario titles rapid-fire, due to it having many “branches” that it can pull from.
In contrast, The Legend of Zelda has always been more focused and precise with its releases, regardless of whether they were on handheld systems like the Game or DS, or on consoles. That arguably adds to the hype, as you know that each new title will be special in its own way, and it clearly has a dedicated fanbase that wants to play each new entry. Fast forward to now, and we know that Eiji Aonuma, the series’ main producer, is hard at work on the next mainline title, and so it’s only a matter of time before we see what’s next for Link, Zelda, and the other denizens of Hyrule.
