The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake has recorded the second-biggest physical launch in Zelda franchise history in the United Kingdom. The Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive sold approximately 35% more physical copies during its opening week than Breath of the Wild managed across Nintendo Switch and Wii U in 2017. It also achieved the UK’s biggest physical game launch of 2026 so far, surpassing major releases including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and EA Sports FC 27.
The figures come from NielsenIQ UK retail sales data shared on November 8 by Christopher Dring, editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Game Business. Although the remake comfortably exceeded Breath of the Wild’s opening physical sales, it reached roughly half the first-week physical sales achieved by Tears of the Kingdom in 2023.
The comparison places Ocarina of Time behind only Tears of the Kingdom among Zelda launches in the UK physical market. Dring also described it as the fastest-selling traditional Zelda adventure covered by The Game Business, distinguishing it from the franchise’s more recent open-world entries.
The sales figures represent boxed copies sold through UK retailers rather than total sales across physical and digital storefronts. Nintendo has not released an exact UK unit sales figure for the remake, and the available data does not establish its combined physical and digital performance.
Console availability also provides important context for the comparisons. Breath of the Wild launched in March 2017 alongside the original Nintendo Switch, when the new console had no established install base. Although the game was also available on Wii U, its launch occurred during the transition between Nintendo hardware generations.
Tears of the Kingdom, meanwhile, arrived in May 2023 after the original Switch had already sold more than 125 million units worldwide. The Ocarina of Time remake launched on November 5, 2026, exclusively for Switch 2, which has a substantially smaller worldwide install base than the original Switch had when Tears of the Kingdom debuted.
These differences affect the number of potential customers available to each release. Dring specifically highlighted console install bases as an important factor behind the sales gaps, meaning the opening-week comparisons should not be interpreted as direct measures of overall player demand.
The remake also debuted at number one on the latest UK physical software chart, pushing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 into second place. EA Sports FC 27 ranked third, followed by Mario Kart World in fourth and Nintendo Switch Sports Resort in fifth.
Modern Warfare 4 had led the previous week’s physical chart, making Ocarina of Time’s debut a notable change at the top of the UK rankings. According to Dring’s assessment, the Zelda remake also achieved a larger physical opening than other major 2026 releases, including Resident Evil Requiem.
The commercial performance follows a strong critical reception for Nintendo’s reimagining of the 1998 Nintendo 64 adventure. The remake received a 96 Metacritic score from its initial reviews, while Digital Foundry's Switch 2 performance analysis documented a stable 60 FPS experience.
The updated adventure retains the original game’s central story while introducing modernized visuals and gameplay changes, including free jumping, revised Water Temple sections and voiced cutscenes.
For now, the UK retail data establishes Ocarina of Time as one of the franchise’s strongest physical launches and the leading boxed game debut of 2026 in the country. Its broader commercial performance will become clearer once Nintendo releases official sales figures covering additional markets and digital purchases.
