The triumph of Zelda

There are game releases, there are blockbuster game releases, and there are releases that arrive with the fanfare of Halley’s comet. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, released by Nintendo on May 12, 2023, was the latter. A sequel to the one of the highest-selling games of all time, the release punctured mainstream culture with Barbenheimer levels of zeitgeist energy, and with the receipts to prove it: Only Barbie and Nintendo’s own billion-dollar big-screen success, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, rival the game’s grosses — and that’s before the holiday season.

The numbers come as no surprise to anyone who understands the ferocious cultural appetite for games. Breath of the Wild, the previous Zelda game, was key to the 2017 launch...

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source https://www.polygon.com/c/23953760/the-triumph-of-zelda