During Nintendo's recent shareholder meeting, Legend of Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto states that Breath of the Wild will need to pass 2 million units in sales to be successful.
Many games were shown off during the recent E3 conference, and a large number of gaming fans were in agreement that Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was undoubtedly one of the best games shown at E3 2016. But if new comments from the franchise's creator Shigeru Miyamoto are to be believed, it appears that Nintendo is hoping that this positive reception will push the title to big sales numbers when it is released in 2017.
Nintendo recently held a shareholder's meeting, and thanks to translations by Twitter user Cheesemeister, a number of interesting facts regarding Breath of the Wild came up, including the game's sales expectations. Miyamoto reportedly said that while the game will be a domestic hit if it sells 300,000 units, Nintendo has its eyes on international sales and that the cost of production for Breath of the Wild will be only recouped if the title sells over 2 million units worldwide.
In addition to the 2 million target that Nintendo is expecting, Miyamoto revealed that over 100 staff have worked on the upcoming Zelda title, and that the game will feature over 300 people in its credits who have worked on it in one form or another during the past five years. With such a large number of people that have worked on the game over such a long period of time, this does explain why Nintendo needs at least 2 million in sales for Breath of the Wild to be considered successful.
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While 2 million units is an ambitious target, the game is shaping up to be something quite special based on our Breath of the Wild E3 hands-on preview, and the title should clear that sales target without too much trouble.
This isn't the first time that an ambitious sales target has been set for a game that's gone through a long development cycle. Final Fantasy XV has been in various stages of development for a decade, and Square Enix has set a lofty sales goal of 10 million units for the upcoming action-RPG title.
It remains to be seen whether Breath of the Wild will be able to meet Nintendo's sales targets, but its chances are undoubtedly pretty good based on the positive reception to the E3 demo and the franchise's recent sales history. Fingers are crossed that the game does manage to sell 2 million units, because it could just be the thing to trigger the start of a Nintendo comeback.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is scheduled for a 2017 launch for Wii U and NX.