Nintendo Co. is earning early accolades for making sure that its new Switch console debuted with a strong gaming title, "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." The big question now is whether that will translate into sales.
So far, signs are good. The latest iteration of Zelda has received almost universal praise among critics, becoming the fourth-highest ranked game ever on review aggregation website Metacritic.com. That makes it the best-reviewed title since 2008, when "Grand Theft Auto IV" was released for the PlayStation 3.
About three out of every five Switch buyers in Japan are purchasing Zelda, according to industry magazine Famitsu, suggesting the game is helping to drive Switch sales. Hit titles are critical for fueling early shipments of consoles, because they can get enough machines into people's hands so that other game publishers are attracted to an expanding user base. Halo drove early sales of the Xbox when it debuted in 2001, while "Metal Gear Solid 2" played a key role in making the PlayStation 2 the best-selling console of all time.