Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake sold more than 5.2 million copies in its first four days, setting a new Switch 2 record. Nintendo’s sales announcement says the total includes physical and digital copies, with 810,000 units sold in Japan.
That launch has sharpened a debate over what the game cost to make. Forbes argues the circulating $40–50 million figure leaves much of the production out of the picture. In a new report, Ollie Barder says the three-year timeline came from producer Eiji Aonuma, while the estimate of roughly 200 staff does not match the game’s credits. More than 1,000 people appear in the credits, alongside around 30 outside companies listed in the special thanks.
Those partners include Monolith Soft and Bandai Namco. Barder points to Monolith’s work on the open-world architecture of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom as evidence that its contribution was substantial. Even if 200 people describes Nintendo’s core team, he argues, the 800-plus other credited contributors still had to be paid and belong in the production estimate.
That is why Barder offers an “educated guess”: “you’re more likely looking at $100-150 million for the overall budget,” with his estimate leaning toward the upper end. The figure covers the overall budget, while the $40–50 million claim is usually described as a development cost.
Reece “Kiwi Talkz” Reilly echoed the staffing argument in a November 12 post, saying the $40 million figure “didn’t add up” against credits listing more than 1,000 people. His post links directly to Forbes and agrees with its challenge to the smaller figure.
Forbes also argues the opening sales have already earned back the remake’s costs and generated a healthy profit. Barder notes that Nintendo does not give a third-party publisher a 30% share of each first-party sale, leaving more revenue with the company that made the game.
The credits give the budget debate its practical context: a 200-person core team does not capture a production involving more than 1,000 credited contributors and around 30 outside companies. Barder’s higher estimate reflects that wider labor bill, and he argues the remake’s record launch has already covered it.
