Nintendo and Sony look to Zelda and GTA 6 for holiday console sales boost

Nintendo and Sony are counting on major new games to help sell consoles during the lucrative holiday season, though one analyst doubts Nintendo will beat last year’s sales.

Nintendo released a remake of *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* on Thursday, while *Grand Theft Auto 6* is due later this month for Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series consoles, Nieuws.nl reports. The Zelda game arrives two weeks before the latest instalment in the blockbuster crime series.

Nintendo reported lower profit and revenue in its latest quarter, which the Dutch news site attributed to a lack of major new releases and rising costs for Switch 2 components. The company kept its full-year financial forecasts unchanged. An analyst at Toyo Research and Advice said much depended on Zelda’s contribution, but did not expect Nintendo’s holiday-season sales to exceed last year’s.

Sony, by contrast, raised its profit forecast. Nieuws.nl said demand for the PlayStation 5 was strong ahead of *GTA 6*, while the company also benefited from the film *Spider-Man: Brand New Day* and the game *Marvel’s Wolverine*.

The report cited research firm Sensor Tower as estimating that *GTA 6* had generated more than $750 million in pre-orders across PlayStation 5 and Xbox. It said the game could become the biggest commercial success in the sector, while noting that its predecessor, *GTA 5*, was already among the best-selling games of all time.