Nintendo’s US website temporarily listed the new Zelda game at $69.99, sparking concerns of a general price hike for the Switch.
No games have been confirmed for tonight’s Nintendo Direct, but everyone knows that The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom will make an appearance.
Aside from it being Nintendo’s biggest release of the year, it’s due out in just a few months and fans have seen very little of it. So, a more fleshed out trailer is well overdue.
However, that excitement has swiftly turned into anxiety as, for a short time, the game’s listing on Nintendo’s US website had it priced at $70. Or rather $69.99.
The listing has since been updated to remove the price, but enough people saw it to screengrab it beforehand. Presumably, if this is the case, then the game will cost £70 here in the UK (all $69.99 games for other formats are £70 in the UK).
While Sony was quick to bump up the price of its first party games to £70 (and later the console itself), with Microsoft admitting it will follow suit, Nintendo has seemed eager to avoid making its games and hardware more expensive.
Last August, company president Shuntaro Furukawa said Nintendo wished to ‘avoid pricing people out’ of buying games and consoles, although he never explicitly ruled out a price hike.
Even so, the listing has some thinking that a general price increase for Nintendo Switch games is on the horizon. Not helped by the fact that a few retailers – Amazon, GameStop, and Best Buy – have suddenly delisted pre-orders for Tears Of The Kingdom, leading fans to suspect that they’re having to update their prices.
If true, not a big fan of TotK being used as a pawn to help Nintendo transition to $70. It’s one of the few games a lot of people would still be willing to buy for that price, but it’s gonna lead to some controversy and likely negatively impact the games long term sales somewhat
— Sun (@H4ppyd4yss) February 8, 2023
I’m curious hear the justification for this game being $70 when this console is 6 years old and this game can’t be any better than the first one.
— spookyhours40 (@spookyhours40) February 8, 2023
It’s over bros we let Sony get away with it and now everyone’s going for it
— Eska Moe (@eskam0e) February 8, 2023
However, the timing for Nintendo is not as straightforward as for Sony and Microsoft, who are still only at the start of their new generation.
Rumours suggest that Tears Of The Kingdom will be one of the last major releases for the Switch, before its successor is announced, so it seems more likely the price rise, if that’s what’s going on, is only for Zelda.
So while a general price rise isn’t likely for the Switch, it would be far less surprising if Switch 2 games were £70 from the start – at least for major titles.
There’s no official information on the matter, but it has been suggested that a Switch 2 will be announced, or even released, in 2024.
Of course, the other possibility is that all this was a mistake and the listing was incorrect, but all those big stores suddenly removing their pre-orders at the same time is highly suspicious.
Hopefully, things will become more clear after the Nintendo Direct, which is scheduled to air at 10pm GMT tonight.
The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom launches for Nintendo Switch on May 12.
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