New Zelda Game Is Here, and It’s Nintendo’s Most Expensive Switch Title Yet

We finally got some fresh Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom footage and details during last night’s Nintendo Direct video presentation. Yet, the $70 price tag, one of the game’s newest “features,” was not mentioned in the presentation.

Nintendo’s eShop ordering page (and an accompanying press release) revealed the $70 basic pricing on Wednesday night, making it the first first-party Switch game to ever do so. Nevertheless, not all of Nintendo’s upcoming first-party titles will experience the same price increase; Pikmin 4, for example, has been listed on the eShop with a suggested retail price of $59.99.

We establish the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis, Nintendo said in a statement given to Game Informer

Anyone who was able to preorder Tears of the Kingdom from third-party shops like Amazon and Walmart at the $60 price before yesterday should be honored. Still on the hunt for a bargain? For just $100, you can purchase a pair of Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers, each of which will allow you to download one of several premium Switch games, including Tears of the Kingdom.

An Irreversible Pattern?

It’s not just Nintendo that’s charging more than $60 for a video game console; the $60 barrier was established during the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 era. Just a few months ago, Microsoft, the company behind the Xbox, stated that forthcoming games including Starfield, Redfall, and the next Forza Motorsport would arrive at $70 this year.

Moreover, inflation over the previous few decades has made today’s $70 game cost roughly equivalent to the $60 game pricing of decades past.

Despite this, the fact that first-party Nintendo products may sell in the tens of millions despite rarely going on sale adds weight to Zelda’s price tag. In contrast, major first-party exclusives on other consoles are typically discounted months after launch or given away for free as part of a subscription package (although the original Breath of the Wild is currently available on the Nintendo eShop for $40 until February 19), proving the rule rather than the exception.

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