
More and more game publishers have begun moving to a higher MSRP for its premium titles, and Nintendo appears to the latest member of that growing party. Ahead of tonight’s Nintendo Direct broadcast, Pixelpar has discovered that Nintendo temporarily listed its next mainline Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, for $69.99, a $10 increase over what the priciest titles on Nintendo Switch have traditionally launched at. Pixelpar is recommending Zelda fans and Switch owners to take advantage of the current, cheaper pre-order prices, as Nintendo may be announcing a new official price for the game very soon ahead of its May 12, 2023 release.
From a Pixelpar tweet:
Nintendo temporarily listed Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom at $69.99 on the US store last night, $10 higher than usual. If you’re planning on picking up a physical copy of TotK at launch then I’d recommend locking in the price by getting a preorder in before the Nintendo Direct.
From Nintendo’s game description:
In addition to the vast lands of Hyrule, the latest entry in the storied Legend of Zelda series will take you up into the skies! Look forward to Link’s massive adventure starting again when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, drops for Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023.
UK folks, here are the cheapest preorders for Zelda TotK:
— Pixelpar (@pixelpar) February 8, 2023
– TheGameCollection £49.95 (plus £5 points back for pre-order) https://t.co/RSfxfS01Sg
– ShopTo £49.85 https://t.co/wcEsbR7WPz
– Hit (previously Base) £48.85 https://t.co/RJkaMn3gw2
Could be either, but Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop have all pulled their preorder now. Personally, I'd rather lock-in a price now then cancel if it comes back at a normal price.
— Pixelpar (@pixelpar) February 8, 2023

Discussion (2 replies)
Join Discussion →For this title they could probably charge $99 and it would still sell just as well
Should be playable on PC via emulation before long. Not to mention you can already soft-mod the Switch (especially if you have an early Switch with the hardware Tegra flaw that couldn't be fixed via firmware updates). If this game really is $70, then I guess Nintendo decided to finally join Sony and Microsoft and some 3rd-party publishers with the $70 launch prices that started becoming standard during 9th-gen. Nintendo games almost never go on sale, and when they do, the most you'll ever see is $20 off (sometimes $30 off at places like Best Buy). Nintendo games never ever see meaningful sale prices. You'll wait years and maybe you'll this new Zelda game for $50, I'll bet. Yeah no thanks, that's not my idea of a sale price. And so, the community will step in, and provide alternatives with emulation and community demos. On other platforms I say the publishers can charge what they want, but I won't be grabbing sh1t until the inevitable deep discounts. Can't say that with Nintendo though, cuz the games will never see a deep discount. The community is all you got to rely on there. And that's just fine.