Nintendo has stated that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s $69.99 price point won’t be the standard for all first-party Switch games going forward.
It was confirmed yesterday that Tears of the Kingdom will cost $10 more thanNintendotypically charges for itsSwitchtitles.
However, in a statement toGame InformerNintendo claimed this isn’t the beginning of a new permanent price increase for its games.
When asked for its reasoning behind the price and if $70 was the trend for Nintendo titles going forward, a spokesperson replied: “We determine the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis.”
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom guides:
Master Sword location|How to increase inventory space|How to increase hearts and stamina|How to get warm clothes|Wingsuit location|Hylian Shield location|Duplication glitch
Nintendoconfirmed the $69.99 price for Tears of the Kingdomshortly after itsNintendo Directpresentation on Wednesday.
The decision marks the first time Nintendo has charged more than $59.99 for a standard edition of a digital Switch game.
Sonybegancharging $70 for first-party gameswhenPS5launched in 2020, whileMicrosoftstartedcharging $70 for first-party Xbox Series X/S gamesthis year.
Numerous retailers have changed their pre-order prices to match Nintendo’s new pricing. It’s not yet clear whether they will honour existing $59.99 pre-orders, thoughAmazontends to honour the lowest price a product reaches during its pre-order period.
Further reading
Earlier this weekNintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa told investorsthat the company had “done our best to maintain both the value and price of hardware and software within our long term business strategy”, and that it does “not believe that any changes to this policy are necessary at this stage”.
Nintendopublished its latest financial resultson Tuesday, in which it said fluctuations in foreign exchange markets had contributed to a decline in sales and profits, despite strong sales of Switch games and hardware.
