‘The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom’ Will Cost $70

A new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was shown off during the Nintendo Direct on Wednesday. Like the last few, it gave us slight glimpses into gameplay with some cool features shown off like grinding on rails, the use of the guardian technology to float into the sky, and maybe even some new sheikah slate powers. We were also given some more insights into the story, with an ominous voice speaking of revenge and other devious goals as they look to destroy the current Kingdom.

It’s going to be a fun time, and it looks like it is primarily going to be the same kind of game as Breath of the Wild but with more stuff to do, which is never a bad idea in a sequel. The real surprise came in what wasn’t announced in the Direct itself. If fans went to the eShop to quickly go buy the game they were greeted with a surprise price increase as far as Switch games are concerned. Right now, the standard pre-order price on the US eShop is $70. Usually, Switch games are only $60.

This is now going to ask an interesting question of fans. Can a game on current Switch hardware be worth $10 above the normal price? Right now, PlayStation 5 games are all $70 but that’s a next-generation console. The Switch, for as beloved as it is, has only received one upgrade and that was only to the portable screen. It is just as powerful as it was when it first launched and is still considered by most to be a previous generation console. Not a next gen.

However, this is Zelda we’re talking about, and not just any Zelda. This is the sequel to what many consider one of the greatest games ever made. Fans are going to pay any amount of money to play it. Does that justify the price increase? Possibly, but there are going to be some out there who feel they are being nickel and dimed for a game on older hardware, and Tears of the Kingdom is going to need to run close to perfect to justify that price increase. We’ll find out if it can do that in May.