Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

@blindsquarel it better be better or we will buy it... We are such an unpredictable confusing fanbase lol.

Give me the limited edition.

@Kermit1
Yeah I’ve been complaining about the price, while also planning to buy the game this week.

@blindsquarel I'm gonna wait until around release just in case.

@Kermit1
What else am I going to do at 12 Am the day it releases, go to bed?

@blindsquarel eat. that is the correct answer, but TOTK is also correct.

Morshu is happy with this price

So maybe I'm missing something but regardless of the actual price, it feels more like someone who works on these sites found out about the possibility of a price hike, combined with a sudden increase in pre-orders lead to them taking it down. They don't want people to be getting it at an unintentional bargain.

Like the timing doesn't make me think anyone actually knows anything right now except Nintendo, they just reacted to the internet news.

@kkslider5552000 Right. The listings would have been taken down earlier than now, or altered altogether, if the retailers were in cahoots. It's gonna be pretty funny if this ends up just being a totally random flub on the part of some intern or something.

@kkslider5552000 @Ralizah
That’s what I’m hoping happened. The increase in price makes no sense.

If it is priced at 70 though, I'm sure as hell not getting the game new. Nintendo never does sales for their big titles, and I don't want to pay 70 dollars for a game that might not even be good. Unless tomorrow's direct wows me, I'm probably not even going to buy TotK, or probably any future Nintendo releases. I'm hoping it was a mistake, but if not, then screw Nintendo.

@blindsquarel Right. How would it work with the vouchers? Is it all first-party games going forward, or only Zelda, or what?

The only scenario that makes sense to me is if it was announced alongside a late-gen hardware revision that improved the performance. But why then put your resources toward expanded production of the base Nintendo Switch model?

It could be a genuine price hike, but it seems more likely to me that someone somewhere made a mistake. I mean, we know they did, because a price randomly appeared for the game just ahead of a Direct, lol.

Such a genuinely interesting debate, and I'm a bit on the fence regarding this one...

If TotK is as amazing as we all probably hope/expect it will be, with gameplay that could exceed >100hrs - then I honestly don't see 70 as too unreasonable.
I got Returnal (PS5) for 70, and this is probably one of the best games I've ever played - albeit I was probably done in 30-ish hours (including free DLC). I got MHRise full price as well as Sunbreak, so that would probably total 80-90.... and have poured hours in there also.

As a business move by Nintendo though, I don't fully appreciate it. This game will sell massively from Day #1, and a price-point of 60 would have been more appropriate IMO. I appreciate that they are a business, and have various EBIT / KPI targets etc etc.... but honestly, I feel that the hike to 70 would genuinely alienate and upset some consumers, especially here in UK where our economic situation is not great.
I am extremely fortunate to be able to purchase this game, at 60 or 70, but am very conscious not everyone has the needed disposable income - and that the difference of 10 can be considerable

@Ralizah
It’s probably just Nintendo being cocky, knowing they will be able to get away with a $70 price tag. It could also include all potential dlc for $70, with the main game being $60. But that is a pretty big stretch.

Lmao 70 quid for a Switch game. It's not justified in the current consoles, let alone on Switch's ancient hardware.

I've already said this in the article, but I think a $10 premium is justifiable if Nintendo issues the game on a 32GB cartridge (just as similar premiums occasionally apply to other current-gen releases that are issued on more expensive Ultra HD Blu-ray discs). Whether such a premium should be passed on to the digital release is debatable, but I'm of the position that digital downloads should not cost as much as their physical counterparts, and I say that as a diehard physical fan.

But for an otherwise smaller game that is poised to become a critical darling and an evergreen bestseller? I think Nintendo would risk driving away a lot of their American customers who are now long-accustomed to the US$60 status quo.

But there appears to be a $10 (or equivalent) premium for both BotW and TotK in Australia and Europe, but fortunately, these games are the exception. Either way, game prices in Australia generally work out cheaper than importing as AU$80 is currently worth about US$55. If anything, we're lucky that prices remain relatively low considering the weaker Aussie dollar.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was $70 - BotW and Smash Ultimate were both £60 in the UK which is more than $70 usd. But you can always find physical games cheaper if you shop around so it's not the end of the world.

I could live with the $70 price increase since we sorta know the game quality already. Though I've been holding out splashing money on a preorder in case an amazing special edition comes along.

The other thing for me is that the entire concept of 70 dollar games is exposed as "well we can get away with it with this game" unless you do it as a norm for a new console, where you can at least make the factual claim that they are more expensive to make. Outside of the general ambition of a BOTW sequel, this is as far away from a good time to do it as possible. (granted, no one can afford **** anymore so I'm not sure there is a good time, but randomly in Switch year 6 would not be it)

@kkslider5552000 To be honest, though it is just bringing it inline with BOTW's European prices which were £10 more expensive than most Switch games in the UK and (I believe) mostly 10 euros above most other Switch games.