Things are getting more expensive, and that’s including our video games. Adjacent to its epic Nintendo Direct last night, the Big N revealed that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom would cost $70 at launch, a full $10 more than consumers are used to paying for Nintendo Switch games — or any platform’s games for that matter. It raised plenty of chatter around the internet about the cost of making games, what constitutes fair prices, and whether or not all Nintendo games will cost $70 in the very near future. For its part, Nintendo says that that won’t be the case.
After the uproar over the new price, Game Informer reached out to Nintendo to see why the increased price was happening and whether or not it would be the new normal. In response, Nintendo said, “We determine the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis,” as to why Tears of the Kingdom cost this much — a classic non-answer. The spokesman then went on to say that this would not be a trend in their games going forward, stating, “No. We determine the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis.”
That might sound like good news (and Pikmin 4 is notably $59.99) for those worried that games will start being even more expensive, but it’s not actual confirmation that prices won’t go up to $70 across the board eventually. Clearly, the company knows that Tears of the Kingdom is going to sell well at virtually any price point, so it’s not really taking a gamble here with this price hike, making it a great testing ground for something like this. The game is also one of Nintendo’s biggest games, taking a massive team and years upon years to develop, so there’s plenty of reason to believe that this one just cost more to make. It’s also hard to shout about corporate greed when it just gave its Japanese staff 10% raises across the board, as most other tech companies are laying off employees in droves. Whatever the reason for this price hike, it appears we do not have to be too worried yet about all Nintendo game prices going up.
