NOA boss Doug Bowser defends Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom $70 price

“The price point reflects the type of experience that fans can expect”

When the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom $70 price point leaked before the Nintendo Direct that officially confirmed it: folks knew they were in for a day of discourse.

While many publishers have been comfortable with $70 games since the start of this present generation, Nintendo has remained a first party holdout: until Tears of the Kingdom arrives in May, that is. When asked by AP News why Nintendo opted for a $70 price for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (it’s money, but bless), Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser (Reggie Fils-Aimé’s successor) responded in turn with:

“We look at what the game has to offer. I think fans will find this is an incredibly full, deeply immersive experience. The price point reflects the type of experience that fans can expect when it comes to playing this particular game. This isn’t a price point that we’ll necessarily have on all our titles. It’s actually a fairly common pricing model either here or in Europe or other parts of the world, where the pricing may vary depending on the game itself.”

Nintendo spokespeople are kind of between Scylla and Charybdis selling this, as they know people will buy Zelda anyway, but have to justify the price bump. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom presumably does “have a lot to offer:” even compared to other open world games on other platforms. But it’ll be funny to see the day that Nintendo charges $70 for something not even close to the same caliber.

Don’t forget! You can use a Switch voucher on Tears of the Kingdom and save some money.

Chris Carter

EIC, Reviews Director – Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step in January of 2009 blogging on the site. Now, he’s staff!