Nintendo May Have Leaked the 'Tears of the Kingdom' Price Early

Of the long list of games set to release in 2023, there are few as highly anticipated as the Breath of the Wild sequel, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The upcoming game is currently scheduled to release in May 2023 and is expected to be one of Nintendo's last big first-party titles for the Switch.

Though Nintendo has not officially announced a price for the title just yet, it seems there are some leaks circulating that suggest the game will be a bit pricier than previous first-party Nintendo games have been in the past.

Though some retailers have already listed preorder pages for Tears of the Kingdom, you still cannot preorder the game from the Nintendo eShop. Eagle-eyed gamers noticed on Feb. 7 that for a brief moment on the Nintendo eShop, Tears of the Kingdom was listed at a price point of $69.99. Not long after, the listing was removed, but not before the screenshots started circulating around the internet.

This brief listing comes just before the first Nintendo Direct of 2023, during with Nintendo fans are expecting more news about the upcoming game. Though many other video game platforms like PlayStation and Xbox have already started pricing first-party games at $69.99, Nintendo has yet to hike up its price point. Tears of the Kingdom could be the first from the company to get the cost bump.

Though this may seem like a change that was a long time coming, not everyone is thrilled with the possibility of shelling out $70 for the new game

"Unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected," André Segers, the founder of GameXplain, tweeted in reply to the news.

"Nintendo has absolutely no reason whatsoever to be charging $70 considering it’s running on outdated an device," another Twitter user said.

Some waffled about purchasing the game with the new price point, while others pointed out this just further supports the idea that a Switch 2 is on the horizon.

"I wonder if they plan to announce the next console soon and will price the games for that next gen console at $70. Probably have this game in the system to be released on the next console hence the screwup," one Twitter user mused.

"My theory is that they're raising the price because it'll be backwards compatible with their new hardware," another theorized. "I can't imagine the gall of a 10 dollar increase right before their Direct, just because."

At this time, you cannot preorder the game from the Nintendo eShop, and though all other retailers previously listed preorders for the game at only $59.99, all outlets have since taken down the preorder pages. It's currently unclear whether or not those who have already preordered the game will have to pay the additional $10 price difference before Tears of the Kingdom ships.