Doug Bowser defends ‘Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ price

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser has defended the decision to charge $70 for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, stating his belief that the game would be worthy of such a price.

In an interview with AP News, Bowser was asked why Nintendo had opted for a larger price for the game. Switch games are typically $60 at most, with the new Zelda the first conventional game to exceed that price point.

He said: “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.”

In the UK, the game will cost £59.99, £10 more than the customary £49.99.

Tears of the Kingdom is currently the only $70 game on Nintendo’s publishing slate, and it boasts the largest file size of any first-party Switch game.

Nintendo has since confirmed that it will determine “the suggested retail price for any Nintendo product on a case-by-case basis”.

The game is due to launch on 12 May.

In the same interview, Bowser was also asked about what we may see from the Switch’s successor. He said that he is “still feeling very bullish about” the console, and he hinted at “a very, very strong line-up” coming to the Switch in the future.

He then commented on the uniqueness of the Switch, stating: “One of the reasons that even going into year seven we feel very confident that the Switch can have a strong performance over the next few years is that it is still truly that unique device that you can play in a variety of ways, at home, on the go. One of the things we look at always is how can we surprise and delight. How can we introduce new unique ways of playing. That’s always in front of our mind.”