Zelda: Breath of the Wild Is More Expensive on Switch 2 Than It Was in 2017

Somehow, Nintendo has managed to make an eight year old game like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild more expensive on Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo is one of the most beloved video game companies on the planet thanks to their incredible history of hardware and rock solid video game franchises. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and many others have innovated in the medium for decades and Nintendo’s hardware has done tremendous work in the hardware space. The Wii brought motion gaming to an all-new level and allowed gamers to be actively involved with their games. The Nintendo Switch combined Nintendo’s handheld experience with a console, making for a revolutionary piece of tech that is being iterated upon by other companies like Steam to this day.

Naturally, Nintendo decided to double down with the Nintendo Switch 2 which is a far more refined and powerful version of the beloved console. The Nintendo Switch 2 will release this June and will likely be a hot item this year, but it also comes with some cons. For starters, the price of Nintendo Switch 2 games is way up from the previous console. Nintendo had released many of its first-party games for $60, but tested the waters with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and made that a $70 game. Fans weren’t too upset about this given the scope and scale of the game, but now things are different. Switch 2 games cost a whopping $80 and despite Nintendo having some bangers, many are questioning if Nintendo games are worth that much dough.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild Is More Expensive on Switch 2 Than It Was Nearly a Decade Ago

When the Nintendo Switch 2 launches, there will be some new games available, but there will also be a ton of old games that have been ported over to the console. Two of those games are The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. These are two of some of the most respected games from Nintendo and Breath of the Wild was undeniably the best launch game for the original Switch back in 2017. However, according to retail listing from Walmart and Best Buy, both of these games will cost more on Nintendo Switch 2. Breath of the Wild will be a whopping $70 and Tears of the Kingdom is $80 on Nintendo Switch 2, meaning they are both $10 more.

Of course, these two versions will have the benefit of increased frame rates, higher resolution, HDR, and even some new features via the Nintendo Switch App such as giving in-game items to other players. Players can also upgrade their copies to the Switch 2 version for $10 if they already own the game, but for everyone else, you’re stuck paying more than what both games cost upon their releases eight and two years ago respectively. If that doesn’t sting, we couldn’t find any confirmation that the DLC for Breath of the Wild is included.

In a gameplay video of Breath of the Wild for Switch 2, the main menu is briefly seen and the “DLC Purchased” menu to see which DLCs you own/don’t own is visible. One would assume if all DLC was included, there’d be no need for this. So, assuming this isn’t an error, if you want the full Breath of the Wild experience, you’ll have to pay $90 for a game that is almost a decade old and launched on the Wii U. This is all in addition to the costly Nintendo Switch 2 console as well.

What do you think of Nintendo’s strategy with Nintendo Switch 2? Let me know in the comments.