Nintendo says it won't "necessarily" adopt $70 for future titles after Zelda
"We look at what the game has to offer".
Nintendo's Doug Bowser has addressed the company's decision to slap the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with a $70 price tag in the US, saying it's not "necessarily" a price point it'll apply to all its titles in the future.
Nintendo confirmed Tears of the Kingdom would retail for $69.99 in the US - $10 above the price it usually adopts for its big blockbuster titles - at the start of February, leading some to wonder if this may become the new standard for the company's games.
The move would certain align with a growing number of other publishers - including Sony, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and Take-Two - who've recently looked to position $70 as the new normal for many of their titles on consoles.
However, in an interview with AP News, head of Nintendo USA, Doug Bowser, has suggested the company will continue to price its games on a title-by-title basis, while not ruling out the possibility of more $70 releases in the future.
"We look at what the game has to offer," Bowser explained. "I think fans will find [Tears of the Kingdom] 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," Bowser continued. "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."
Tears of the Kingdom's predecessor, The Legend of Zeda: Breath of the Wild, was also notable for its £59.99 price tag in the UK when it launched back in 2017 - £10 above Nintendo's other big-name releases at the time. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Tears of the Kingdom are the company's only first-party games to repeat the price point since.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches 12th May, and our most recent look at the game arrived as part of a Nintendo Direct in February.