Well it's like with Sony releasing stuff like Ratchet (2016) for $40 or Miles Morales for $50. It'll just be the big blockbuster titles Nintendo will charge $70 for. Flexibility is nothing new, DKC was $50 instead of $60 before etc.

So yeah it sucks they are indeed selling Zelda at $70. I guess they figure everybody is gonna buy the game regardless so they can squeeze out some extra money.


BUT....

nobody should be paying $70 for this, because you don't have to. If you have NSO you can buy two game vouchers that last for 12 months, for $100, so you can pick up two games for $50. Zelda TotK was just added as an eligible game. So get the vouchers and Zelda only costs $50 instead of $70, plus you get another game for $50 as well.

And if you don't have NSO, just get the basic subscription for a year, get the vouchers, and buying Zelda at $20 off pays for the year long subscription, and then you also get $10 off another $60 game, plus you get NSO for a year. Literally nobody who is gonna buy the digital version of TotK should pay $70 since we can all get it for $50. If you want to get the physical copy, well then you're paying $20 extra just to have a game card so that's up to you.

It's most likely just for Zelda, the rest of the games are still $60, $40 for Metroid Prime remastered.

The price of ToTK in Europe is confirmed to be the usual €70, as I expected. It looks like this price increase is a US only thing.

Yeah same in the UK. £59.99 for it which is same as BOTW. Only USA got price increased.

Everything played out as expected. No surprises here.

A core part of Nintendo's current business strategy is to embrace premium pricing tiers and service revenue like Nintendo Online. They know a vast majority of their buyer base is older and can afford it.

I know "budget" gamers are going to throw a little fit over it, but this is a business first.

Anyway I remember my parents paying like $80+ for Super Mario Bros. 3 back in the day when it released, and I paid $60-$70+ for many N64 games ... it is what it is.

That's already crazy, even without another price increase. I remember when it was £39.99 for a new game

Nah just buy physical. $60 for a digital game is still just throwing money away. The cartridges will keep their value, might even go up in value. Buying physical guarantees a much higher resale value than the $10 you 'save' by spending it on NSO.

I'm not buying the game by itself digitally for $70, I can tell you that. I'll either get the voucher or get the game physically (hopefully biding my time for a slight discount).
If we get the next console in 2024, this will probably be the only Nintendo game at $70 on Switch. If it's 2025 or beyond, expect 2-5 more games at this price.
At any rate, this all but confirms $70 will be the new standard for Nintendo games on future hardware. Smash 6, Mario Kart 9, 3D Mario, Zelda, Xenoblade Chronicles 4, Luigi's Mansion 4, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, etc will all be $70. Something like WarioWare might be up to $60, but hopefully it will stay at $50 unless it has way more content. And I'm sure some enhanced Switch ports (whether or not the next system is backwards compatible) will also be $70.