Confirmed: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the first $70 Switch game

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will retail for $70, it’s been confirmed.

Following Nintendo’s latest Nintendo Direct live stream on Wednesday, the company confirmed the Switch title will have an increased price point.

In addition to the standard version, which will be available at a suggested retail price of $69.99, a Tears of the Kingdom Collector’s Edition will release at a suggested retail price of $129.99, and includes a physical version of the game, an artbook with concept art, a Steelbook case, an Iconart steel poster and a set of four pin badges.

This marks the first time Nintendo has charged more than $59.99 for a standard edition of a digital Switch game. Rival console firms PlayStation and Xbox raised all their first-party game prices to $70 over the past two years.

It’s not yet clear whether retailers will honour existing $59.99 pre-orders, though Amazon tends to honour the lowest price a product reaches during its pre-order period.

Earlier this week Nintendo’s president told investors that the company had “done our best to maintain both the value and price of hardware and software within our long term business strategy”, and that it does “not believe that any changes to this policy are necessary at this stage”.

Nintendo published its latest financial results on Tuesday, in which it said fluctuations in foreign exchange markets had contributed to a decline in sales and profits, despite strong sales of Switch games and hardware.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa reportedly said in an earnings briefing that the company does not plan to raise software or game console prices in response to market conditions in Japan, but would consider doing so if circumstances demanded it.