UPDATE: Apr. 13, 2023, 10:00 a.m. EDT This story has been updated with the latest preorder availability info. Here are some quick links:
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ($69.99) — available at Amazon(opens in a new tab), Best Buy(opens in a new tab), GameStop(opens in a new tab), Target(opens in a new tab), Walmart(opens in a new tab), and in the My Nintendo Store(opens in a new tab)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Collector's Edition ($129.99) — sold out
Get your rupees out and schedule your PTO accordingly: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom(opens in a new tab) is set for release on Friday, May 12, and preorders are officially live.
The highly anticipated sequel to 2017's Breath of the Wild is priced at $69.99, or $10 more than Nintendo's typical price for Switch games. (This puts Nintendo in line with other games publishers(opens in a new tab), like Xbox and PlayStation, who have started charging extra for first-party titles.) For players with even more wiggle room in their budgets — and the patience to find it in stock — a $129.99 Collector's Edition of TOTK will also be available at launch.
Early birds may recall that the base game was selling for $59.99 back in September 2021, when preorder listings first went up; it didn't even have a title or cover art at that point. No word yet on how retailers will handle the customers who locked in their reservations at that price, but if you're one of them, we wouldn't cancel anything just yet — you might've actually saved yourselves a couple of bucks.
Here's a breakdown of both editions' current availability at major retailers:
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ($69.99)
The base game could be reserved at Amazon(opens in a new tab), Best Buy(opens in a new tab), GameStop(opens in a new tab), Target(opens in a new tab), Walmart(opens in a new tab), and in the My Nintendo Store(opens in a new tab) the last time we checked. Three of those retailers are offering pre-order bonuses:
Best Buy throws in a free art print of TOTK's cover art (worth $9.99).
GameStop is giving away exclusive wooden plaques while supplies last — note that they must be picked up in person at GameStop stores.
Walmart has a limited-edition black wall scroll featuring the Master Sword. (It originally offered a gold version(opens in a new tab), but that one was limited to the first 5,000 preorders and sold out pretty much instantly.)
It's worth mentioning that the My Nintendo Store is making TOTK eligible for game vouchers, which is a sneaky way of getting it at a discount. If you're a Nintendo Switch Online member, you can buy a pair of two vouchers(opens in a new tab) for $99.98 through your console and have it pre-load ahead of release.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Collector's Edition ($129.99)
Splurging on the Collector's Edition of TOTK nabs you a SteelBook case, a poster, a pin set, and a hardcover art book in addition to a copy of the base game. Every retailer that's put it up for preorder has had a hard time keeping it in stock (see: Amazon(opens in a new tab), Best Buy(opens in a new tab), GameStop(opens in a new tab), and Target(opens in a new tab)), but we'll update this post if it's re-listed anywhere.
