The Switch 2 should be a slam dunk. Bigger device. Better build quality. More power. New games. But Nintendo can’t seem to get out of its own way when it comes to rolling out the successor to what might eventually end up being the best-selling console of all-time. And charging $90 for the complete version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a perfect example.
Nintendo announced that the game, a launch title on the original Switch back in 2017, will get an upgraded version for the Switch 2 with smoother framerates, better resolution, faster load times, HDR support, and additional perks from the Zelda Notes mobile app like daily stat bonuses and a GPS for finding Korok seeds. While the upgrade is free for Switch Online Expansion Pack subscribers, it’ll be $10 for everyone else, making Zelda: Breath of the Wild a $70 game on Switch 2.
But Nintendo recently confirmed to IGN that that version still won’t include the game’s year-one DLC. The Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass, which contains a harder difficulty mode, more gear, additional side quests, new story missions, and an honest-to-god motorcycle, will still be locked behind an additional $20 upgrade. In other words, anyone coming to Breath of the Wild for the first time on Switch 2 will need to spend $90 for the full experience. The price of saving Hyrule has never been so high.
Contrast Nintendo’s approach to its eight-year old mega hit with CD Projekt Red’s to Cyberpunk 2077. Both games have sold over 30 million copies. Both games are dense open-world adventures. Both are coming to Switch 2. Both will be $70 there. Except Cyberpunk 2077 will include its Phantom Liberty expansion which came out less than two years ago as a “Complete Edition” pack-in at no extra charge. And that’s despite the fact CDPR has to pay a platform fee to Nintendo on every sale.
In isolation, selling Breath of the Wild DLC separately on Switch 2 would warrant a “there goes Nintendo again” eye roll and nothing more, but it’s the latest in a series of headscratchers that keeps killing the pre-launch vibe. Mario Kart World and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are both $80, suggesting most upcoming top-tier first-party games will be as well. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a $10 download instead of a Wii Sports-like pack-in. Some physical games will only be cartridges with DRM keys on them. GameChat, complete with its own dedicated controller button, will require a paid subscription after the first year.
Than there’s the wonky way Nintendo has handled all of the questions still surrounding the Switch 2. It didn’t offer many direct answers when pressed about battery life, LCD vs. OLED screens, or the lack of anti-drift Hall Effect joysticks at a recent press event in New York. It took over a week to clarify that Switch 2 Editions of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and other games will come with all of the data on the cartridge, and it still hasn’t responded to confusion about physical games having a $10 price mark-up in Europe.
And what about the Switch 2's $450 price? “We recognize there are some people that may not be able to afford [that] price point,” Nintendo of America Doug Bowser said last week. “That’s why we wanted to make the other Switch platforms available.” It was a perfect echo of the tone deafness around Microsoft’s rollout of the Xbox One when Don Mattrick told people who didn’t have a good internet connection to just buy an Xbox 360.
None of this means the Switch 2 won’t be great. On paper, it’s everything fans have been asking for for years. Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza look incredible. If an ongoing trade war doesn’t completely sabotage the launch in the U.S., early adopters may go hands-on with the Switch 2 on June 5 and instantly fall in love, forgetting all of the current noise and bellyaching. But in the meantime it’s all we have, and the nickel-and-diming has gotten completely out of control.
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