PSA: You can get a Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom discount with a Switch voucher

Snag a sizable discount on a pricey game

We’ve seen the video game pricing debate play out time and again. Every time a studio bumps up the price of a major release, people comment on how things are getting out of hand, other people counter that video game prices actually rise very slowly relative to other luxury goods, and so on and so forth. Unsurprisingly, when Nintendo revealed that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom would retail for $69.99, this debate returned. The good news is, you probably don’t actually need to pay $69.99 for Tears of the Kingdom.

Last week, Nintendo brought back Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers, a discount system that essentially allows Nintendo Switch Online customers to purchase two games for a total of $99.98. Most voucher-eligible games cost $59.99, meaning that you’ll usually save twenty bucks going the voucher route. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, with its heftier price tag, is actually included in the voucher program. That means that if you’ve got your eye on a second Switch game (Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, anyone?), you can save a total of $30 by buying it alongside Tears of the Kingdom.

Obviously, it’s a bit of an inelegant solution. You can hold onto your vouchers for 12 months from date of purchase, but if you’re only interested in buying the sequel to Breath of the Wild, then you’ll actually end up overspending by $30 for a purchase you might never make. If you want to buy the game physically, you’ll be stuck scouring retailers for discounts at launch, and if you’re not subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online, then you can’t take advantage of this offer at all. Still, for an awful lot of Nintendo Switch owners, this will act as a pretty substantial discount, and it makes that $70 pill just a little easier to swallow.

For whatever it’s worth, though, I would gladly trade in my Game Vouchers for the return of Nintendo Selects. I miss you so much, Nintendo Selects.