Bethesda hopes you’ll pay $70 for Skyrim on Switch
Nearly a year after it appeared on all other platforms, Skyrim: Anniversary Edition surprise – launched on Nintendo Switch today. The latest version of the beloved open-world RPG of 2011 includes tons of DLC, mods and fishing. It’s also $70 for a Nintendo handheld hybrid. Gotham Knights as well as Callisto Protocol don’t come to Switch, but the price seems to match, at least in this odd case.
Bethesda released lots of ports and updates to Elder Scrolls V. Since it was originally released on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, it also appears on every new generation of consoles, as well as phones, streaming platforms, and, of course, the Nintendo Switch. Last year, the publisher introduced a new $50 Anniversary editionnot to be confused with existing Special edition. The main difference was that it had more mods and more fishing. Players could pay $20 to upgrade their existing Special editions. Except the switch.
2017 version for the Nintendo handheld that included special Breath of the Wild costume not updated until today. Nintendo announced unexpected news on twitterbut soon people began to reject the price:
While Switch games often cost more, Skyrim: Anniversary Edition is the first game that is not an anthology, deluxe edition, or DLC pack that breaks the $60 barrier. Games now regularly do this on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, presumably because the cost of producing blockbusters nearly doubles in every console cycle. However, the Switch is already five years old, and Skyrim even older.
Plus, the Anniversary Edition is only $50 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, where next-gen updates were free. And it also has nothing to do with the cost of Switch SD cards, as the $70 price is for digital download. (People who already own Skyrim on Switch can now, like their PlayStation and Xbox counterparts, switch to Anniversary Edition for $20.)
My only guess? The regular version of Skyrim is still $60 on the Switch, and instead of dropping that price by $10, Bethesda decided to just add it to the new sale price. These are all assumptions, of course. How could you guess if you have been in these parts for a long timeBethesda did not respond to a request for comment.
