Nobody is surprised, and that is the depressing part. Nintendo put its emerald Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 up for pre-order, the queue melted, and within roughly four hours the $520 console was gone from every major retailer. The eBay listings did not wait that long.
By the time most people had finished refreshing a checkout page, resellers were already asking $730 to $900 for a machine that does not ship until October 29. The optimistic ones went past $1,000, and a handful of bundle listings crossed $1,150.
The short version
- The Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 costs $520 and ships October 29
- Pre-orders sold out in roughly four hours across major retailers
- Typical eBay asking prices landed between $730 and $900, with outliers above $1,000
- The console does not include a copy of any game
- The $100 anniversary Pro Controller sold out as well
- The Ocarina of Time remake arrives separately on November 5
What Nintendo actually announced
The console came out of the anniversary showcase Nintendo ran on September 8, the first Direct the series has ever had to itself. We flagged that oddity beforehand, because Zelda had somehow never received a dedicated Direct in four decades, and Nintendo used the slot to lock in a November 5 date for the Ocarina of Time remake and to reveal the hardware.
It is a good looking machine. Emerald green and gold on the console itself, a black and gold dock stamped with the Triforce, and enough restraint that it does not read as a novelty item. It is also, and this is the part that annoyed people, sold entirely on its own. No pack in game, no download code, nothing. If you want the Ocarina remake that prompted the whole celebration, that is a separate purchase.
| Item | Price | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 | $520 | October 29 | Pre-orders sold out |
| Anniversary Pro Controller | $100 | October 29 | Sold out |
| Ocarina of Time remake | Sold separately | November 5 | Not bundled with the console |
The resale numbers, in plain figures
A listing is not a sale, and it is worth repeating that before anyone panics about the market rate. Anyone can type $1,200 into eBay and wait. What the listings do show is what resellers believe they can extract, and the spread is wide enough to be instructive.
Zelda Switch 2, asking price versus retail
Asking prices observed on eBay within hours of pre-orders opening. Listings do not confirm completed sales.
At the midpoint of that range, a reseller who secured one unit is looking at roughly $250 of margin for about ninety seconds of work, minus fees. Multiply that by a bot farm and you have a business, which is exactly why this keeps happening.
Limited edition Nintendo hardware has a long history of vanishing on day one. Photo via Pexels.
Why this one was worse than usual
Two things stacked on top of each other. The first is that the base Switch 2 is already more expensive than it was meant to be, thanks to the memory shortage that has been squeezing every hardware maker this year. We covered the industry side of it when a memory executive admitted the RAM crunch could kill entire product lines, and consoles were never going to be exempt. A $520 special edition is the downstream result.
The second is scale. Zelda, Mario and Pokemon are the three properties where Nintendo’s demand curve stops behaving like a normal product and starts behaving like a concert ticket drop. Add automated checkout tooling and a limited production run, and the outcome is decided before a human can finish typing a card number.
What players are saying
The replies under Nintendo of America’s announcement were less angry than resigned, which is somehow worse.
“Pre-orders are already sold out within less than a day? Please fix this so actual Zelda fans can get your console instead of just scalpers, do you not want my money??”A reply under Nintendo of America’s pre-order post
Another put it more personally: “Honestly im really depressed about the Zelda switch 2 being sold out and most likely scalpers. Like this series means so much to me and it ruined my mood for the day.” A third suggested Nintendo fight back with unannounced restock batches so that bots cannot time the drops, and asked eBay to remove pre-order listings entirely so resellers carry the risk instead of the buyer.
That last idea is not as fringe as it sounds. Several retailers have experimented with account age requirements, loyalty program gating and randomized queue draws, and all of them meaningfully cut bot success rates. None of them are free to run, which is the honest reason they are rare.
If you missed out
- Restocks before October 29 are likely, and retailers rarely announce them in advance
- Nothing about the special edition changes performance, it is the same Switch 2 in different colors
- The Ocarina of Time remake is a separate purchase, so waiting costs you nothing on November 5
- Resale prices on limited Nintendo hardware usually soften a few weeks after launch, once supply catches up
The longer game
There is one genuine consolation for anyone who came away empty handed. Limited edition Nintendo hardware does tend to hold value, and in rare cases it becomes something else entirely. We wrote earlier this year about a cereal promo Game and Watch set that sold for around $12,000 precisely because almost nobody kept one.
The difference is that those became valuable by accident, decades later. This one is being priced as a collectible before the box exists, by people who have no intention of playing it. Forty years of Zelda deserved a better opening week than a queue simulator, but here we are, waiting for a restock and hoping the bots are asleep.
Sources and further reading
- Nintendo Life: Zelda limited edition Switch 2 already selling out
- GameSpot: Switch 2 40th anniversary console sells out immediately
- Kotaku: Scalpers selling the Zelda Switch 2 for $900
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