Recently, the most expensive edition of the ten-year-old game was quietly released on portable devices.
Skyrim: Anniversary Edition was unexpectedly released on the Nintendo Switch today, almost a year after it appeared on every other platform. The most recent edition of the well-liked open-world role-playing game from 2011 features a tonne of DLC, mod content, and fishing. On Nintendo’s portable hybrid, it costs $70 as well. Although Callisto Protocol and Gotham Knights aren’t coming to Switch, the pricing point is, at least in this one strange case.
The Elder Scrolls V has received numerous ports and updates from Bethesda. Since its initial release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, it has also been made available for phones, streaming services, and, of course, the Nintendo Switch. To distinguish it from the current Special Edition, the publisher released the $50 Anniversary Edition last year. The primary distinction was that it offered more fishing and mod material. For $20, players may upgrade their current Special Editions. excluding Switch.
The 2017 version on Nintendo’s handheld that included a special Breath of the Wild costume wasn’t upgradable until today. In a tweet, Nintendo revealed the unexpected information, but it didn’t take long for users to object to the price:
Who would have thought Skyrim would be the game to show up with the 70 dollar price point on Switch. pic.twitter.com/u78HJZbuDT
— Spawn Wave (@SpawnWaveMedia) September 29, 2022
Ight, Bethesda. Wtf is this? $70 for Skyrim on Switch?! pic.twitter.com/mhmGc3oUrY
— MrMattyPlays (@G27Status) September 29, 2022
$70 Nintendo Switch Games are here pic.twitter.com/hVThrC6bFK
— MVG (@ModernVintageG) September 29, 2022
While Switch games are sometimes expensive, Skyrim: Anniversary Edition is the first to cost $60 that isn’t part of an anthology, deluxe edition, or DLC package. Games on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are now frequently doing this, most likely as a result of the nearly double expense of blockbuster console creation. But Skyrim is even older than the Switch, which is only five years old.
Additionally, the Anniversary Edition for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, where the new-generation improvements were free, costs only $50. As the $70 pricing is for the digital download, it also has nothing to do with how much Switch SD cards cost. (Those who already own Skyrim on Switch can now purchase the $20 Anniversary Edition upgrade, just like their PlayStation and Xbox counterparts.)
My sole hunch? Instead than knocking $10 off the regular price of Skyrim on Switch, which is still $60, Bethesda chose to just add it to the newly reduced price. Of course, all of it is conjecture. If you’ve been in these parts for a while, you would have predicted that Bethesda declined to comment.
