Why the BotW Collector's Edition is So Expensive

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By RC Staff

22 April 2023

It is hard to overstate The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s impact on the video game landscape when it shipped in March of 2017. A launch title for the ambitious Switch, and a farewell to the Wii U, BotW has been cited by countless games as an inspiration. Despite, or perhaps because of, this success, copies of both Switches and special editions of the game were underproduced and would resell. BotW’s highest-tier release, the Master Edition, began reselling for hundreds of dollars. Five years later, sealed editions have sold for $1,000+.

What is the BotW Collector's Edition?

Breath of the Wild came in several different editions at launch. The most expensive, the Master Edition, is often referred to as the BotW Collector’s Edition. $130 got you the game, a Switch carry case, a vinyl pressing of the soundtrack, a special coin, a map, and a Master Sword statuette. Additionally, Master Editions came enclosed in a distinct black box.

Nintendo also produced a lower-tier collector’s edition, dubbed the Special Edition. Special Editions included everything from the Master Edition, with the exception of the Master Sword statuette. These statuettes have gone on to be resold separately, typically for around $100-$200.

While they released Breath of the Wild for the Switch and the Wii U, Master Editions were only for the Switch. If you are familiar with reselling, you are probably aware of how hard to find Switches were for a significant time. Master Editions of BotW would follow a similar arc.

Did BotW Collector's Editions resell?

Breath of the Wild Master Editions would resell almost immediately. Fans of the game flocked to Reddit to complain about missing out on preorders. Despite the relatively high price of $130 for a game, Master Editions were extremely popular among gamers and resellers alike.

From the beginning, it was clear that supply of the Master Editions was going to be an issue. Many reported their Amazon orders being canceled. Amazon emailed frustrated buyers and explained that they had oversold stock, while traditional retailers like Gamestop had similar issues.

In fact, preorders for the game were so popular that sometimes the standard versions sold out. Usually, this was a temporary issue, but it shows the unprecedented demand and lack of supply Nintendo was facing at launch.

Beneath all this was the beginning of the long saga of sold-out Nintendo Switches. For years, the console was notoriously hard to find at retail and was a popular method for resellers to profit from. By employing tools like monitors and bots, resellers routinely took stock of new shipments and benefited from the demand.

There were several ways that Master Editions would resell. Some people elected to pull the Master Sword statuette and list it on eBay separately. After all, that was the only unique piece to the Master Edition, and these would typically sell for around $150, essentially covering the cost of the game.

Others put the whole thing up for sale, asking for around $300-$500. In the weeks preceding the game’s release, reselling your preorder for triple what you paid was fast, easy, and profitable (unless they canceled your preorder).

By far, the most profitable option was a long hold. While risky, slow, and requiring remarkable patience, some resellers would preserve their Master Editions in plastic and wait for the right time. While this is generally a difficult way to turn a profit, recent sales of sealed Master Editions have eclipsed the $1,000 mark.

There’s no reason to believe that this is the end of the line either. A sealed copy of 1987’s The Legend of Zelda for NES sold for $17,000 in October 2022, and retro games reselling for thousands of dollars is becoming an increasingly common sight.

With Breath of the Wild commonly cited as one of the decade’s most impactful and well-received games, high-quality copies may command mindboggling prices in the future.

Why did BotW Collector's Editions resell?

We’ve already touched on the incredible demand for both Breath of the Wild and the Master Editions. Of course, with any product, this kind of pressure from consumers would likely lead to shelves clearing out. However, with Breath of the Wild and Switches in general, there was something else at play:

Uncertainty and fear of repeating past mistakes.

While looking back, it is easy to recognize the Nintendo Switch as one of the most popular and widely purchased gaming devices of the last decade. But that was not true of its predecessor, the Wii U.

The Wii U was the follow-up to the ultra-popular Wii. You know, the console that everyone and their literal grandma was playing. With such an enormous success under their belt, Nintendo likely felt confident in their next step by naming their next console the Wii U.

But the Wii U flopped. By 2017, five years after its release, it had moved 13 million units. The Wii had sold over 100 million in a comparable timespan. Many of Nintendo’s first-party offerings geared towards the Wii U, like Super Smash Bros 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword recorded some of their worst sales figures for their series.

Consider how Nintendo would be approaching the Switch, and the next entry in the Legend of Zelda series. Both are regarded as extremely ambitious, groundbreaking projects, but also plagued by supply and distribution numbers.

In light of the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo throttled back production. But, rather than risk another soul-(and profit)-crushing flop, they would take a more conservative approach.

The Wii U’s failure likely contributed to the Switch’s success as well. Consumers genuinely wanted to see a Nintendo console succeed and be something for them to get excited about. However, after preorders sold out and consoles (and games) began reselling, it was clear that the Switch was on a different trajectory.

While almost six years have passed since its release, the Nintendo Switch remains an extremely popular console. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild continues to sell as well, and prices for special editions, including the Master Edition, are on the rise. It seems safe to say that this was a win for Nintendo and the resellers who got out ahead.

For more resell-related content, check out our other articles. Breath of the Wild’s Master Editions are not the first collector’s edition to resell, and we have special versions of other games in previous articles. So if you want to get started reselling or for a few good items to flip, we have you covered.