Two men reportedly stole The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom copies from an Amazon warehouse before the game’s launch a few weeks ago, resulting in their termination shortly after. The hype for Tears of the Kingdom is understandable for its various improvement, such as allowing Zelda gamers to create all sorts of crazy vehicles, but these men went too far to get early access to it.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been one of the most eagerly expected games of 2023. Proof of that is that the title managed to sell over 10 million units in three days, quickly outpacing Elden Ring in sales. Perhaps, it may be even able to surpass its predecessor Breath of the Wild, which was previously the all-time best-selling game in the franchise.
Earlier this month, two men, each one part of an isolated case, reportedly managed to steal copies of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before its release from an Amazon warehouse in Japan. According to original reports from the Japanese media outlet Shūkan Bunshun (and also reported by Kotaku), one warehouse supervisor noticed something suspicious when a 21-year-old man who was hired just before the game’s debut as a delivery worker stopped showing up. He called the man’s house, with the mother revealing he was playing a new Zelda game. When he was caught, the man confessed, paid for the stolen goods, returned the game, and was fired. He probably couldn’t finish it, though, as even a speedrunner took 140 hours to beat Zelda doing 100%.
The second case happened soon afterward. The same warehouse supervisor noticed another young man vanishing from work and suspected that the same had happened. This second man actually stole several pieces of merchandise along with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to resell later, including a special edition of a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. Neither man was reported since they returned the goods. The Japanese media outlet also cited an unnamed source that affirmed that this kind of thievery happens a lot in local Amazon warehouses and that it’s normally hard to track people down because workers come and go all the time. It was also reported that all deliveries were made on time, and no one who purchased the game was shorted by these men's actions.
Apparently, the release of such colossal games makes these events happen more often and, based on this success, gamers can expect another huge open-world Zelda eventually. According to several interviews given by Nintendo, the team is still full of fresh ideas for a Tears of the Kingdom sequel. Hopefully, people won’t be getting jobs to steal the game then.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Switch.
Source: Shūkan Bunshun (via Kotaku)