Two fans got a job just to steal Tears of the Kingdom before launch

Two Zelda fans in Japan got a job at a delivery center to steal Tears of the Kingdom – and then one of their mothers found out

Two Zelda fans in Japan got a job at a delivery center to steal Tears of the Kingdom before the Switch game launched – and then one of their mothers found out. The story comes from Japanese publication Bunshun (translated by Automaton Media, first spotted by GamesRadar), which reported that a 21-year-old man and a 24-year-old man secured part-time jobs at a facility that serves Amazon in April 2023 and ended up taking quite a bit more than just the game as well.

The plan initially worked. When the duo was meant to start working on Tears of the Kingdom shipments, they skipped their shift and stayed home, playing the game. A supervisor phoned one of their mothers, who explained that they were home playing Tears of the Kingdom that day. 

The pair confessed to planning the act ahead of time, and one of them admitted he stole quite a bit of Zelda merchandise to sell online, including Tears of the Kingdom-themed Pro Controllers. 

An employee at the facility said this kind of situation happens frequently, especially around the time of highly-anticipated launches, including Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Part-timers come and go, they said, and it’s difficult to pin down who took what and when.

The two Zelda thieves were an exception, thanks to the mom. They were fired, as you’d expect, though Bunshun didn’t report whether the facility would be pressing charges.

Meanwhile, Tears of the Kingdom became one of Nintendo’s fastest-selling games after the Big N shifted more than 10 million (legitimate) copies of the game in its first three days.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF