Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom midnight release event crashes Nintendo website

The Legend of Zelda’s long-awaited title, Tears of the Kingdom, is dropping soon – and fans are so eager to make the midnight release event that they crashed Nintendo’s website.

There are few games releasing in 2023 that have accumulated quite as much hype from the gaming community as Tears of the Kingdom has. The highly-anticipated sequel to Breath of the Wild releases on May 12, and fans cannot wait for it.

With such huge releases generally come even bigger events to accompany them, and Tears of the Kingdom offers no exception. Nintendo is hosting a midnight launch event for the game in New York City, and many players are eager to attend.

Unfortunately, so many fans were interested in reserving a spot for the late-night event that the traffic on Nintendo’s website caused it to crash entirely. Now, Zelda players are having to wait to book their position at the launch.

Tears of the Kingdom release event crashes Nintendo website

Nintendo initially Tweeted about the midnight launch event from their New York City specific account, stating that reservations for spots were open. Fans quickly took to the post, desparately trying to open the website linked so as to reserve their position for the event’s queue.

Reservations for The Legend of #Zelda: #TearsOfTheKingdom midnight launch at #NintendoNYC are now open! Reserve your spot here: https://t.co/9EomiqXVFg pic.twitter.com/RQsoSRv9eO

— Nintendo NY (@NintendoNYC) May 5, 2023

Almost as soon as the reservations went public, the massive flood of fans on the booking website caused it to crash entirely. Instead of accessing the page for reservations, hopeful players were met with an error or a message simply stating that the website was now under maintenance.

The New York based account for Nintendo followed up on their original Tweet then, posting that they were aware of the issues caused by the public’s overwhelming response to the opening of midnight launch reservations.

Due to an overwhelming response, we are investigating the Warp Pipe Pass reservation page errors for the midnight launch of The Legend of #Zelda: #TearsOfTheKingdom and will provide an update soon. Thank you for your patience. https://t.co/h4MazT90Nz

— Nintendo NY (@NintendoNYC) May 5, 2023

Nintendo stated that they were investigating the errors that fans were encountering, and wrote that they would update the public as soon as they knew more. After thanking everyone for their patience and looking into the issue, however, things continued going downhill.

Once again, the website opened up for fans wanting to attend the midnight launch of Tears of the Kingdom in New York City. Nintendo posted yet another update to Twitter to announce that the page was functioning once more.

Thank you all for your continued patience! The Warp Pipe Pass reservation page for the midnight launch of The Legend of #Zelda: #TearsOfTheKingdom has reopened! Reserve your spot here: https://t.co/9EomiqXVFg https://t.co/Twe8HhheNy

— Nintendo NY (@NintendoNYC) May 5, 2023

Sadly, the issue was no longer a matter of crashing websites or errors. Instead, it was much simpler and much worse: The reservations had been completely booked up in a matter of seconds, meaning that a large majority of fans had been left without an opportunity to attend.

A swath of players awaiting Tears of the Kingdom responded to Nintendo directly, expressing their frustration. Some simply wrote that there was “no shot” at obtaining a spot, while others pointed out that they had opened the website instantly only to be met with a notification that the event had sold out.

With releases as big as Tears of the Kingdom’s is expected to be, it is no wonder that any relating events have sold out almost as soon as they were publicly revealed. Unfortunately, many fans are now left out of the midnight launch they had been hoping to be a part of.