Tears of the Kingdom: Global Release Time and Preload Date

The closer we’ve gotten to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the more we’ve heard about the game. There’s been early copies and even emulations the average player can’t access, and it’s hard to look for news about Tears of the Kingdom without unearthing a leak. The sooner the game releases, the better. We’ve known Tears of the Kingdom will release on May 12 for quite a while, except that isn’t exactly accurate. It all depends on where you live.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is scheduled to be released at the following times: 9:00 AM PDT (May 11), 10 PM MT (May 11) 11 PM CT (May 11), 12 AM ET (May 12), 5 AM BST (May 12), and 1 PM JST (May 12).

As you can see, Tears of the Kingdom‘s release is based on a global schedule. This is standard practice for Nintendo, as an FAQ states digital copies of games are generally released at midnight EST. However, since Nintendo titles hit digital storefronts across the globe at the same time, some regions will technically receive copies early (at least as far as daily schedules are concerned). Since the East Coast is three hours ahead of the West Coast, audiences in the PST time zone can start playing Tears of the Kingdom at 9 pm their time.

Ironically, this release schedule comes at the cost of gamers who can normally play titles before the rest of the world. Technically, the New Zealand Standard Time zone reaches midnight before every other time zone, so audiences have learned they can trick servers into thinking they live in New Zealand to play games early. However, this technique, known as the New Zealand Time Zone Trick, only works when a title follows a staggered release window and launches in each time zone as it reaches midnight. Since Tears of the Kingdom is launching worldwide while also tied to the United States’ East Coast schedule, New Zealand players will receive the game last at 4 PM NZST. Japanese players will also get the short end of the stick, barely beating New Zealand’s launch with a 1 pm JST release.