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It's been over six years since there has last been a new entry in the Legend of Zelda series. After several delays, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is nearly here. Within one week, players will finally get to experience the sequel to critically acclaimed Breath of the Wild. So far, all footage of the game that has been shown off by Nintendo promises significantly more of what made Breath of the Wild so good while also adding a lot more into the mix.

Since Tears of the Kingdom has a colossal file size, players who pre-ordered the digital version of the game may be wondering when (and if) they can start preload and have the game ready the moment it releases.

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Can You Preload Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?

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As is standard for any release on the Nintendo Switch, pre-ordered games can be preloaded once the game is one week away from launch, and it is noon in the region. The main caveat to this, however, is that the payment must be fully processed and completed before players have the option to download the game from their library. Even though Tears of the Kingdom is now a week away, players may have to wait a bit longer if their payment hasn't been fully processed yet.

Some players have managed to find a workaround for this by canceling the initial pre-order and then repurchasing the game. While this trick can work, it isn't necessarily recommended. The reason for this is that it could potentially result in getting charged twice and that would be an unnecessary hassle to deal with.

How to Preload Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

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Once players are eligible to preload their digital copy of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, they may be wondering how they can actually do the preload. The process is fairly simple if players know where to look. Under normal circumstances, the game should disappear from the pre-order page and begin to download the moment payment has successfully been processed.

But if for some reason it does not, players can load up the Nintendo eShop app and navigate to their profile page on the right side of the screen. Select the profile page and then scroll down to redownload. This tab will list the various digital games that players have purchased in the past. Select Tears of the Kingdom and the download will begin shortly.

One important thing to keep in mind is that Tears of the Kingdom has a very large file size. Players will need to make sure that they have at least 16.2 GB of storage space on their Switch so that they can download it.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases May 12 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.

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