Shuhei Yoshida On Higher Switch 2 Game Prices: "It Was Going To Happen Eventually"

But it already DID happen last generation with Tears of the Kingdom. Now it has to happen again? So soon?

On the one hand, Nintendo may be the only company in the business that consistently puts out enough quality that it justifies a price boost. On the other, so many companies are gonna keep putting out half-complete games, as they have been, nickel and diming customers with battle passes and DLC of content that should have just been
there.

THIS JUST IN

videogames to go up 10 dollars in price every year because "inevitable" says a guy who makes his money from videogames.

here's what's inevitable:

this lifelong Nintendo fan will never pay 70 dollars OR 80 dollars for a videogame, or a dime over 400 for a console, ever.

I hope you liked all that money I already gave you because that's over. Arguing with people that Nintendo is the special games company, that is way over. All the good will that your progenitors (RIP Iwata-san) worked so hard to protect is dead, replaced by complex feelings, at best. I'm not the only one. 👋

@YinYangYoshi

"On the one hand, Nintendo may be the only company in the business that consistently puts out enough quality that it justifies a price boost."

I agree with you (or indid before the last few years anyway,) but does it justify two significant price hikes in as many years?

The vast majority of people simply don't wanna hear about any explanation on why things got more expensive. But for those people sales exist. Don't have to get everything day 1. It will be funny to see them squirm when instead of things like consoles getting a discount, they go UP in price again xD

@Harmonie totk was 70, not 80.

And 70 dollar games were already set as a standard by Sony and Microsoft

High prices are one of the reasons why i love and support indies though. High budget games often lack creativity, but which is often present in indie games to stand out.

@Harmonie They were just prepping us. They knew people weren’t gonna be happy if they suddenly charged $80 for a game, so they decided to charge $70 for a highly anticipated game for a six-year-old hybrid console running on hardware similar to that of a PS3 to see how many people would budge. A lot of people did, despite many complaining, so that showed Nintendo that we are more than willing to splurge on their AAA titles, and thus they felt more comfortable with raising the prices of their games to compensate for higher development costs.

I hate comments like this from industry folks. By that logic, you could make video games $100 right now since it'll eventually happen anyway. Here's a thought, instead of feeling you have to rake in billions every year, perhaps you could remember the plot of video games to begin with and produce games that are fun and affordable because that's what games should be.

I have no problem with a company making a lot of money, but don't act like you had no other choice. You could've shaved a fraction of a percent off your already massive margins to maintain some industry consistency.

@YinYangYoshi yeah I agree, call of duty as a 70 dollar game has micro transactions like a free to play game and it’s stupid. Their excuse is oh let’s put micro transactions out the butt just so you guys can have all the DLC maps and stuff for free which is I think dumb. It’s not just Activision and call of duty but other company’s are annoying as well. Nintendo usually does give us games worth it and a lot of times they don’t with making every remaster full price, and have bare bones sports games at full price. That still doesn't justify the 80 dollar prices. Tears of the Kingdom at 70 price Nintendo was like well if it sales which of course it’s a Zelda game and sold we’ll probably gave them the idea by one game being 70 oh well just make are next gen game 80 and TOTK isn’t even a next gen game which I think for 70 for that wasn’t worth it.

Nintendo opened Pandora's box with $80 MK World.

“people expect games that are ever more ambitious and therefore expensive to develop to cost the same“

I guess but then there are countless small scale indie games that have become unfathomably popular and recent games like Clair Obscur have shown that people will turn up for smaller budget games that are smartly designed and priced affordably.

Feels like a self inflicted wound that the big publishers have set upon themselves in deciding that everything has to be the biggest game ever. Of course there’s demand for big budget ambitious games but there’s still plenty of space for cheaper AA games to exist and the big players (aside from Nintendo) seem to have largely moved away from them. Nobody exemplifies that departure more than Sony who once complimented their big games with Japan Studio oddities but now have no interest in games like those at all.

There's a new premium in town and it costs more.

This could open the door to more mid-tier games. Indie games tend to max out around $20, but now with AAA jumping to $80 there's a void for something between indie and AAA.

I think this is a great thing. Not every game has to be either revolutionary or like it was made in a basement.

On one hand yes triple AAA games are more expensive to produce and involve more risk (just look at Concord losing billions of dollars). On the other hand Nintendo in particular rarely has their games flop and are the largest videogame company in Japan. I highly doubt a flop would destroy them. But from their perspective it makes sense.

If anyone is concerned about $80 games taking over I will remind you that we will forever have a vast library of Indies and retro games for cheaper prices. Both of which can surpass triple AAA gaming if you find the right ones that are fun.

I feel this is simply returning prices to what they were when I was a child. Of course not the number on the tag, but measured in my wages vs my parents wages, its probably still much cheaper than it was.
Prices in tech has been kept low by outsourcing to low wage countries.That is ending for several reasons. In addition economies output is lower, meaning those who have surplus must out down more resources to justify spending it on entertainment overload.

I thought there was a new Yoshi game coming out with all the Yoshi's in that picture and was getting excited 'cause I love Yoshi's Woolly and Crafted Worlds and hope they continue on Switch 2.

Yeah sure, that’s why companies charge full 60,- USD price for 20 year old remasters.

@larryisaman can someone compare the standard size of a Nintendo developer team to a triple A call of duty game or any other franchise. I somehow think that making Mario kart world 8 which has no licenses actually takes a smaller development team than say forza horizon. Yet here we are with the price increase and fans justifications.

with the current climate were in i wouldnt blame them at all for rising game prices cause who would think game prices would stay at $60 for a long time its was bound to go up one way or another.

@sixrings both call of duty and forza are multiplatform and contain micro transactions / season passes.

Incomparable.

“According to Activision’s current Call of Duty head Patrick Kelly (via the court filings,) we now know the development cost for those three specific CoD titles ranged from $450 to $700 million. These figures were included in files for a lawsuit against Activision surrounding the 2022 Robb Elementary school shooting filed in May 2024.
For Black Ops III, the game was developed over three years for over $450 million and has sold 43 million copies since it launched in 2015. 2019’s Modern Warfare remake had a similar multi-year development cycle but jumped to over $640 million in associated costs and is now around 41 million copies sold”

Sports illustrated.

Are we suggesting that Nintendo is spending 200 million developing a Mario game? I highly doubt that.

The biggest shock for me personally was seeing this game costing €90 over here, which it still costs officially, though no store outside of Nintendo's own charges that much currently, most going for just under €80.

Still, the official price (still) being €90 is a 50% increase of what Mario Kart 8 costed at launch and still officially costs to this day. And I find a few things confusing.

First, why did the Euro version go up from 60 to 90, while the USD version went up from 60 to 80? That makes little sense to me. They're probably just rounding out numbers but it's pretty stupid if you ask me.

Second, how did it happen that this caused confusion that it costed 90 USD when that, as far as I'm aware, never was the case? It's just all around confusing.

Either way, the 90 euro pricetag is just too much of an increase at once and while games will inevitably cost more, I still fail to see why Mario Kart in particular should have this price, outside of "this series sells like hotcakes so we can definitely squeeze more out of our customers".

I feel like it's just Nintendo's strategy to make it cost this much to get more people to buy the bundle, and ease them into the digital age more and more that way. I preordered the bundle as well because of it, with the hope that I'll later be able to find the game physically at the price difference of MKW in bundle and current physical pricing. Or just waiting for an eventual version with all eventual DLC on cart.

Either way, I'm sure the game is good fun, despite the price tag, and honestly I'd rather focus more on that right now. The price has had its time in the spotlight, and much as it sucks, they seem to be sticking to their guns, especially with how things seem to be going very well for them in terms of preorders. No reason for them to back down on it with that in mind. We're just gonna have to live with it. Unless, despite pre-orders selling out, the system will still fail.

@Znake Devs also don’t mention that game designers have far more advanced tools to make their job much easier. Before, each studio had to develop their own engine to run their game-this has been eliminated by most studios using the same engine(with a few exceptions), and during these phases games didn’t become cheaper!

It’d be nice if these industry price increases led to less layoffs and studio closures… but we likely already know the sad truth of how that will go.

@Harmonie Game prices were already $70 for Sony and Microsoft.

While I'd love to still pay $60, games getting bumped up tp $80 might be a blessing in disguise for me.

I have purchased over 1,000 games on Switch, and really only enjoy maybe 1/5 of them. I own every Nintendo published game on Switch except for DC Super Hero Girls and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. I spent $60 on so many games that I thought looked interesting and then simply deleted an hour or two later simply because I didn't enjoy them as much as I'd hoped.

At $80, I'm hoping I'll think more before purchasing. I'd rather spend $80 on 20 games I love than $60 on 100 games, of which only 20 I loved.

Also, Donkey Kong Bananza is $70, so it doesn't sound like every big Nintendo game is going to be $80.

"The heart of the matter lies in production costs"
...and the brain of the matter lies in profitability rate.
Don't want to know where the cojones of the matter lie.

Honestly, it bothers me more that there are no more vouchers and gold points. Before, with €100 I could buy two Nintendo games and I had a €5 bonus for the next purchase.
Now to buy two Nintendo games it will take an average of €150. It is a significant increase for those who bought games regularly. For those who already bought 2 or 3 games a year I think it will not change anything between €80 or €90. The increase will hit hardcore players, I will always spend the same money but I will have less games.

@jfp I think we picture corporate scenes from the movie “elf” or “big” where companies are there to make as much money as possible. I’m ok with that but don’t pretend you’re our friends and anytime you explain why prices go up I can’t just accept that as truth since I know that making money is the ultimate plan so you will likely lie in order to make that end goal.

While costs for everything are increasing, and video games have remained largely the same $50-$60 for literally decades, the number of people who are just shocked at price increases is astonishing. How on earth can you expect games to remain the same while everything else costs more? Do you imagine video game companies live in an imaginary fantasy land where everything still costs the same as it did in 1995?

Increasing costs of making a game its in itself, a fallacy. Not because it isnt true, but because its not a fair comparison to past times.

Yes, costs are higher nowadays, but the potential customers base is waaay bigger, meaning you sell way more games.

The real thing they should say is “we want way bigger profits, because our share holders want more money from you”.

If you dont think thats true, go and look at profit results on the last years on Nintendo:

Nintendo Annual Gross Profit
(Millions of US $)

2024 $6,585
2023 $6,552
2022 $8,420
2021 $9,122
2020 $5,904
2019 $4,511
2018 $3,632
2017 $1,750
2016 $1,834
2015 $1,953
2014 $1,632

And thats even having in mind we had a worldwide pandemic.

@Harmonie $70 games were a thing since 2020. Nintendo only happened to make a $70 game 2 years ago.

I will say while I am slightly annoyed over the price of the games going up and I don't think they are thinking about the parents who have to pay for these things for their children when Nintendo as they have said multiple times is a video game console that is mainly created for children it is the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 going up significantly that bothers me the most. Why should we pay more for a Nintendo Switch 2 than an X Box Series X when an X Box Series X does a whole bunch of things a Switch doesn't like plays music, plays DVDs and Blu Rays, plays streaming services, plays TV, has a web browser etc. Unless the Nintendo Switch 2 has things like that I am not seeing anything that justifies it costing more than an X Box Series X or Playstation 5 for that matter.

@NintonicGamer yeah I indie games have been awesome the expedition 33 game def an indie game people should try out, also balatro, hades, Celeste, and many more

I'm constantly emphasyising it, but the era of cheap electronics sold in the global scale is over.

The global world of the 2000-s and 2010-s has ended. The demo version was during the pandemic, now we see how global economic ties rip apart. The Trump tariffs are only the visible-to-everyone manifestation of what has happened. The global economy is crumbling right before our eyes. I won't dive into the political part of the matter, but, put simply, no one cares what it's going to cost economically, because politics go first these days. It's not "good" or "bad" per se, it's just what is prioritized. It drives the costs, costs drive inflation, inflation drives prices - hell, tensions between China and the US alone mean costs going up for virtually everyone. We won't see prices on electronics from the past 20 years compared to an average income for QUITE some time, if ever. Political tensions mean that relatively free flow of resourses is only possible within blocks, not on a global scale. This is by definition less cost-efficient than what was possible globally. Imagine that you bake cakes for sale and cheapest eggs are in a shop two blocks away. You have been buying the eggs from there and everything works fine. Then the local administration makes the passage to the shop physically impossible by putting up the fence. You do what? Buy eggs elsewhere and adjust the cake's price. Reasons for the price hike are not economical in their root case, the reason is the fence. We are now putting up fences actively on the global scale.

@DollyrotsFan1
Switch 2 is cheaper than the Xbox Series X, and that's before the Xbox price increase that took place last week.

@sixrings I don’t think there is a justification for games to be $80, Nintendo or otherwise.

It’s funny in the past I’ve always bought PC games and PlayStation games when they became cheap yet oddly I’ve always cut Nintendo some slack like it’s just the way it is and paid their prices, maybe they are counting on this but I for one will probably still get the games but I’ll think far harder about titles I get and how many I get

As an otome fan, I'm used to paying in the $80-$100 range for games already so this isn't that huge of a shock for me (although I guess it probably means a bump up in otome prices too which, like, yeah they'll get it out of me because I'm terrible and in too deep haha).

@Akeratsu The addressable market is larger over time, but that doesn't mean that you will sell more copies of a game. The third of the modern Tomb Raider games sold about half as many units as the first game. Final Fantasy 16 sold half as many units as 15. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth sold half as many units as Remake.

Nintendo's rising annual profits are easily attributed to the relative failure of Wii U compared to Switch (13.5MM versus 150MM units) and leveraging their IP in ways they haven't before - movies (Detective Pikachu, Super Mario), theme parks, toys (LEGO), and mobile games.

I just hope that the shift leads to more mid tier (AA-B) type games. Either as a way to generate revenue (same as remakes) or because companies no matter the size can afford to charge more and diversify their dev pipelines. A lot of games that I have really enjoyed were smaller games even if backed by larger companies. South of Midnight comes to mind (fantastic game from start to finish). My biggest issue with stagnant prices/expensive game dev/operating costs is that game variety feels like it shrunk (perhaps not as much on Nintendo) in the past few gens. Yet companies are starting to take more chances because they need new revenue streams (or they recouped enough to pitch more projects). I have seen more announcements I am excited for recently (last few years). Even stuff that I bounced off I am glad it exists.

Inflation and higher production costs are undeniable. Nintendo will be able to sell their games at higher prices, that''s just how it is. Other companies though? Ubisoft tried with their AAAA approach and we all know how that went down.

The fact something was more expensive to produce does not mean it's worth it's asking price.

I also wanted to pay less for new games, but the gaming market is a capitalist operation, like it or not. I'd love to see a government attempt at the gaming business, but that's not the case right now.
Day-one games are more on the premium side of gaming. You can still wait for a discount (even if it's the standard 30% for Nintendo games), so complaining so much about pricing is actually complaining about your own gaming habits, which you can adjust as you like.

@-wc- well enjoy finding a new hobby because Microsoft is doing the same and you can bet Sony isn't going to hold itself back.

This is industry Wide buddy, so your not getting away from it. At least Nintendo isn't pricing everything at 80. A good few listings are 70 or less.

If you can't afford games then that's unfortunate, but you all need to stop acting like your walking out on Nintendo specifically.

Because it only gets worse in terms of pricing.

A lot of gamers don’t seem to understand that inflation is a thing

@topher6490 good on you for recognizing that, I get that way with other hobbies

@Clark2k NO YOU DO NOT. Are you absolutely insane? Government run videogames? Yeah let's put tax dollars into the privilege to play political propaganda and out of touch projects.

FYI there have been government funded videogame projects. And they basically always end up crap.

Capitalism works with stuff like videogames. Because the only way you push games to improve is with a customer demand driven business.

The rising costs aren't because "Capitalism bad" it's because companies are stuck in a death spiral of trying to make every game a massive release. We need to bring back the AA games market so companies can afford to experiment more and release games at lower prices.

Although funnily enough. People flipped out on Nintendo for suggesting "Variable pricing" but that's what we need. To price games more on what they are worth instead of a flat standard.

Steam does that and people love the steam store!

But in any case... Handing game development to the government will not improve things.

It was inevitable that cinema prices were going to go up.

Now people go to the pictures a lot less often and only the Blockbusters they know they’ll enjoy.

Shuhei Yoshida, you know what has to happen eventually? Releasing complete FINISHED games, like in the old days. Then you can charge this much. Why I can get for example complete music album or a complete movie but with games, I very often can't even finish it because it's so bugged?

@-wc- "This lifelong Nintendo fan will never pay 70 dollars OR 80 dollars for a videogame, or a dime over 400 for a console, ever."
That is a very definitive statement, the one I don't agree with.
I would be more than happy to pay 80 for a video game if the game is worth that money, and 400 or less for a console, in today's day an age, I don't think it is realistic.

“Not every first party Nintendo title will hit that $80 premium“
Yeah, people were saying the exact same thing for TotK 2 years ago when they said the same for $70 games… and look where we are now. 2 years! LMAO 🤣

IMHO guy is 100% right - you can`t pay for big games as much as they costed 10 years ago . So this makes room for indies and smaller studios to really shine .

@Deenroy they were spoiled. For about 20. Years games basically didn't change in price. We did move up from $50 to $60. But aside from a few outliers that hit $70 that held pretty firm.

So gamers are just spoiled as hell and don't believe inflation should affect gaming since it hasn't until now. What people don't realize is that because of static prices, profits have been thinning out for a while now.

The fact we're seeing increases is partly because profit margins are getting too thin.

@Metazoxan

"If you can't afford games then that's unfortunate..."

I love the (not so) subtle poor shaming being deployed on this website every time someone balks at a 25% price hike for games, FIFTY percent for console. Not that I owe you an explanation, but this has nothing to do with my income and everything to do with my priorities and sense of value. 👍

"...but you all need to stop acting like your walking out on Nintendo specifically."

I don't know who you think "you all" is, but I don't support any other platform so respectfully, you don't know what you are talking about, here✌️I've had no problem "resisting" what sony and microsoft have been offering for well over a decade, thanks.

My hobby is fine, Nintendo hasnt produced a non zelda game worth buying in over 5 years (just my opinion, settle down kids) and TOTK was a very expensive disappointment at ten dollars LESS than they want now.

( I feel like this was taken as "I've not bought a Nintendo game in over 5 years," but actually I have bought many. my meaning was: they weren't worth the money.)

I have a library of hundreds of games i still need to get to. if you think I'm waiting around to throw extra money at Nintendo to get my gaming satisfaction, well, youre wrong, lol. ✌️ cheers.

I'm wondering : since when the ex-Playstation CEO has become the go to man for every bit video game news ?

I ask you go pick a first party AAA SNES game, take it's original price and adjust it for inflation.

I'll wait.

Games haven't been cheaper than the past 15 years, compared to previous generations. And that's an absolute fact. And that is not something that's going to be healthy for publishers. Why do you think there are so many live service games these days?

@Akeratsu In 2025 it's not the same Dollar as it used to be in 2014. You might have noticed doing groceries.

Let's use this as a comparison, would you expect to be happy with no wage increases for the job you're doing? Like ever? Companies are the same. Off course they like to grow.

@MatoFilipovic

"This lifelong Nintendo fan will never pay 70 dollars OR 80 dollars for a videogame, or a dime over 400 for a console, ever."

"That is a very definitive statement, the one I don't agree with."

I'm not sure what part of my personal intentions you feel at liberty to "disagree with," but you are welcome to buy whatever 70, 80, 90 dollar games they try to push and watch me do the opposite. ✌️👍❤️

i do not mind buying used games at a lower cost or wait for a sale..

I don't agree with this. It wasn't long ago that games went up to $70. The prices are rising while the quality falls. And Nintendo is no exception. Look at the last few Pokemon games with numerous technical issues. A lot of these companies don't care about putting out quality products. They know enough people will buy whatever, no matter the status of the product. Consumers are being bamboozled with these high game prices that aren't worth it in my opinion. In a few years or less $100 games will be "justified" due to the same development costs that's been around the last few years.😐 At some point people need to vote with their wallets against this stuff.

@-wc- oh get off your pitty horse. It's not poor shaming to be realistic. If you can't afford everything you want then that's just reality. And if you can afford them but refuse to because " sense of values" ? So ... Your sense of value is game developers aren't allowed to earn a profit? That videogames are obligated to ignore inflation? Seriously I don't think you understand how much you just outed yourself.

Being too poor isn't shameful, it was the only reasonable reason to act like you are over a price increase.

Like ... Your oddly proud to be an entitled cheapskate. Your can certainly do what you want but it's still being cheap and blind to general market trends.

And really if you just ***** don't like videogames ... Then frankly be quiet and stop soapboxing like your making a point. You weren't buying games anyway so wtf does it matter!?!

Your throwing around emojis like your winning.

But all you really did was say you just refuse to spend modern prices for any games because your too cheap and don't even buy games anyway.

Again your free to spend money how you want obviously, but your talking as if the price increase matters for you when it clearly doesn't. You weren't going to buy even if the price didn't increase.

@Metazoxan

you've got me all figured out, bud 👍 enjoy your victory.

@-wc-
"does it justify two significant price hikes in as many years?"
Of course it does. Nintendo is a small indie company. Please understand, if they can't resell you 10+ years-old-games at full price, they'll go bankrupt.

@Dimjimmer

LOL thanks for the satire, it was getting kinda hateful in here 😂

@-wc- GEORGE IS GETTIN' UPSET

@-wc- Sorry, the way I read your original message it seemed to me you were referring to all Nintendo fans, not just yourself. My mistake.

@Medic_alert That line will continue going up, until enough people can't or won't spend €80 (Or whatever it will rise to in the near future) on a video game, and the whole rotten mess comes crashing down.

"Yeah, but everything is getting more expensive!", i hear people decry, true, but that's exactly why a pure luxury like video games is at greater risk of pricing itself out of the market.

@-wc- xD ok see ya

Corporations wants more money and to put less effort into final product. That's about it.

@sanderev

i would invite you to tally the cost of producing a cartridge, shipping, warehousing, and retail in the 90s, adjust it for inflation, and subtract it from the price of a AAA eshop game.

https://images.app.goo.gl/jVQUjqQGqRgTG2249

While the price hike is significant, made more apparent by what appears to be even tighter margins so that Australian retailers cannot drop the prices as significantly below RRP as they used to, PS3/360 game prices were sitting at AU$120 back in the day, and we're basically seeing a return to an old norm (though, being a Nintendo gamer, such prices were foreign to me, and I usually didn't pay any more then AU$60 for a Wii game).

And I don't think that the increase in game prices is anywhere near as egregious as the widespread abandonment of physical media by third parties, who have opted for anti-physical "key card" releases.

Considering that most of these games occupy about AU$20 (sometimes more) worth of microSD Express storage anyway, I'd much rather put that AU$20 toward proper physical releases with everything on the cartridge. As it stands, I won't pick up any such release for more than $25 or so given that they cost next to nothing to manufacture, but if there's a DRM free option on PC, then I cannot justify supporting the Switch 2 version at all. But even so, I abhor the practice and have no intention of ever supporting it.

As it stands, the only (physical) third party releases so far that look even remotely enticing are Cyberpunk, and perhaps bafflingly, Tamagotchi Plaza, which is getting a proper Switch 2 release in Japan.

I would have loved Yakuza and Hitman, but the lack of physical releases has killed any enthusiasm to pick up the console at launch.

@braincandy101 SERENITY NOW!!!

Switch 2 inventory being thrown and smashed

I've never looked into it, but I've often wondered the amount of money it costs to score AAA games. On top of a fun game to play and enjoy (which took countless hours to code, design, build, and debug), some of these games come with such spectacular soundtracks it's hard for me to fathom they don't cost more.

That is to say, I don't like the higher prices, and I don't like corporations milking me for every dollar, but I've not quite felt like that with Nintendo, yet, despite their premium pricing. I feel like I'm still getting my money's worth. And I hope I feel the same way after I get the Switch 2 in my hands.

If not, then...

HOOCHIE MAMA!!!

Gaming is an expensive hobby and a luxury to begin with. I personally believe that it's absurd to expect prices to stay the same over long periods of time and it was crazy that games stayed at 60 USD for as long as they did. I only buy one game a month on average anyway, so it doesn't impact me like a huge amount. I'm getting the bundle and thus a discount on Mario Kart but it'll be interesting to see what they charge for other games down the road.

I will say, however, that if they charge the Mario Kart price for a main series Pokémon game that's a buggy, unpolished mess like Scarlet Violet, I'll be a tad irritated.

@Medic_alert I was already pretty picky at €60, i will be incredibly picky at €80, and if not enough games worth the price will come out, i'll skip Switch2 altogether. (Because a €450 console for two or three games makes the cost of playing those games rather a lot higher as well)

question for the "please increase the price, 60 was too low for too long!" crowd:

during the period where games were 60 dollars (basically mid 90s-2023ish,) did revenue generally go up, or down?

I'll wait.

@MatoFilipovic

you are all good my friend 🙂👍 understood, and thanks for following up! sorry if I got any grump on ya 😆

y'all really believe these prices will stick? I'm sure Amazon will go lower, and eventually the price is gonna be 60$ again...

I'm glad he said it. He makes a great point about how we all want it both ways. Maybe from someone with his career, people will actually believe and accept it.

In full honesty I already pay 100+ Euro per good PC game for quite some time, so 80 Euro really isnt that bad.

And I fully back the statement about raising costs. I understand some people do not earn enough but the world will keep spinning.

And for those doubting:

Doom The Dark Ages - 110 Euro
Euro Truck Simulator + all DLCs - 100+ Euro easily
Path of Exile 2 - 92,40 Euro
Monster Hunter Wilds - 110 Euro

And thats just looking back a bit.

I do recall some time ago seeing a Target commercial from 1982 that was asking like $26.99 for the infamous 2600 Pac-Man.
That's about $88 after inflation.

Hopefully Mario Kart World is just a little bit better game for nearly the same money.

I blame the maximum graphics crowd on this. Ray tracing, 4k, hair physics, ultra realistic environments seeing veins, spores in skin singular blades of grass and etc high fps PC and console gamers wanted and pushed for every generation. To the point that's the main focus on a game and not gameplay fun etc. which games take longer or are a make it or break it towards a games production.

@Lady_rosalina Certainly true to some degree, I miss the days of good old BioWare pushing out good games every 2 years like. Now you wait almost a decade and what you get is atrocity like Veilguard or whatever it was even named.

At least japanese games still keep certain level of quality.

@-wc-
Sadly, I believe that is the end of video games for you, at least from big studios. Prices will only go up. In the next two generations, games will most likely cost $99.99. I'm not a fan, of course, but that's where things are going.

Personally, I believe a decent amount of gamers will say they will protest and not buy anything...But will they? I am interested to see if certain games will still sell extremely well, despite an $80+ price point.

@electrolite77 maybe I’m strange. But our house has 7 tvs yet only 4 people. The fact that the switch 2 comes with a screen doesn’t make It cheaper for my house. We have more than enough TVs that a tv only version would be cheaper to us.

@link12684

"Sadly, I believe that is the end of video games for you, at least from big studios."

I only said I would never pay 70+ for a game. 👍

(Am I the only person that buys games used anymore? and yes, I have bought new games on switch at 60 usd.)

"Prices will only go up. In the next two generations, games will most likely cost $99.99. I'm not a fan, of course, but that's where things are going."

Prices will be what people are willing to pay. Surely, if they thought they could get 120 per copy of a game yesterday, the price would be 120 today.

"Personally, I believe a decent amount of gamers will say they will protest and not buy anything...But will they?"

Your skepticism is valid, but in my case, you can absolutely count on it: TOTK is the first and last game for which I will ever pay 70+. Fool me once.

"I am interested to see if certain games will still sell extremely well, despite an $80+ price point."

same. Not saying its overly likely, but it wouldnt be the first time a company, or even nintendo specifically, has had to make a price adjustment mid-generation. ✌️

people saying that videogames is a "luxury hobby." 😔 i thought we had a subculture going here, y'all are just buyin stuff.

Games with cutting edge graphics, 4k resolution, high frame rates, etc.

Games with lengthy campaigns that last dozens or hundreds of hours; games in short that cannot be beaten in a weekend.

Games that are essentially finished at launch - that are not trying constantly to sell you DLC or micro transactions. Games that are conceived of as discreet artistic statements, not never ending services that go on forever and monetize you forever…

Games that cost the same $50-$60 dollars they always have.

We will only be able to have two of these things. My worry is that if we aren’t careful we’ll get none of them. After the sticker shock wore off I realized I would rather have games cost more if it means we can evade the worst of the live service nonsense.

But, with the increased of game price then following by game key card, I don't even think spending $80 or more for getting empty game cartridge is really make a sense.
That's really straight up a scam.

@jfp

actually in your case, I kinda knew you were being tongue in cheek 😆 but it was your wording that reminded me to mention it, ironically!

Oh, it's that guy who said Nintendo is losing its identity. $80 games are an identity, yes?

I can already see myself buying fewer games. I have a lot of hobbies that actually produce returns sometimes, and it's getting more difficult to argue with myself that video games are among the best of those hobbies.

In addition, I find myself already looking through my back-catalog of classic games - There are so many to replay, and so many lost gems I've yet to uncover, which cost a fraction of what modern games are set to cost....for instance, the Fire Emblem games on GBA that I could just play over and over again.

I don't see myself shunning new-gen games, but I do see myself buying less - perhaps only those that I really, really want to play badly.

Yeah I knew this comment section was gonna go places when people acting like ToTK started the $70 trend. Sorry that wasn’t a Nintendo thing.

Bullocks, consumer prices aren't always directly influenced by development costs, especially when it comes to intangible goods.

PS5 AAA games were already 80€ here in Europe. And those are regular editions. I recently got a PS5 last year, so I was looking into PS5 games in the past 6 months. I'm only buying those 50€ or less who goes on sale.

Honestly he’s getting annoying…
Gonna be one of them people forever taking about whatever Nintendo does now

@sixrings “someone compare the standard size of a Nintendo developer team to a triple A call of duty game or any other franchise.”

I would also love to compare the employee tenure of a CoD studio vs Nintendo… Cause while Nintendo may have a smaller development team. I don’t think we hear much about lay offs from them vs say a CoD studio. So I’m assuming the average developer tenure at Nintendo is higher than the average CoD developer. Which means higher wages per employee. We always hear about Activition under paying workers…

Games should be priced based on how many hours of gameplay and the quality of your studio and production, etc.

Nintendo games aren't all high quality and don't have many hours of gameplay, apart from Zelda (and of course Xenoblade but that's not a pure Nintendo game). And, they hardly receive any updates. It's not okay to charge a lot. Some are high quality, some are medium. Some low like Mario Strikers for the Switch (unfortunately, was looking forward to it).

Its probably fine for Mario Kart World since we're assuming they'll be updating it a lot, but this is Nintendo so no idea. I think the only game they update is Splatoon.

Some people comment on these stories as if Nintendo needs them in their pocket to defend them. Keep in mind, Nintendo doesn't need you. They have plenty of money without your free help.

I don't think it's unreasonable to want some consistency. I was fine paying $70 for TOTK (maybe that makes me part of the problem) because games like that or Red Dead Redemption 2 are incredible value when I sink 150 hours into them. But then on the flip side of the coin, stop remastering Donkey Kong Country for the 7th time and asking top dollar for it. Charge premiums for finished products that offer the value, but then admit when a re-release or remaster is purely for nostalgia sake and charge $39.99 for it.

sure, prices rise over time.

But you know what hasn't risen? Our salaries. So...how are we supposed to afford these prices?

Nintendo doesn't make anything worth $80 compared to today's standards.

I think people have been spoiled by the 4th to 5th gen transition. The change to discs and later digital lowered prices but that can only ever be a one-off that inevitably will be wiped by rising development costs.

There's no avenue for games becoming cheaper. Even indie game prices are climbing upwards.

@nuke13 I agree that it was expected, because companies need record profits on every single investment call. It sucks, but it happens. The annoyance is less about just games being expensive and more about knowing that when they do Donkey Kong Country HD Returns Switch 2 Edition they'll want $80 for it.

With a fast food burger meal costing $20 or so for something that lasts about 15 minutes and I feel like crap afterwards; A $15 dollar movie that lasts 2hours and usually disappoints; $80 for something I get hundreds of hours of play out of doesn't seem like a horrible deal.

Cartridge games in 90s weren’t cheap

@-wc- As a lifelong Nintendo fan, were you happy paying $60 for Ocarina of Time back in 1998?

If games are going to be more expensive then they best do more and be more polished than before. I don't mind spending more on games that are going to keep me entertained for a lot of hours like Zelda, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Splatoon or long JRPG's. But if a game is buggy and has bad performance, or is only short (5-10 hours) then there's no way I'm paying £75, I will either rent them, buy used or wait for a sale.

@Skunkfish

"were you happy paying $60 for Ocarina of Time back in 1998?"

If the games industry and Nintendo in particular were bringing the goods like they did in 1998 we probably wouldnt be having this conversation 😅✌️

I think we all have short memories!

I remember importing street fighter 2 (USA) for £80, just so I could play it earlier than the UK release. I remember paying £60-70 for the first batch of N64 games, etc...

Higher prices for some games is just the way it has always been!

However they've had good 10 years to develop MKW, yet they'll drip feed the release and they released the same game over two systems in the interim.. dev costs surely we're offset by reselling the same game over and over

What I hate is Mario kart world already has planned DLC packs. Meaning £65 will be £115+.. Hopefully this time they won't be lazy and port mobile tracks over with substandard graphics.

Every time this topic comes up, it seems like someone has to say "bigger, more ambitious games cost more money". My response has always been that I'd rather they rein in their ambitions and focus on creativity and polish instead. There are games from decades ago that are still more visually and mechanically appealing than most games from this year. Meanwhile, modern retro/indie games have proven capable of popularity on par with their cutting edge counterparts. In other creative mediums, many of the most respected works are centuries old. That's not to say there's no place for these massive and massively ambitious games, but they should be the exception rather than the standard.

@nuke13 I meant increasing it to $80… not making $70 the new standard 🙄

@-wc- “question for the "please increase the price, 60 was too low for too long!" crowd:
during the period where games were 60 dollars (basically mid 90s-2023ish,) did revenue generally go up, or down?
I'll wait.”

Ufff stop speaking with the truth… kids will go mad here …

@jfp yes because I buy a new tv every few years and rotate the old tv somewhere else. It doesn’t mean I’m rich. I’d rather buy the mid level tv and upgrade it every once in a while than buy the best tv money can buy and be all in.

@electrolite77 I should have replied to your comment I guess first. I have 7 TVs because I prefer to buy one ever other year that’s a mid level tv than to buy the very best and be all in. The other thing is tv size prices go down all the time.

@-wc- Final Fantasy VI on the SNES cost $70 in 1994 dollars. And I imagine TOTK cost a lot more to produce than the old Square RPGs of the 1980s and early 90s.

@dudujencarelli

all true. what's that got to do with the value of a game today?

In any case and not that this is the point but I will argue all day long that Final Fantasy 6 was a revelation in its day, while TOTK was warmed over BOTW with an upcharge. And yes, I bought TOTK at launch, full price. (For the record I've bought ff6 many times including on SNES cart.✌️)

PS - "they worked really hard on it" is actually not a good reason to buy something unless Nintendo is your nephew.

I've been far pickier with PS5 purchases than I ever was on PS4. I'm still holding out on FFVII Rebirth to drop to a price I find acceptable. It'll be a shame if I feel I have to do the same for Switch 2. I'm a far easier mark for Nintendo franchises than recent Sony titles, and they're typically much less likely to drop in price.

@-wc- It's got to do with budget and rising costs. FFVI employed what? 50 people? Just looking at the end credits on TOTK we can see it employed thousands.

And in terms of value? I completed FFVI in a couple of months. It took me close to 18 to fully 100% TOTK.

Don't forget: $80 AND it's just a code on a card.

I'd rather take my money to the retro market and enjoy the games I've missed over the years.

The medium has finally passed me by.

@dudujencarelli

I'm sorry, it was a rhetorical question, intended to bring us to a point.

I'll be more direct:

what does the cost of FF6 on SNES have to do with my enthusiasm towards paying for 80+ dollar games going forward?

bonus question for fun: Has it ever occurred to you that long playtime does not itself equal objectively high quality?

@speedracer216

"The medium has finally passed me by."

why didn't I just say this? 😂

Games have been $60 US since the ‘90s so it’s sad but the fact that the games have been at this price for about 3 decades is a blessing. Well, I’ll be saving money since physical games are going to be game card keys.

Nintendo is so frugal with their budgets compared to other system manufacturers lol

The only reason Mario Kart World is $80 is because Nintendo thinks they can get away with it.

I wanted to go digital with switch 2 if they kept around the voucher system, but with prices jumping and no love for discounts. I will have to hope for retail sales and using the deku website to get some better priced games lol. I ain't paying $70 for every Nintendo game. Some are not even worth $60 let alone $70.

They can only price things as high as people are willing to buy. In the end they may end up hurting their profits from less sales, even if they are bringing in more on each sale. It could be a turn off for a lot of buyers.

I can easily afford the new prices but it doesn't mean that I can justify the purchase, especially since I cannot sell a Kirby game that is $40 over priced and beaten in 10 hours. Or a poorly made paper Mario game that runs at 30 fps. with a controversial combat system.

I spent a ton of money by taking a chance on switch games. Half were duds and I learned my lesson back around 2022. Saved a ton of money since.

@dudujencarelli A lot of those people are not employed, many of them are contracted temporarily. Also thousands for a game is probably an overstatement. Thirdly, those people don't have jobs contingent on profits. They have jobs on speculation of profits. Raising the cost does not ensure they keep jobs or are well paid. It only ensures the line goes up and rich people can borrow against the paper value of stock. It's a scam.

@Yoshi3 you, are a person who at least has an above average intelligence.

@NintendoJunkie How many times have you also bought a game and it ended up being a disappointment and you wished you could return it? Also, how many times have you passed on a game that looked good but you simply couldn't afford it? It's not a binary thing. You're comparing things with no comparison.

You have to eat, and the food can't be mass duplicated with a keystroke. No one is saying games aren't a good deal compared to other entertainment. (Although, people seem to discount how absurd a value YouTube, tubi, network TV would be if hours per dollar spent...)

The problem is that the companies are having record profits, paying their employees less than ever, paying out the most in stock prices, and people are struggling to pay rent now. You don't know how bad things are going to get and it's from squeezing people.

This is greed.

@-wc- I respect you.

Just waiting to play my shiny new games!

@-wc- All good

“people expect games that are ever more ambitious and therefore expensive to develop”

Do they though? Does every game need to be some massive AAA game? Do we even really need more than a couple of those a year? The indie game scene is hot, and they don’t generally have crazy budgets. Maybe “get gud” at making games instead of pushing slightly better graphics over gameplay. I was listening to Digital Foundry talk about path tracing in the new Doom game and how you really have to look closely to see the difference between that and the ray tracing version. How much development cost is going into that and how many more sales will it lead to?

In a way this higher pricing will really make most gamers think twice about which games they REALLY want to own. Especially when they’re digital and can’t be resold.

Wouldn’t have mind the price increases so much if all the games were actually properly released on card, instead of being game keys.

For a lot of games we now get a lesser product for a higher price. That doesn’t sound right.

@Misima You speak as if you know the inner workings of game making, or the industry. Games were waaaaay more expensive last century, you got less out of them and it was a huge risk because all you had was the box art. I would often buy duds, as did all my friends.

Society wants it all: cheaper games, better pay for employees, no indie devs going out of business, no Free to Play games, no layoffs, self interest wiped from all human existence. It's complicated and there will always be opposing opinions. There will still be cheap indie darlings that make runaway successes in the future, and just like today it will be rare. It's rough out there and there is no denying that. But Nintendo raising prices on optional entertainment that will probably get your money's worth out of, stacks low on historical injustices.

Looks like I'll just have to take Budget gaming to the next level, which means patiently waiting for sales and hoping they will get the message eventually. On the other hand, I think this was to be expected and I don't really see how it would have ended otherwise. Everything is going up in price, so it was fun while it lasted.

I’m just surprised it didn’t happen sooner. I feel like games have been underpriced for the past two decades, certainly what you end up paying for them anyway. Compared to other media and the costs involved, they’ve always felt under priced. Ultimately the market will decide, if they don’t sell enough to make a good enough profit, prices will either come down or they’ll look to reduce the cost and time it takes to make games (i.e. make smaller games).

I blame the proliferation of open world games for it all!

Welcome to the world of modern entitlement. Everything in the world has pretty much gone up in price. But for some reason videogames are not allowed to. So rather than be happy they have not gone up to reflect inflation etc years ago. We now get upset that one game is more expensive.

Of course in reality this is only faux outrage by core hobby gamers on niche internet sites. And YouTube channels with very few subscribers and views.

@-wc-,

How many people in reality do you think you are.

@electrolite77,

Far too much logic in your comment for on here.

We in the West have to thank Putin and all the other warheads for this. Just after we made it through the pandemic this !diot comes along and ruins our financial plans. Then again, we really can‘t complain because we‘re still sitting in our safe homes. Losing some money is fine with me as long as friends and family don‘t lose their lives.

@GravyThief,

So true I was paying £50 for a game on the NES back in the day. How people thought this was sustainable forever is beyond me. A takeaway meal can cost £50 upwards. Things have gone up.

@killercerial

"How many people in reality do you think you are."

I have no idea 👍✌️ don't really care, I'm not spearheading a boycott or anything.

@Misima

"I respect you."

thank you very much!✌️👋 reading your comments on here, the feeling is mutual ❤️

@Duffman92,

Very simplistic take on things. With no context or indeed nuance.

@-wc-

Fair enough. A slight price hike will not keep me from my new Nintendo console. Plus this is all relative when you break the price down over many years.

I have not stopped having takeaway meals. They have gone up in price a lot more. And groceries as well.

@killercerial

" A slight price hike will not keep me from my new Nintendo console."

5% is a "slight price hike."

50% on the console and 25% per game is not, but you do you and have fun with it! 🙂👍

"I have not stopped having takeaway meals. They have gone up in price a lot more. And groceries as well."

i havent stopped eating, either 😂✌️

@-wc-,

You are not comparing apples with apples. The Switch 2 has a bigger screen, far more power and a dock with a fan. The console is only $100 more than the OLED at launch. Most seem to compare the Switch 2 to the original which is not a fair comparison. Or compare prices to consoles that have been reduced in price since their launch.

Things go up.

@JohnnyMind agreed. Games (especially 3rd party games from Ubisoft, EA and Activision Xbox) will go on steep sales within 6 months of launch. Just be patient and buy the games when they're within your price range, don't submit to fomo.

This point has been argued to death, but games generally cost more back in the 80s and 90s and game prices remain pretty stagnant in that $50-60 range for a long time. Games on average are more expensive to make, but cost less at market then they did 30-40 years ago. But, just because that is an explanation does not mean we need to like it. Something costing more does not need to be enjoyed or even liked...

@killercerial

what am I comparing?

50% is not a small price hike, full stop.

(to indulge your comment though: if comparing a console with its immediate, sequentially numbered predecessor is off the table, what are we even doing here? 🤔)

@Wexter

"Just be patient and buy the games when they're within your price range, don't submit to fomo"

this is basically my way, and what I mean by "I will never pay upwards of 70 dollars for a game, ever."

People took it as I'm never gonna buy another game 😆

@-wc- you make a lot of good points and this response isn't arguing any. I think more than anything, the FF6 comparison just shows how much more 70 bucks could go back then and relatively speaking, 80 bucks now doesn't go as far as 70 then. Meaning in 1994, instead of purchasing FF6 for $70 you could like fill up the car, grab movie tickets with snacks and so on with some change. While today 80 might just fill up the tank and maybe get you a single movie ticket with snack (I'm using vague, uncited examples, I know). But more or less that's how interpreted it. I know it doesn't address other points like cartridge production or greedy profiteers but in terms of bang for your buck it might not be too far off

@CammyUnofficial

That is a really solid point and an interesting perspective! 👍 thanks for sharing it! always good to get your take, see your name on here.

@-wc- You probably are the only person on Earth that does respect me then... So I appreciate you.

@-wc-,

How are you working out 50% increase?

@killercerial

"How are you working out 50% increase?"

50% of 300 = 150

300 + 150 = 450

@-wc-,

The exact same as comparing the original Switch price with the much improved Switch 2.

@-wc-

So as I said not comparing apples with apples.

@killercerial

i dont know what youre getting at at all, ill be honest ✌️

@-wc-

You are comparing the original Switch to the Switch 2. Which is nowhere near the same proposition. As I said the closer match is the OLED upgrade which is only $100 more.

And even if you did compare this to the original you have not even taken inflation into account.

@CammyUnofficial,

Correct. The Switch was released around eight years ago. The original price back then would not be the same now. Most things have increased in price over the last four years. Never mind the last eight.

Those dreaded production costs... How much does it cost to produce a digitally distributed game? How many game devs are going to be laid off immediately after shipping a new game? Sounds like typical corporate gaslighting to me.

Looks like I'm priced out of this hobby. That's fine, it was going to happen eventually.

@Medic_alert,

I think the clue is in the term "Luxury Product". What did you expect.

@Medic_alert,

People are feeling the pinch due to out of control inflation and the after effects of the pandemic. Locking down and tanking economies was not the correct answer I feel. But we are where we are.

Everything in the world has gone up, why should videogames be exempt. And if you break down the price of the console over eight years it's a pretty good deal. As for the games buy physical copies and sell them when you are done. Nintendo's games have an evergreen nature in relation to keeping their value.

@killercerial

its fine if the new switch is worth it to you 👍 I dont think I have said otherwise. ✌️

what I said was, in essence, "I wont pay what they are asking, for what they are delivering. it's a new, strange thing that people are acting like I'm somehow "wrong" for having this position.

@-wc-,

Price and value differ from person to person. I have been buying videogames since the NES. Games were a fortune back then. Even more so when you factor in inflation.

I tend to look at the Bigger picture with all this. And break down purchases like this over the many years of ownership. And will always try to buy physical copies of games so I can re sell them.

If it's not for you anymore I understand.

@Medic_alert,

The rich will always be rich. Not sure what to suggest here. I simply do not feel this is all too expensive. And judging by the rush to buy pre orders for this latest console I think a lot of people do not either.

It does however not make me happy that you personally feel this way. As you are obviously a big Nintendo fan.

@-wc- same to you! Always enjoying your commentary

@Medic_alert,

Not quite sure of your solution to all of this. I see your passion for it but at the moment it's sounding like a rant. One of the reasons electronics have been inexpensive has been cheap labour from China etc. So your eqaulity for everybody rhetoric is only going to make matters worse.

@-wc- Same. Put the price up as high as they want. I'm not breaking my £48 limit. And that's for the must-have games.

@JumpingJackson

It's easy to act like "there's no limit" or "this is only the limit for weaker people or whatever" when yours hasn't been reached, but as someone else on here said, everyone has one. ✌️

We might need more tiers than AAA and indie to properly position one's game on an ever-stretching spectrum. I forget who, but I saw one YouTube game reviewer who gave a dollar value rather than a score to account for the discrepancy in ambition between a $3 10/10 like Downwell and a $60 10/10 like Smash Ultimate. It was a brilliant approach and might start to become even more useful.

@westman98 Not here it isn't. We got an X Box Series X for under $500 as part of the Christmas sales in 2023 and the Nintendo Switch 2 is going to cost $699 when it comes out.