Switch 2 Game Price Revealed- and People Aren’t Happy
In the days after the Switch 2’s reveal, there has been a sudden turn against Nintendo from hopeful optimism to an all-out war against the company. But why? The initial reveal for the Switch 2 showed off a bunch of new games including Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza that all look fantastic (and that’s without mentioning the latest FromSoftware exclusive for the console dropping sometime next year). While the reveal itself was great, one thing was enough to transform so much of the hype to disappointment: it’s price.
Image by Nintendo
Now, to be clear, the price of the console itself isn’t too much of a problem. £394.99 isn’t as cheap as many were hoping for but, considering the new features for the console, it makes sense. 4K, HDR, 120fps, a larger screen and vastly improved performance put the Switch 2 far more in line with modern consoles compared to the mostly underpowered first iteration. The problem that many people have is not with the console then but, instead, with the price of games.
Fans were expecting a jump in game prices but £75 for the latest Mario Kart is higher than any non-special edition game we’ve seen from, well, any gaming company in recent years. £70 has now been the precedent for many years- and that’s for huge AAA releases. Nintendo has mostly stuck to a cheaper £50-£60 price point so to see such a major jump for another iteration of Mario Kart has left a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of gamers.
Image by Nintendo
To make it even more confusing, however, this £75 price point only seems to represent some versions and some games. This is going to be the price for a physical version- with a digital copy being around £7 less. Obviously, Nintendo makes a lot more money on digital copies of games so wants to push for this being the norm in the future- especially considering the massive upgrade in internal storage for the Switch 2. The other major first party release shown so far was Donkey Kong Bananza- which is retailing for a strangely specific £67 for a physical copy.
It seems that Nintendo are heavily experimenting with the pricing model for Switch 2 games and, unfortunately, the £75 price point for many releases will likely continue to be used should Mario Kart sell well (which is most definitely will). With comment sections and the live chat for Nintendo Treehouse being filled with demands that the game prices are dropped, its clear fans aren’t happy.
The only way to actually have an impact would be to vote with your wallet, though, and delay buying new games or the console itself until a price drop is announced (similarly to what happened with the 3DS). Whether this will actually happen, however, remains to be seen when the Switch 2 launches on June 5th later this year.
