It sounds like Nintendo isn’t necessarily trying to make $80 games the new normal.
A major sticking point with fans after last week’s reveal of the Switch 2 has been the pricing of the console and its games. The console itself will go for $449, while Mario Kart World and a selection of other Switch 2 games will go above standard AAA game pricing with an $80 price tag, and fans are not happy.
In response to fan backlash to the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 and its games, Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser spoke to The Washington Post (via Eurogamer) to explain the company’s new pricing philosophy.
Not Trying To ‘Set A Benchmark’
Bowser points to Donkey Kong Bananza, a game that will be sold for a more standard $70, as an example of what he calls “variable pricing.”
What you see right there is variable pricing. We’ll look at each game, really look at the development that’s gone into the game, the breadth and depth of the gameplay, if you will, the durability over time and the repeatability of gameplay experiences.
There are more factors that go into it than that, but it sounds like there will be no unified price across the board for Nintendo’s new major games, and Bowser says they “haven’t set a benchmark” either for themselves or the industry as a whole.
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Nintendo of America Vice President of Product and Player Experience Bill Trinen echoed similar talking points to IGN on the pricing of Switch 2 games, saying that Mario Kart World justifies its high price, as do the Switch 2 versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, both of which will share Mario Kart World’s $80 price point at retail.
Well, again, what I would say is that we just look at each individual game and we look at the content and the value of that game, and then we say, ‘what is the right price for the value of this entertainment?’
In any case, it seems like Nintendo has no intention of listening to the fans when it comes to pricing, and they’ll stick to their guns and sell their games for as much as they think they’re worth.
We’ll have to wait until the library of the Switch 2 is more fleshed out after its release later this year to get a better look at their new “variable pricing” model, but at this point it really seems like nothing more than an attempt to justify gradually pushing standard game prices higher, no matter what their executives say about how they aren’t trying to set a new benchmark.
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