Topic: Do you miss Player’s Choice? Switch 2 needs a proper budget line.

Hi, after the Direct, I hesitated a lot before preordering the Switch 2. I didn’t do it right away the prices of the games really threw me off. Mario Kart being shown at 90 was shocking (even if it came bundled later), but even more worrying is that several other titles are already launching at 80, and that might become the new standard.I’m honestly a bit concerned that 90 releases could happen again down the line, depending on the game. And right now, we have no sign of a pricing policy that helps late adopters or more cautious buyers.

One thing I really miss from the older generations is the Player’s Choice line (or Nintendo Selects on Wii/3DS). It wasn’t just about cheaper prices it was a way to give long term value to great games, and help players discover them without always paying full price years later.
On Switch 1, we never had that kind of program, and now with Switch 2 starting at these prices… I wonder if Nintendo will ever go back to that idea.
What do you think? Would you welcome a return of something like Player’s Choice? Or is full price for everything just the new normal?

P.s.
… just for fun, if Nintendo were to bring back a discounted line for Switch 2, what name would you give it?

To me the issue is not the new Mario Kart costing 80 dollars/euros or the new big 3D Mario costing the same. To me is about the Wario Ware, the Xenoblades, the smaller games Nintendo sometimes publishes.

There are plenty of Switch games published by Nintendo that do not have the preexisting audience Mario, Zelda, Pokemon or others have and would benefit a lot by having a budget line. Even as a reprint later on. The smaller games get less reprints which means that the physical prices skyrocket.
The weirdest thing is that Nintendo does the least discounts on those games too. They tend to do it on the big games and always with the same price for years.

@jowy_sw That’s actually a really solid point, I think it shifts the discussion in a better direction.
Smaller titles are often overlooked when it comes to reprints or discounts, and that’s where a budget line would really help.

I miss the price $20 but I don't like the Red colored box+ Red frame cover of the reprint version.

I like the idea of being able to buy older games at a budget price.

However, Nintendo have set out their stall and won't give games permanent discounts any more. The best you'll get is about 30% off with an occasional eShop sale.

Getting rid of Gold points and not allowing us to use NSO vouchers for Switch 2 games further erodes the chances of ever getting a bargain.

Yeah it’s something I have wondered about too, but then completely forgot about with the hype around the Switch 2.

I know Sony still has a budget line, or at least they did as of the end of PS4 when a number of first and third party games were rebranded under the budget line and sold for, I think, £15 or there about? Obviously Microsoft wants everyone on Game Pass so there’s no incentive to do the budget line and I’m not too sure whether they ever did it for older generations?

The last time Nintendo did this idea was the 3DS. I imagine the idea was that they would always do a budget line towards the end of the Switch lifecycle, which is in part why they don’t like sales. But then the console and games sold so incredibly well, the idea to ever permanently lower the price of either games or hardware went out the window. So now, here we are. Nintendo probably won’t bother with such an idea going forward unless they find themselves having to do so. Sony may end up doing the same thing and abandon their line too.

@FragRed I think the end of Playstation Hits was partially to do with the remaster strategy. 1st party PS4 games that were part of the Playstation Hits line had their price increased when they got remastered for PS5. For example Horizon Zero Dawn (the complete edition with all DLC) was £15.99 via the Playstation Hits line and then when PS5 remaster happened last year, the price of the PS4 version increased to £34.99.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/09/horizon-zero-dawn-ps4...

@Grumblevolcano I forgot Sony did that to be honest. It’s good that the comments section mostly called it out for what it is. Especially as PlayStation does seem to have a bit of safety from the media for doing the same or similar practices as the likes of Nintendo, which often get the brunt of the anger.

I think sales and the ability to track sales with dekudeals has replaced price reductions we used to see for games.

I don't disagree with the OP, though.

Nintendo doesn't do permanent first party discounts. However like everyone else they do eShop sales now and again. Obviously it's up to the shops to discount as they will.

What I do think Nintendo COULD do is as they roll out the free Switch 2 enhanced edition do a 33% discount and a small social media marketing campaign. So for example:

Mario Golf Super Rush - Nintendo updates the resolution and frame rate for Switch 2. And then they post on Nintendo Today!, a trailer featuring the new graphics and show off the campaign mode, costumes you can unlock and maybe the motion control mode. Pair that with a 33% discount on the eShop. So during July/August on a quiet week they could promote it.

Nobody would say no to lower prices... except Nintendo. That they decided to resell Breath of the Wild at full price tells me everything I need to know about a theoretical Player's Choice (it ain't happening unless Nintendo gets humbled).

Nintendo haven't been in third place, behind Xbox and Playstation, for almost a decade.

You don't need to offer budget priced games while your console is selling gangbuster.

Honestly, I really miss this. When it was on GameCube, I was able to get games at a discount. Usually the games that sell really well. Even on Wii, Wii U, and 3DS Nintendo Selects was great.

Game-key cards ruined any excitement I had for Switch 2, but I would love a line up like this for Switch. Maybe I'd call it "Nintendo Fan Favorites," since the games within the Player's Choice and Nintendo Selects line were always games that sold well (IIRC, I think it was 1 million copies when it was Player's Choice).

Edit: I also don't like the $80 price tag, hence why I wish we had something like this back. I could wait for a discount before buying a game.

I can confirm there are quite a few first party Nintendo games on Switch I likely would've bought, possibly on a whim, if they were available for 20-30 dollars. Arms, Mario Tennis, some of the Pokemon RPGs, Mario Maker 2, Origami King etc.

I also refused to buy a remake of Link's Awakening, one of my favorite games, until it was on sale for 40 bucks 2 years later.

Digital and demand have replaced budget lines. Before Companies needed to both move stock and drive lagging sales but now you can buy a game in your pajamas at 2 am and sales come several times a year. I am not saying I wouldn’t mind lower prices but don’t see a reason for a company to eat that cost. Nintendo especially. I simply budget accordingly.

I can imagine a set of circumstances in which Nintendo does this in practice via permanent price reductions on a number of games on the eshop. I’d put my expectations in check though - there’s no reason to give Mario Odyssey a discount for instance when it will benefit from a patch that makes it look better on Switch 2. For many people it will be a Switch 2 game - and a much better one than almost any other game on the console.

Smaller games like Kirby Star Allies, Arms, Yoshi’s Crafted World etc. though - they’re old enough and dead enough that a price decrease has nothing but upside. They could lock it as a “deal” perk behind an NSO subscription.

I don’t see them making a range of physical games for cheap.

I'd think that if Star Allies, Arms and Crafted World were PC games, from any other publisher, they'd have been given away for free on the Epic Store by now, let alone discounted.

Still, yes, not every Nintendo game is an evergreen seller that will eventually rack up sales in the tens of millions and it'd be nice if those could have a second bite at the cherry at a lower price, while the ones that are can command a higher price indefinitely.

It's annoying when Nintendo is greedy, but like many examples of greed, its far more annoying when they're greedy in self-defeating ways. There are so many games that sold great in month one and has yet to sell as well across the next several years.

I don't like 80 dollar Mario Kart, but Nintendo's gonna get away with it. You should probably accept that. But its gonna be stupid when Hollow Knight outsells Metroid Dread just because they understand not everyone is going to buy a full price Metroidvania. Like either an indie dev is so much better at marketing a video game than...Nintendo, on their most successful console, or they are leaving money on the table because of some weird, pointless stubbornness. "We don't like lowering prices for games" I have six systems' worth of classic first party Nintendo games that I pay once a year for the same price as a Burger King meal, what are you talking about Nintendo?

Gold points may be going away for good, but they never explicitly said vouchers would end after the Switch, so perhaps they might be added for Switch 2 games in a few years?

@MrCarlos46 I'd think that, if vouchers are going to be extended to Switch 2 games, they're probably going to cost more, to reflect the higher prices of Switch 2 games.

Ultimately, I can't see Nintendo offering a potential saving of more than around 30% that way, which is about what you'd get if you waited for an eShop sale.