Topic: So how do we feel about the base price of first party games?

Some spicy takes on Nintendo normalizing the $80 price point.

Guys, whether you like it or not, 90€ for a base game is mental. I dont care if its Nintendo, if we have inflation, or if the game had 1.000 developers in it. Its a videogame, and for the Switch 2 (not the most powerful console), so its not normal that it cost 90€.

Those 90fckng€ are only justifiable if the game has A TON of content. And i mean A TON.

Mario Kart is one of the very few, verrry few games I can justify that sort of money on. I've put in hundreds and hundreds of hours of 8DX and if World is just as appealing or better, it will be money well spent and then some.

But I do find it concerning that Nintendo has introduced the notion of $80/£67 (for digital at least) as a price point and it'll be interesting to see which games will be affected and how frequently it will appear.

Even if we assume DK Bananza's £67 physical / £59 digital is the standard price point for most first-party games, that still seems very steep to me. It remains to be seen how much other retailers sell it for, but Nintendo seems to be trying to counteract the discount you can usually get on physical games by making the RRP higher for physical than digital. I wouldn't be happy about consistently having to spend more than £50 on games, and I'm not sure any retailers will reduce prices to below that point for new releases when the RRP is £67, let alone £75 like Mario Kart.

I'm seeing a lot of people online and in podcasts saying the digital is $80 and the physical is $90. Am I missing someone?

@Gryffin I think people are just lying. If you're referring to US prices, the physical is 80, not 90 (according to Walmart's listings)

oh is that where people are getting it from? I would give people the benefit of the doubt and say it's just confusion on the pricing, but that's Nintendo's fault for being intentionally opaque because they know they're going to have a backlash. I just checked Wal-Mart. They have it listed for $80 in the US.

People have been spoiled.

Bring on the hate.

Nintendo puts one price and I pay another. I buy most first party games physical day 1 and have never paid Nintendo prices.
With Nintendo switch 2 I’m confident I’ll buy them cheaper from the many online retailers we have.

The price point for Mario kart is simply supply and demand, nothing more. Mario kart 8 deluxe, a remaster of a 2014 Wii u game sold 70 million copies. Clearly the demand for Mario kart is at an all time high. So Nintendo is going to attempt to capitalize on the insane popularity. They KNOW there are many people out there who will begrudgingly open their wallets for a new Mario kart a decade in the making. Whether it’s 70, 80, even a hundred USD is absolutely irrelevant if people buy the product. Those melon heads on YouTube yelling “lower the price” won’t change a damn thing unless they do something about it. Don’t buy the game if the price is too high for you. Vote with your wallet. Nintendo will adjust the price according to sales numbers. There’s a good reason Donkey Kong isn’t as high a price. It’s not nearly as popular and the demand isn’t nearly as high, despite what Reddit tells you.

So Nintendo can go ahead and try their hand at higher pricing, sales numbers are the deciding factor here, not YouTube’s echo chambers

Edit: demand is what I meant, my brain just isn’t functioning today lol

Demand, sure, but not supply. They can make as many copies as they want. But yes, not buying it is a far better protest than complaining about it online. As I've said on one thread or another, I'm not getting a Switch 2 until I can get the games cheaper (and I'm not saying that because I'm outraged or to make a statement or whatever, I just don't want to spend that much right now).

It'll be interesting for sure. Nintendo's in a far better position (obviously) than they have been since like forever. Arguably even more so than when transitioning off the Wii. They've built a huge audience with the Switch, have taken steps to expand outside of just video games, and built up a large and varied audience. I would also say they're doing well transitioning from the Switch into its successor with some bigger games like Tomodachi Life and Metroid Prime 4 still planned for release.

I think it really just comes down as to whether people will actually accept the 80 price tag. Which...yeah I have no clue. A part of me wishes no, but people accepted the jump to 70 at the start of this gen. So wouldn't be surprised if that is once again the case here.

@TheBigBlue

Can't buy into that perspective when digital copies are endless.

The price point for Mario are tariffs + cartridge costs + Nintendo's best selling franchise = "We can ask for this because we know people will pay it" -Nintendo.

@Magician oh absolutely, tarrifs are not helping at all. And by “supply and demand”, I meant demand only, I mucked that up. You’ve got it right

Yes, Rurikhan, I need it.

I do agree, but my one thought is, how many of those people have bought year 1 before? Maybe less now but the vast majority of console sales are always after the first year. It is entirely possible, especially with Switch 1's domination and the amazing showing they had, that there will be enough people with enough money to make year 1 seem like the pricing is a non-issue. And only in future years would it become apparent the limitations of how many people can truly afford it.

That's just an idea, but it makes sense to me as I say it.

Most are unhappy about the 80 price but for 1st party I think most will have to accept this is the norm now. I hope other less known games don't go this route that will force people into do I buy this now or wait down the line.

I should have added…I can understand from a business and company perspective that the games are a bit higher since they are on a new, bigger and improved console and will run far more better than on the OG Switch, and maybe inflation plays a role in it,but I still really hope they don’t charge $80 for most of their games…if they charge a lot for some of the games, I’d only see myself buying a single Switch 2 game occasionally.

Before tariffs, the conversation was always $60 games with the odd $70 game. Mario Kart was always going to be the latter due to it's ambition. There has been a crystal clear hike. And if you blame Nintendo instead of Trump's tariffs, please stop voting.

@GrailUK
In general, people are dumb. It’s just a fact. Me, you, everyone - nobody knows everything. It’s just some of us are more willing to admit when we don’t fully understand something lol

And then forums are the perfect breeding ground for stupid opinions and extremely presumptive theories.

I hope to high heaven that everyone complaining about this doesn’t buy special editions/early editions of games that almost always cost 70-90 bucks. Or 10-dollar DLC of stupid outfits to put on your character in whatever game.

So much hypocrisy.