New Super Mario Bros. 2 Will Cost £39.99 to Download

That's about the price of a 3DS game here in Australia so I think it's all right.

So I'm paying full price for no game card or box? Right... whoever came up with that value for the download is obviously a bit of a douche.

I don't mind if retail downloads cost the same as their physical counterparts, especially now that Nintendo has started to institute digital sales from time to time.

Hah, it's even more expensive than the retail version. Sorry Nintendo, but I think I'll pass on this one. I only buy games digitally if they are way cheaper than their retail counterparts. I'll take that golden box with a cartridge, manual, new game smell and a free coin instead.

Nintendo's pricing is amongst the worst in the business when it comes to hardware and downloads (in the INTIAL stages)....Pre-ordered it for over £10 less as a retail copy.

Is Amazon the only place you get the game online? How about other online retailers?

No, that's a ridiculous price. But I couldn't care less actually, I prefer having the box anyway.

Yeah, i hope people are smart enough to check out all their buying options. _{(I mean even if you don't trust amazon prices it's not like mediapricer.co.uk doesn't exist.)}
If i downloaded the game and found out how much the retail version costs some days later i'd feel royally screwed.

Just checked. The only major other retailer with similar pricing is Grainger Games, but since I don't live in Europe I have no idea what it's like over there.

£40 is a £25 and £15 eshop voucher and i paid £26.39 at sainsburys for the boxed copy and i can even sell my boxed copy unlike the download pros: play everywhere, cant lose the game card plus 250 extra stars cons: price, cant sell it, would need a new sd card, takes ages to download

just no

What a rip off, its a couple of lines of code ...... no making the cart, no box, no getting it to the shops, no middle man taking his cut. £20 would be the perfect price, I would rather crawl over broken glass with my flies undone to gamestation to get this rather than pay £39.99 online.

You get very similar pricing for full retail games on the PlayStation store. Who in their right mind would pay these sorts of prices?

Anyone who choses to download this instead of buying a retail version is either

a. A Clown

or

b. Has more money than sense.

People are putting too much value into the packaging.

well, its physical for me nobody can take it off my server as in my library of games physically for whatever reason they come up with in the future

Haha, no thanks. I just trade-in a couple of games and get the boxed copy for much cheaper. Thanks to Steam I don't buy any downloadable games unless they're 10 euros or less.

Considering this game is quite short, even for a Mario game, I'd say it's not worth it. I'll find a cheap physical copy instead.

40 pounds is 51 (!!!) euro. I've pre-ordered the collectors edition for 35 euro's.

They're value-ing the benefit of always being able to play it without a game card way too high. Much like the games on PS Vita for that matter, but at least the PS Vita download prices are around or below store prices.

Well thinking about it, the whole idea of the game is to grab as many coins as you can..... nintendo are just getting into the sprit ......

I'm guessing in Australia that means $69.95 when I will be buying the retail copy for $59 at JB Hifi! Sorry Nintendo NO DEAL!

Well 39,99 is when you will buy game from Nintendo. You can also buy cupon from retilers for their prizes and than download game. Prize 39,99 from Nintendo is understandable, because Nintendo doesn't want to be harmful to retailers. Nintendo does't want to be competitor to retailers, retailer can compete with each other regarding to prize.

Too expensive.
But I don't care downloads (before NA) away!

I love that people complain that a game will cost a $40 or $50 or whatever and conveniently forget that it costs millions to make.

They're usually the first people to get all sadface when Nintendo or whoever else posts bad financial results. But of course that's because of a mythical "bad management," and has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact most gamers throw a tantrum unless a game is priced to compete with Angry Birds, naturally.

$60 for an AAA-game is reasonable.

@KaiserGX - Is the packaging, fact that you can resell, fact that you can use it on multiple consoles or lend it to someone not worth the extra £10 you get for choosing this option? Oh...wait.

@LollipopChoSaw - Before you jump right in with your "Everyone complains about nothing" remarks - why dont you actually look at the situation here? The download option costs £10 more than the Amazon option, both of which can be used without having to leave your house. The fact that Nintendo stuck to a price point that wont appease to many of the people buying this game (That vote should act as enough evidence here) mean that they have made a mistake - and that's why they're going to lose money.

You seem to take this to the extreme. Angry Birds costs 69p - this still costs £30 by Amazon. People choosing to save £10 on a purchase while getting additional items doesnt mean they're 'throwing a tantrum' as much as you'd like to believe.

I would never pay £39.99 for a retail boxed game, let alone a download, no matter what console it is for. I always wait for the price to come down. I just cant afford to take that big a risk on £40 for a game every time, especially for a download. £30 is the sweet spot for a game I really really want.

Its the same for any product in the world, if you see it priced lower anywhere else its only human nature to get the cheaper alternative.

@Crouteru And just how many Android games cost as much to make as a Mario Brothers game?

Or do you not realise that the price of a game is directly proportional to what it needs to be for a game publisher to turn a reasonable profit?

Well its a fair price if it the same as the rrp. I was always gonna download it from the begginning.

@Kaiser: Considering the game is selling at retail for ten pounds less and people are saying they'll buy retail, I think the deal is that people (or at least retailers) aren't putting more value on packaging.

that said, if it's the rrp, it's the rrp. just get it at retail if you want any kind of break on the price; Nintendo's already gotten theirs that way, so I don't see what the kerfluffle is over paying less at retail for it.

@Geonjaha Nintendo priced it at the RRP. That's what Nintendo had to price it at or it would have been literally undercutting the retailers. You don't (yet) want to piss the retailers off.

If retailers want to slash their own margins, that's their business, it's got nothing to do with Nintendo.

Any news on the prices in euros? (not just a conversion but the real price..)

Well that translates to $60 (Australia) so that's a little too expensive for me.
Anyway I would prefer a boxed version and I don't even have the sd card space..

Let me see if I can get this right Nintendo. With the download version there is no:
1. physical manufacturing ((cartridge + box)
2. No physical distribution to retailers
3. No profit mark up from retailers.

Yet we have to pay more for the download version. Because of this people will perceive this to be a rip-off. This is bad business. I think Nintendo is charging so much because they can. Surely they can charge less without shooting retailers in the foot. Even if it is just a little bit. Nintendo needs a financial boost but ripping people off is not the way to go. People want to know they are getting value for their money.
No matter how many millions they spend to make the game, the download version needs to be cheaper than the retail version.

And the best part is that the customer can never sell his/her downloaded game should they need to.

From a business point of view, it is unacceptable.

Digital downloads V1.0 Alpha killed off jobs and took forever to download. Now with V1.0, you pay £10 more than you should! Pretty cool, huh?

@RupeeClock - I'm sure you don't have a breakdown on how much it cost to develop the game.

I'm also sure that you've got no data or research to say just how much damage Nintendo would do to the Mario brand if it an official "core" Mario game to be perceived as "budget" priced.

So in the absence of real data then really you're just guessing what the price should be, right?

@LollipopChoSaw
No, $60 isn't reasonable for an "AAA" handheld game. Also, this isn't an AAA handheld game.
http://www.metacritic.com/game/3ds/new-super-mario-bros-2
AAA games don't get review averages below 80%.

Also, you're arguing that it is good value to charge a 25% INCREASE OVER ALMOST EVERY OTHER RETAILER, both online and in stores.

In fact, let me save you all some money.

GAME have NSMB2 with a free preorder bonus of a 3DS coin shaped game case for £29.99, and reward points if you're a member.
http://www.game.co.uk/en/new-super-mario-bros-2-170963?pageSize=20&searchTerm=New%20Super%20Mario%20Bros.%202
As Well as Freakyforms deluxe for £19.99
http://www.game.co.uk/en/freakyforms-deluxe-180004

Shopto have NSMB2 for £29.86, and freakyforms for £15.85 (but the website seems to be down for me at the moment so I can't get links )

And amazon also have the games for
£29.99 for NSMB2 http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Super-Mario-Bros-Nintendo/dp/B00844RBVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344852625&sr=8-1
£21.23 for Freakyforms Deluxe http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Freakyforms-Deluxe-3DS/dp/B008EH5ICQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344852662&sr=8-1

You'd have to be an idiot to pay "the RRP" of £40 anywhere, and nintendo is absolutely kidding themselves to think that actual base sale price for the best 3DS games is anything but £30.

Oh, and I forgot to add that shopto and GAME will both guarantee you have the games by Friday if you order from them now! If you get lucky, particularly with shopto, you get the games before the actual release too.

@Linkstrikesback "No, $60 isn't reasonable for an "AAA" handheld game. Also, this isn't an AAA handheld game."

Ok, great. You've made a statement. Now I want economic proof (with data, statistics and supporting thesis) that it's good for Nintendo to undercut the retailers.

Ready, set, go.

Oh. Got nothing? Yep, didn't think so. Armchair expert is armchair expert.

@LollipopChoSaw
It's a budget title, deal with it.

How about we spin the wheel around? Bring me proof that this is a high budged title?

@LollipopChoSaw - You're assuming as much as anyone else here, so stop fooling yourself. The only difference is that you're assuming that Nintendo has to keep that price to maintain itself as a company, which is just absurd.

I'm not paying full retail price for a digital download if I can buy the game for the same/equal price retail. I quite like box art and manuals, and I'm not paying the same/higher price to not get them.

@Slapshot
Are manuals even included anymore? The only thing I got with Super Mario 3D Land was a "Actions Guide" showing how to perform jumps etc.

Two points I'd like to make here, since nobody seems to be taking them into consideration.

Point #1: There are no manufacturing costs, but there are server and bandwidth costs, and I dread to think what those must be like. It costs Nintendo money to host games on their servers and it costs them money for people to download them.

Point #2: This is not the only download price for this game. Download codes for retail downloads will soon be made available across Europe and there is no way in hell any good retail will charge £29 for a boxed game and £39 for its digital equivalent. The chances are, if you buy a download code for a game at retail, it will cost less than the boxed game.

LollipopChoSaw is correct that Nintendo must set an RRP for every game they release and they must stick to that price whenever they themselves sell the game. If they dared to undercut their own RRP, a lot of retailers would jump right out of bed with them.

@19Robb92 - That's simple. This is a Mario game. Not a spinoff, not a side-story. This is a 2D Mario Platformer.

Mario is the most valuable brand Nintendo has, and one of the most valuable brands in gaming history. By default Nintendo can't be seen to be devaluing that brand.

Source: any "Branding for beginners" book, really.

@Geonjaha No, my "assumptions" are backed by marketing and economic theory.

No, Nintendo, you were so close to getting it right, now you've blown it!

@RupeeClock "In the absence of actual data that NOBODY has, all that matters is the PERCEPTION."

Actually, Nintendo's accountants care about more than perception.

And perception is precisely why Nintendo is maintaining RRP here. Nintendo doesn't want to be perceived by the retailers as undercutting them.

I hope you can see the irony of accusing people of being an armchair expert?

Also it doesn't work that way. You're the one implying that there would be some sort of economic downside for retailers pricing the same way as the digital download option (Which happens ALL the time for PC games. I haven't ever bought a retail title through the PSN or Xbox Live but I know for a fact they price competitively too, at least at launch).

You're making lots of statements yourself without proof. Why don't YOU write a thesis backed up by data and statistics that pricing your digital titles at THE SAME value as retailers is somehow bad? I don't need to write a thesis because the logic me and almost everyone else in this comments section follows Occam's Razor. Go look up what that is, because I don't expect you to know.

Everyone replying to @LollipopChoSaw and taking him seriously must be new here. Do you want to fix the problem? Stop replying.

I will not be buying it as a digital down whatever the price may be.For me this is just another inventive to buy a retail version.especially when most if not all major retailers have it listed at £29.99.

@Linkstrikesback People are making these statements because they think they're getting less for more.

@LollipopChoSaw
So.. No sources what so ever. Yeah, that's what I thought.

@TwilightPoint - "must be new here"? Ever heard of a discussion? We take him as seriously as everyone else who posts their opinion - to not do so would just be disrespecting him. There are no problems to be fixed - it's a discussion, or an argument. Someones opinion isnt a problem that needs to be fixed.

Yeah but no. None of you run major game publishers, clearly. (note: this is not to insult you. It's just a cold fact).

And my sources? Go to that Amazon website and order a couple of textbooks on economic and marketing theory. That's my sources (in other words, I've done degrees - yes, multiple - on this stuff). Oh, and I've interviewed the heads of hundreds of technology companies and attended their "behind doors" internal conferences. I guess that counts for something.

I wouldn't call getting it at Amazon much cheaper. Don't you still have to pay for shipping and handling?

Here in the US, we've known the digital download price (40.00) for some time now in the eShop. I'll be downloading it because I rather like having everything instantly accessible via the 3DS menu instead of having to switch out cartridges all the time. That, and I wouldn't mind the extra Club Nintendo points so I can download an extra game as a reward. :3

I really, really hate to do this (you guys have no idea, seriously), but waltz is right. Nintendo has already given their recommended price and they have to stick to it, at least at first. maybe later on they'll do a sale or something, but right now at launch they can't undercut the people they supply, otherwise those storefronts will never choose to carry a Nintendo game again (for fear of being undercut by the devs). It's the same as buying a brand-name handbag straight from the hands of the people who make them, or artwork directly from the person who just painted it. Just buy it at retail if the price is a factor, but don't expect any digital deals anytime soon.

@Waltz: You're not helping your situation by telling everyone to 'read a book' every time you get mired in an argument. If you well and truly wanted to educate people instead of just look like an Internet Big Shot, you'd be listing books to read and linking to articles. Right now all you're doing is fueling the flames from those who don't understand, and I'm getting quite tired of going behind you to clean up the messes you inevitably leave in your wake. Please play nice if you're going to play at all.

@LollipopChoSaw
"Economic and Marketing theory", great source there buddy. lol

No Blizzaga. Amazon and all major GAME retailers in the UK provide free shipping.

Well this just put me off buying another 3DS. Maybe I shouldnt get a wiiU either untill nintendo make clear it's pricing and at a price that encouragrs sales and competition.ie from steam etc.

Nintendo you allways find a way to put off paying customers. This pisses me off.

@TheBlackDragon

But it ISN'T about undercutting the retailers. It's about launching a game at the ACTUAL RRP. I have never seen any 3DS game launch at £40 at any retailer. They all go out at £30 AT MOST. £35 if you're REALLY pushing it and only counting the few titles that GAME choose to overprice (A policy which helped drive them in to bankruptcy, as I'm sure we all remember.)

@Geonjaha I never said it was.
Sorry if that's how it came across.

@Linkstrikesback: Nintendo isn't just 'a retailer' though, they're the devs themselves. It's probably spelled out in their contracts with game retailers that they won't undercut the rrp until (x-amount of time) has passed so that the retailers have a fighting chance to unload all the physical copies they can.

@Linkstrikesback Just because a retailer doesn't sell a game for £39.99 doesn't mean that game's RRP isn't £39.99. Just because twenty retailers choose to undercut an RRP by £10 does not change that game's RRP.

As we all know this Game will always sale at the same price even if you can get the retail version at 20€ someday the downloadable Version will ever cost as much as it will be relased

@Linkstrikesback: what Cipher said, too, in case that's what you were actually saying :3

it should be £20

no more, no less

@RupeeClock It could be that Nintendo's set the RRP to £39 to make sure it gets sold at retail for around the £29 mark. As we've seen with Freakyforms and New Art Academy, they both retail for around £19, yet evidently their RRPs are £25 and £29 respectively.

@TheblackdragonThen that is a contract they should not have signed. If that IS what happened, I can't see why you're defending it, because that is a huge mistake on Nintendos part.

They are now also behaving as a retailer, and should price the products like one. Obviously steam is the best example of a good retailer-developer in the industry. Valve had no problem with pricing Portal 2 at the same value on steam as the boxed version on release, as they do with any other game.

@CipherGoing by wikipedias description of the RRP"The manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), list price or recommended retail price (RRP) of a product is the price which the manufacturer recommends that the retailer sell the product. The intention was to help to standardise prices among locations."

Focus on that list bit. "The intention was to help to standardise prices among locations."

If that is the intention in determining an RRP, then the RRP is £30-£35 (at a push for anything above £30).

I wasn't going to buy NSMB2 as a download anyway, but if nintendo has it in their heads that this is even remotely a realistic pricing scheme, I'm extremely disappointing, as it means no 3DS game is even worth considering as a download, which is a shame because I wanted the download versions of Fire Emblem: Awakening and Animal Crossing.

What has Nintendo smoked ??

@Cengoku
Hundred dollar bills.

@Linkstrikesback So what happens if they don't sign that contract? They're basically saying to retailers "we have the power and the right to undercut your prices, and we will practise that right". No retailer in their right mind would ever stock Nintendo software again. And yes, the RRP should standardise pricing, but games stockists almost always undercut the RRP to gain an immediate advantage, so whatever the RRP would be set at, you would not find it at that price in stores.

@RupeeClock Yeah, that's my thinking - if the RRP was £29.99 the game would be sold for between £20 and £25. Selling at £20 wouldn't be a good idea - low profits, potential bad name for the software - and £25, well, you might as well round it up, it's not likely to result in any major difference in sales figures.

well nintendos digital download era had a good run...... for 2 weeks

I thought about downloading it, but that idea is totally blown now. €50,- is a total ripoff. I don't know even one store here that prices their 3DS-Games for that price.

Now I will buy the game for €35,- which is a lot more reasonable.

@Cipher. They write a contract saying "We will charge £30". Contracts aren't a one way street and should involve some measure of debating from both sides. Retailers are in absolutely no position to refuse high profile releases like New Super Mario Bros 2, no more than Nintendo is to tell them they cannot sell a game.

Heck, even at equal pricing between the digital and retail copies, there are still benefits in terms of value for money to buying a retail copy (Without even mentioning resale value): The opportunities for preorder bonuses, such as the Mario coin game case, reward schemes with the store like GAME and Shopto run, the opportunity to actually speak with knowledgeable people in game retailers (if you're buying in store) all add value to buying a title via retail.

Game stockists undercut the RRP BECAUSE people aren't willing to pay £40, and they make more profit in sheer number of units sold by cutting the price. This exact logic will also apply to the digital store.

And what happens when Nintendo sells their games at the same prices as the retailers. Profits will go to Nintendo and game retailers get absolutely nothing.

Then, any bridges that Nintendo has built with the retailers are burnt, and Nintendo are screwed as their only path to sell is through their own shops. In the long run, having Nintendo only sell their products would be the worst possible result for everybody involved.

price is a lil high for me. i thought making games downloadable would decrease the price of games. this is all about stopping piracy and protecting the bottom line. this has nothing to do with giving consumers the best deal. retail is all the same no matter what a company is selling.

well if games is priced over $30, or close to $50 i will wait a couple of months and maybe find them in the used isle or lower priced around $20. times is rough and i don't need any game that bad right now to pay absurd prices.

€50.88 XD

I was split either to get it digital or physical but this has answered. I can get the physical copy €5 less then that and if I am lucky €10 less in stores.

@Chris720
Yes ikr that makes no sense

@Aviator
Except NONE of that happens. You can make and assume what you want, but those things didn't happen to Valve when they decided to sell fairly priced products through download stores (It only went and made them the most successful videogame download store in existence...) , and they wouldn't happen if Nintendo had done it.

I may en up buying it on the eShop, but only because i would pay less. In this zone of my country everything costs much because im away from the main city, so i normally pay up to 55 USD for the same game, so maybe the eShop title would be cheaper for me

@Linkstrikesback Okay then. Where do you think Values sales primarily come from.

Majority would have bought their games, in the pre-Steam days, via Steam.

Nintendo does not have that install base.

Wha....? I thought all major new 3DS titles get the £30 price tag. I mean, North America gets it for $40 and the UK gets it for also £40?! Last time I checked £1 was worth more than $1 >.>

@luminalace: NSMB2 will be $54 or so at Target and Big W. It wouldn't surprise me if JB takes the same route with 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 and offer NSMB2 for $49 to undercut their competitors until Sunday.

EB on the other hand are selling the exclusive gold coin edition for $69.95 (which incidentally is the RRP of the game which will undoubtedly be the selling price on the eShop in Australia).

@Rated_R_Superstar Or you live in Japan, you want to buy the game and you only have an EU 3DS.

"Hi, my name is Nintendo and I have been region locking."
"Hiiii Nintendo"

atm JB has it listed as $59

40 British pounds = 59.4422311 Australian dollars(13/08/12)
Well, that is on the price MK7 and SM3DL started upon on... but.. I got Heroes of Ruin for $50(on launch)... So, NO.

@sillygostly

Thanks mate..I will get it at Target then! I checked JB in Melb CBD today and it's listed as $59! Yeah I saw the Gold Coin Edition at EB Games...not only will I not spend $69, I don't actually even understand what the pre-order bonus is! It sucks it's releasing on a Saturday and not Thursday like usual...I will have to by it in the suburbs!

This sounds like a truly rotten deal.

Cartridge benefits

1. You can use the game on multiple 3DS's.
2. You get a box with box-art and manual.
3. If you loose your DS you still have most of the the games in your collection.
4. Storage memory for the game is included on the cartridge.
5. You support your local game store.
6. Games on physical media will grow extinct, so we're in the last few years where we can obtain new games in this form.

Download benefits:
1. You can have multiple retail-games available without bringing along extra cartridges.
2. Higher profit margin for developers and nintento, pushing more money twoards the people who make the games and the platform.

Nintendo has gone insane not that I'd describe their other download prices as exactly sane either, if this is the model for all future 3DS retail downloads then I'll just stick to steam.

You're all living in a pipe dream if you think gaming in any of the PAL zones is remotely a bargain. Just import all your games/systens from the US and save a boat load of $$$.

$39.99 USD, period. Oh yeah, and the Download should be $20 USD, considering packaging, distribution, and markup are half the price.

Support future retro gamers and secure your investment by buying the retail boxes! It even comes in gold this time...

the Download should be $20 USD, considering packaging, distribution, and markup are half the price.

It costs money to put the game up on the servers and keep it there, which we pay for. But even so, if Nintendo couldn't match retail prices for the game then there is no good reason to put it on the eShop.

I don't think that an extra 10 pounds is good value since one of the major benefits of digital downloads - namely, an account system allowing the easy playing of games on multiple systems - is not implemented for the 3DS yet.

Once that is organised, I think the value of eShop purchases will be increased greatly. Until that point, though, I'd stick to retail to avoid losing a system's worth of games (not to mention the console itself) should anything untoward happen to my console.

no. bad move.i wouldnt go as far as saying it should be 20$ when the game is brand new. but it should at least be 5-10$ less. 29.99 would have been great and instant buy. 34.99 would have been fair. but 39.99, they can keep it on their server, ill get physical instead.

the non swap bonus isnt worth a physical copy that you can share with friends or family, especially when you have 2 or more ds/3ds in the same household.digital copies cannot be shared among consoles, they stay on only 1 console.

also, you cannot sell your copy when youre bored of it, which happens. i know mario games should stay in your library, but some other games are great to do one time only.

Do you really think Nintendo cares?

Either way, you're playing their game.
Either way you're giving them money.

The only ones losing either way is the retailer.

oh yeah, and dont go cutting the price in half because there is no physical material. the box, prints and cart dont cost much to produce. china makes miracles for producing large numbers of product for ridiculous prices.

So I can pay £30 for a boxed copy, which I can subsequently lend to friends and ultimately trade in if I wish to do so, or I could pay £40 for a digital copy which can take up to 45 mins to download and which is locked to a single system? Not only that, but should I lose said system I would have to produce a police report so that Nintendo can verify the loss or theft and then transfer the purchase to a new system, all because Nintendo refuses to implement a proper online profile?

You know what Nintendo? I think I'll stick with the physical copy. I'd love to embrace the digital future, but until Nintendo gets their s*** together I don't see any reason to download these retail games beyond mere convenience.

If its a Mario game I would prefer the box copy but its nice to have options

I'll just go for the cheapest option of a physical copy, if I get the game. Plus, the trade in value is there.

eshop continues to be an utter embarrassment i see... that's Nintendo for ya. It was to be expected, despite the absurdness of it.

I'd prefer to have everything as downloads on a portable system (unless the game was huge enough to warrant otherwise), i just can't see the point of needing carts anymore.
You'd have to be brain dead to pay these prices though, it's the main reason i choose to ignore the eshop completely actually.

IMO that's just taking the piss for a download version of a game.

IMO the download version should be around £5-£15 or something like that. It's just a blimmin digital copy of a single master file for God's sake. There's no packaging or instruction manual and Nintendo doesn't have to give a cut to the store retailers either, or even worry about shipping the physical product to different parts of the world.

It needs to be MUCH cheaper to avoid completely and utterly offending people like me!

At this rate Nintendo is NEVER going to convince the 3DS/3DS XL is a product I should care about owning!

Nintendo needs to figure this crap out man!

This is just more proof that Nintendo has absolutely no clue what they are doing.

Nintendo can keep their Mario, I'll be getting The Last Story.

Yeah, I'd rather have a hard copy if I'm paying that much. If they want to "test the waters" then shouldn't they start a lower download price to introduce the new idea of downloading games from the eShop? I guess that might also set the standard but everyone knows that price isn't going to fly.

This will probaubly be my only retail download, remember people you get 100 club nintendo coins (plus 10 if you planned on getting it as a DL), so you can save for a reward or a game.

I don't know why everyone's surprised, half the retail games on PSN cost more than what retailers are doing, because 90% of the time the RRP hasn't officially gone down.

And I know Waltz (ChoSaw) is angering a lot of you, but what he's saying is right, Nintendo would do bad for business if they set the recommended retail price, then sold it for less on their own store, I'm sure that many retailers have enough trouble dealing with losing sales from the digital market.

@19Robb92 said:
"Economic and Marketing theory", great source there buddy. lol

If you can find a book about "Economic and Marketing Cold Facts That Will Never Change" I'd like a copy please. Our entire world is made up of theory, things we know today will be disproven and dramatically changed tomorrow, it's the jobs of analysts, scientists, accountants, all kinds of professionals to constantly question the world, and change and shape it to be better. So in short, yeah, a 'Marketing and Economic Theory' book would be the way to go.

Paying 33% more than the retail version is ridiculous. Nintendo really doesn't make sense. The publishing costs for virtual things - including mp3, books, video games - are significantly lower than bringing these items to the store. If this doesn't result in a lower price point, there's something wrong. Wish I could say it works out badly for Nintendo, but plenty of people will be stupid enough to buy it online.

I'm still going for the download copy. I just want to try this out. Also there are two upsides. One, I can have the latest Mario title with me wherever I go without having to exchange game cards. And two, I get double the Club Nintendo Coins. When it puts me that much closer to Platinum rewards for next year, count me in.

Will there be tax on the download copy or will it be pre priced with the tax already added on?

@ChunkyDroid
Sure, I'm not arguing against that. But a theory book will still not prove his point to be correct.

I fear this will become a contributing factor to them going third party.

@tealovertoma Actually none of these posts are annoying. I find both sides of this to be very interesting, as just reading the comments page I learned a lot more about the economy, nintendo's download strategy and business. You learn something new everyday!

@19Robb9: No, but it would give him substantial backup in what he's saying, it's how most (if not all) Universities work, reading up on established professional's ideas, seeing what works for ourselves, and coming to our own conclusions, ChoSaw's been there and done that, that's all, while I agree his posts are condescending, I can't say he's wrong in what he's saying.

@Kirk: You do realise that Nintendo needs to make their money back from the actual development of the game, right? There's a whole team of artists, programmers, designers, producers, musicians etc. that need to be paid a wage in order for the game to be released. I seriously doubt that 5 pounds would get Nintendo their money back, let alone make a profit.

Fact is, video games are only getting more expensive to make as platform capabilities constantly increase and consumer expectations rise. It's only due to a massive expansion in the market that the price per unit has come down (taking into account inflation).

I remember having to pay about $90 AUD for a brand new PC game back around 2000. If I plug that into the Reserve Bank of Australia's inflation calculator (http://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualDecimal.html) then that tells me the same game should cost about $125 AUD now. However, brand new PC games still only cost about $90 new, despite the huge amount of money that's poured into development.

Constantly wanting better, more involved games and paying less for them simply isn't sustainable. I know that as a consumer it's nice to get things cheap, but I've been gaming for a long time now and I've seen far too many excellent developers go bust or be swallowed up by the big publishers because, despite making great games, they were constantly juggling funding and desperately trying to get their next game out the door in order to pay employees, who in some cases would work for several weeks for free just to finish off a game.

It's insane, and leads to the homogenisation of the gaming industry that has become apparent over the last 5-10 years. I look back at the late 90s and early 2000s PC scene, which I consider the golden age of PC gaming, and I remember a lot of innovation and cool ideas that simply don't come from the big publishers any more. Fortunately indie developers have been the saving grace for PC gaming in the last 5 years or so, as the big pubs don't seem to care about the platform.

Anyway, that ended up being longer than I intended. Long story short - if you want cheaper games, that's fine, but be careful what you wish for.

I agree with waltz here, the box doesn't cost much and a DL price at the same price is VERY reasonable

@dirtyplastic A couple of lines? More like thousands. Maybe more. I'd like to see you code an entire AAA platformer with only a couple lines of code. Heck, I'd like to see you write a single line of code.

@ChunkyDroid
Yepp.

And the point being I asked him to provide proof of his assumptions. Providing a book on Economic and Marketing theories as a source does not prove his point saying NSMB2 would be a AAA or high budget title.

For that you'd need a insider source from Nintendo.

I couldn't see a NSMB game not get at least a halfway decent budget, the amount of money they're seemingly throwing into its marketing bests most AAA titles.

I can list about 10 3DS games that came out in the last year that aren't AAA that cost this much retail.

The argument I don't get however, and it's not just from you, is since when did we price games on how good they are?

@ChunkyDroid
Halfway decent and high budget.. There's a difference there. And I don't count marketing into being a high budget title, it's about the individual games cost.

@19Robb92 So you judge the budget based on how much it costs to make a single cartridge, a box, and the printed off box art?

@SuperSonic95
No, as in how much it cost to make the actual game. Coding, employees salaries, the games engine, content etc.

What the game itself cost to make.

I have problems traslating all my opinion in english so i write it in spanish, sorry:

Estoy en desacuerdo. Es un juego descargable, no hay costos de tienda, distribución, empaque, diseño de empaque, almacenamiento, transportación. Quieren la ganancia directa. NO LO DESCARGUEN. Don´t download it.

Si este juego tiene buenas ventas virtuales van a seguir sacando juegos con precios altos. Si les va mal en ventas van a ajustar los precios a algo más acorde a un juego digital.

So if you want the game but it retail, because digital will affect us in the future with the new digital releases. Say NO to Nintendo this time (in digital of course).

@Chris720 agreed. Douche.

I'm buying it retail so whatever lol.

I don't know why everyone is so surprised that this is the price. Nintendo said a while back that download version from the eShop would be the suggested retail price. If you don't want to pay that then don't download it. It's as simple as that. This is just them testing to see how many people will download at this price, it doesn't mean that they won't lower prices on their first party games that will be available for download in the future.

The fact is no-one except Game sells it for full price, the average price for the game as far as I can see online is £29.99 if you think you should pay £10 extra for a digital download then you have far to much money. Supermarkets will be selling it for £29.99 - £34.99 of the ones I asked in today.

Nintendo make money on boxed sales, they do not take the whole profit from the sale of the game, the shop and the distributer take a cut. Nintendo could sell it for £29.99 and still make more money on the sale than the box copy would make them, coupled with the fact that the digital copy has no manufacturing costs (paper manual and plastic box) they would take an even bigger cut of the profit as they have effectivly cut out all the middle men.

I would bet that after the initial burst of people downloading the game for the novelty factor, these games will go down in price in the eshop.

@BJQ1972

The difference is, that the PS Store actually has lower prices on release.

(Which is part of the reason I go Download-only for new games, that I might want to play for a long time!)

40 quid? No deal.

The sad part is that it will probably be cheaper to buy it like this than in retail here in Mexico.

I would pay that price for the game to download IF the 3DS had an account system. Personally I like the convenience of having everything on the system and not having to swap carts out all the time, but I'd at least like to know that if something happened to my machine I could easily get all my files back.

A download has no trade-in value, once you have played the game.

I like how people complain about Nintendo releasing games for download at the same price as retail when everyone does. Have you ever checked the Steam store?

Please don't pay for a digital version that is more expensive than the retail version. That sends a horrible message.

wtf i thought it would be cheaper on DL.

@Everyone that's complaining about the NINTENDO price for digital.

You guys seem to be forgetting about something here. In the real world it ALWAYS costs more to buy something directly from the manufacturer/developer. Until the world goes fully digital that's not going to change.

Second point: There are TWO methods of getting the game digitally. One is of course to buy the game directly from the eShop (ie the expensive direct from manufacturer method). The other method is to buy the retailer digital card which will most likely by cheaper since they have the right to set their own prices.

Hell I`m pretty sure if you guys were to check Amazon for the digital cards they`d be quite cheap actually (once they go up on the site).

Another thing, the game can`t be pulled from you when it`s not even hosted on a server (the DL is but once it`s DL`ed that`s really not a concern). The game is installed to your system. In fact, if you`re really paranoid about it you could always disable your wireless on the 3DS since you don`t need to log in to an account system to play anything on your 3DS anyways.

Nobody realizes just how upset brick and mortar retailers would be if Nintendo sold their digital titles for less.

@TheSolarKnight well im not complainning, also you get 100 club nintendo coins if you DL the game within a week or so.

When i first heard that Nintendo would be releasing digital copy's of there games i was so excited. Animal Crossing was at the top of my list for ease of play and not having to worry about changing carts. But in one foul swoop they have completely crushed any excitement i once had with ridiculous pricing.Thanks NINTENDO, quick question our you gonna post me out the box and instructions as you expect me to pay more than the shop price.Nintendo you are gonna fail, at most a downloadable version of new super mario bros 2 is worth no more than 19.99.Well off to the shops i guess least if it sucks i can get my money back or trade it in

Ha, £40? Seriously? Then again I wasn't expecting much. When you can purchase the packaged game for around £30, in some cases a bit less, that price just sounds absurd. Reminds me of GAME's pricing; hope they sort this out by the time Wii U comes around.

£39.99..... I DON'T THINK SO!!!
That's far too expensive for a download. I'll be buying a hard copy. Once I've finished it and got bored of it I will trade it in and get maybe £20 back. I won't get that from a download.

Reminds me of the "it prints money animated gif" from a while back..... Updated for 3ds..
http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/3DS-It-Prints-Money-e1322590909603.gif.pagespeed.ce_.g6zAeLx-QB-600x372.gif

I've heard of digital prices staying after after TIME and when things go on sale, but being higher then physical copy AT launch.

That must be a first.
Nintendo, always trying to do things different, even if it's not at all better.

Dont download it go here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Super-Mario-Bros-Nintendo/dp/B00844RBVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344880510&sr=8-1

http://www.play.com/Games/DS/4-/32265458/0/New-Super-Mario-Bros-2/ListingDetails.html

http://www.zavvi.com/games-3ds/new-super-mario-bros-2/10605745.html

You know what else annoys me when the price drops to about £19.99 in the shops it will still be £39.99 to download. The prices of downloadable games never drop

Not saying digital distribution is bad, people are saying its priced wrong, it shouldnt be 33% more expensive than the retail boxed copy..

Found this article re purchasing digital download cards from retailers....

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/31190

I'm also sure that you've got no data or research to say just how much damage Nintendo would do to the Mario brand if it an official "core" Mario game to be perceived as "budget" priced.

Everytime he says this I think to myself: "You have no data to back yourself up either, lol." lol

Personally if I were in charge of the launch I would sell them at a discounted price from the eventual price for a limited time, probably match the retail box copy price. If you get people talking positive about it combined with them actually buying it, people may not think twice when you do sell at a higher price in future. The sales term is "Lost leaders", they could have had masses of positive publicity, from what I have read they are getting more people in the news comment on the high price...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

That's sad!!! This game should not cost freaking 40 bucks for a download. Its really worth about 25 bucks. Sorry but this game isn't really that great. I'm not impressed by it at all. Nintendo oughta put out Super Mario 3D Land 2 instead of make silly games like these.

This is just the retail price. Way too expensive for just a download.

@Hyperstar96 Keep calm now, this really isn't that big a deal. I'm all for digital downloads and think it's a great idea. For me, personally, alone, without prejudice or wanting to enforce that opinion on anyone else, the system isn't quite as secure as I would like it to be (again, my OPINION). If everyone else is happy to download to the system, more power to them.

Oh and I'm NEW here and I want alotta Friend Codes... Can somebody please explain how I send a message to someone requesting a Friend Code?

Wow... that's the most expensive 3ds game iv'e ever seen. Still getting it though.

@Medicham there isn't a pm system if that's what you mean, there is the 3DS fc thread though https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/online_gaming/3ds_friend_codes?start=12980

Oh dear. I've always preferred physical copies of games and this makes it a no brainer.

@Hyperstar96

Wow, the 3DS has an account system? You mean I can download my games to both my 3DS consoles for no extra charge?!?! Wow!!!

Oh wait, the 3DS doesn't have an account system, any more than the Wii did. They are all tied to the handheld they're downloaded on. Because when people talk about an account system, they don't mean restricted downloads to one machine with an extremely limited transfer system.

They mean, like almost everything with regards to digital downloads, we want what Steam offers, the ability to download every title you've bought to every compatible machine you own. No questions asked.

Lets not pretend that it is only Nintendo that charge these ridiculous prices, have you seen the prices for games on Xbox/PS? They are always around RRP if not more, this is nothing new. If the price puts you off then buy the retail version ,simple!If only people could channel their energies into something more worthwhile than arguing about this kinda c**p the world may be a better place Sigh

Ive pre-ordered this from Tesco's today, for £25.47 so stick it Nintendo for your Ridiculous pricing for most of your digital downloads here in the UK.

I pre-ordered it at GAME for £29.99 like 2 months ago, which I thought was a fair price. £39.99 is like the price at a GAME store! I went in the other day and kid icarus says: "Now only £34.99" and before it was £39.99, I thought digital downloads will force retailers to drive their prices down but obviously not. Glad I'm getting a physical copy.

YOu know what? Everyone's right. Nintendo should stop allowing retailers to carry their games and only sell at their price. That should solve the problem!

@19Robb92 @RupeeClock Yes, many 3DS games do, in fact, come with instruction manuals. Just looking at what's sittin' right beside me at the moment:
Cave Story 3D — 31 page booklet and a hologram case.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars — 18 page booklet
Nano Assault — 23 page booklet

I'd say they still come with 'em!

@Hyperstar96.

That doesn't even make any sense at all. Club Nintendo IS NOT AN ACCOUNT SYSTEM. You didn't even reply to ANY of my points in my posts. Yeah, it lets you keep track of stars (coins in america). That's it. Heck, it doesn't even do that for the 3DS in the UK. There hasn't been a single star awarded for digital 3ds games prior to this bonus for getting ripped off for buying one of the 3 3DS retail games at ridiculous prices on the eShop.

And well done for calling me out on "not doing research" when it was clearly beyond you to even read my 10 line post. Good job there.

"Oh wait, the 3DS doesn't have an account system, any more than the Wii did."

You see, here I say the 3DS doesn't have an account system, any more than the wii did. Know what else? The Wii supported club nintendo links between the console and club nintendo. If it isn't obvious to you by this point, THAT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. A list of games (at best) that I own is not an account system.

"They are all tied to the handheld they're downloaded on."

REiterated that a list of games isn't an account system...

"Because when people talk about an account system, they don't mean restricted downloads to one machine with an extremely limited transfer system."

Because obviously you consider a list of games tied to one system an "account". Whereas a large majority of the people who ask for an account system actually imply they want something with some functionality just like...

"They mean, like almost everything with regards to digital downloads, we want what Steam offers, the ability to download every title you've bought to every compatible machine you own. No questions asked."

Self explanatory.

Please, be an April's Fool... Please, be an April's Fool... Please, be an April's Fool... Please, be an April's Fool... Please, be an April's Fool... Please, be an April's Fool... Please, be an April's Fool...

I will be buying this game here in NA via retail physical copy only. I won't be buying anything via digital unless they are 80MB or less and cost $10 or less.

€50.88?! It's even more expensive then at retail (at retail it will cost 50 Euro's. At least in Holland)! You really must be out of your mind if you download it! Just get it at retail!

@Wheels2050

iOS/Android developers and the like making games just as complex as New Super Mario Bros U also have to make their money back and yet those games don't cost £40.

I'm pretty sure Nintendo would EASILY make back the few million pounds it probably spent making this game in no time if they sold the download copy for the price I'm suggesting.

I'm not trying to ruin the company or suggest ways for it to lose money. 1 million copies of this game sold digitally worldwide would give them between 5-15 million pounds on the digital versions alone and I think that's pretty reasonable to assume is likely to happen, if not a lot more than that...as long as they don't **** up the whole digital distribution model etc.

Oh Nintendo and your money getting ways

Yet they want to promote digital sales? This is a big turn off actually. I'm glad I'm sticking with physical anyways...(despite this not being the price where I live)

A Bit expensive,but a very good price! Do you know how much do they sell 3DS Games in my country? about.. £55!!we need to tell them to DISCOUNT THAT so they can make it a fair price!So be thankful -_-

NOTE: I live in Dubai so thats like 250AED

Reggie says your arguments are pointless >:3

For people worried about "losing" your Digital copies http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/nintendo-promises-unified-account-system-for-nintendo-3ds-wii-u/

What Nintendo should do is apologise for what they are about to do and throw you some coin rush DLC, and change the price, of course.

Just say NO to drugs.

I remember buying mortal kombat 2 on SNES for £65,, that was 20 years ago!

i love Nintendo and super Mario but i dont see me spending $40 for a downloadable game even if its super Mario ill just buy it at gamestop.

Free shipping in the UK? Pffft. Lucky barstewards.

I'm not against digital downloads, but I won't be downloading this game. Why? Because I want the gold box it comes in, the coin case pre-order bonus and it's not a game that needs to be on my 3DS 24/7. The price doesn't help it out much either but I could live with it. 3rd party games and games like Animal Crossing will get downloads from me though.

@dirtyplastic

You were done mate! I remember paying about that for streetfighter 2 but mortal kombat cost me £45/£50

I'm still torn. I wanted to get the digital copy because I think it would be great not to have to switch carts and I don't mind the money going directly to Nintendo... but I can get the boxed game new here in Aus for $54 at BigW or $55 at Target.
Does anybody know what the implications of buying this from the UK eStore from Aus will be? Does anybody know what the eStore bonus is for Australian customers?
If they price it at $69.95 (RRP) on the eStore in Aus then the digital incentive needs to be pretty good to make up for the extra $15-20 in cost, not to mention the loss of $20-$35 in trade value!!

Welcome to the future?

One thing that irritates me about this place is some of you could get mugged by a guy at gunpoint and then defend him because he was wearing a Nintendo shirt.

£39.99 is too much simply because we, the consumers right here, think that it is. If people think your product is too expensive then they'll seek alternative means, including piracy, which can only be bad in the long run. Saying they can't undercut the retailer is a ridiculous argument because they should lower the price all round to reflect this. For a start, the cost of developing a Mario platformer such as this is near microscopic compared to a similar priced console game such as a GTA title.

The fact is if you can't produce a product at a reasonable cost and sell it at a price that consumer is happy with then you're doomed to failure, no matter who you are and what your business is. You can continue to defend Nintendo for this price but, clearly, people don't want to pay it and that's the bottom line.

Personally I think most games, retail included, should be around £20. A lot of games companies are going out of business at the moment because of high development costs and few returns on sales. This is simply because there's so many games on the market and their high price means people can generally only afford one per month (plus the length of them means people generally don't have the time for more either). Lowering the prices all round will mean people will buy more - I've only bought two full price games this whole year simply because I can't justify the cost at the moment. It's all very well saying you need a high price to cover the cost of development but is it better to have sales at a lower cost or no sales at all?

Nintendo will be bankrupt by the end of the year. I cite Marketing and Economic Theory as my evidence. I will soon provide detailed footnotes supporting my argument.

If they were selling the digital download version at the same price as the retail copy then I can understand for the simple reason of not wanting to upset the brick and mortar stores. If they really intend on selling it at a higher price than retail then I find it highly unlikely that this strategy will be successful for Nintendo. I prefer owning a physical copy over digital and I'm sure that plenty of people also feel the same way. I enjoy building up my game collection and if I no longer want the game I still have the option of selling it to make some money back.

@madgear Thank you! That annoys me about this place too. I have a feeling it's mainly the younger members; but some people really need to take a step back and look at things from a less biased perspective.

£39.99 is way too much.
Another dumb decision by Nintendo (and no they're not the only ones making dumb decisions).

Maybe you should all read this article: http://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2012/08/new-super-mario-bros-2-in-defence-of.html

Don't go hating on me.. I'm just saying there are logical reasons for this decision and Nintendo didn't really have a choice.. (:

@Djrr-ific: I'm pretty sure we can all read through Waltz's opinion on the topic just fine via his posts to this article thread. Visiting his website will only be more of the same.

how much does the NA version cost?

@Hyperstar96

Well done on not responding to any of my points. THERE IS NO ACCOUNT SYSTEM for the 3DS. In the UK, the "club nintendo" account you have somehow imagined up doesn't even record games you've downloaded, let alone act as an account system.

And for the third time, since you don't understand what account system means.
It means that you, a consumer, are able to download your digital products to multiple machines (In this case, any 3DS/3DSXL consoles you own), ideally without limit (like steam!), without having to delete them off the first machine(like steam!) for no additional cost (like steam!). This system DOES NOT exist on any of Nintendos hardware currently.

Also: Making matters even worse, even the official nintendo TV ads say Game Around £35. Ugh.

@Linkstrikesback, @Hyperstar96: I'm tired of babysitting this article in order to edit the insults out of your comments towards one another. The next one of you who hauls off and lays into the other gets temp-banned. You have been warned.

That said, @Linkstrikesback: 39 pounds counts as 'around 35 pounds' IMO; so would 30 pounds. that said, you can still get the game at a cheaper price elsewhere, thus fulfilling the promise set by the ads. if you don't like the price from one store (the eShop), get it someplace else. problem solved.

Well, where I live, that is cheaper than the retail price (I'm guessing the retail price will be equal to about £50).

So has anyone actually downloaded new super mario bros 2 yet?? and paid that ridiculous price.
I would love to own it i just cant justify such a hefty price tag with no chance of a refund if i dont like it, no box or instructions, and no trade in when and if i decide im bored of it

August 14 I was in the Auchan hypermarket in Calais (France) where I already could buy NSMB2 off the shelf for € 34,99!
Why would any sane person download this game and pay € 15 more for the privilige? It's beyond me.

Same as retail in the US,

So that means we have the best prices.