Nintendo To Change Pricing For Digital & Physical Switch 2 Exclusives, Starting With Yoshi

I buy digital, so this is rewarding that decision and I'm more than okay with that.

this is gonna cause a lot of controversy goodness! personally i respect the decision and understand it, but it is a little sad seeing physical media being more tricky to buy.
also a good thing coming out of this: its better for the environment! i love plastic too, but its nice to see this digital encouragement even if the effect was un intended

As a primarily physical player, I have mixed feelings about how this might be a push to replace physical media. But honestly, anything to get the price of Mariokart World down is a win in my book.

Surprised this hasn't been the norm for a while but it's cool that it's finally going into effect. A digital game should realistically cost less.

I'm never going to buy a Nintendo game digital but I think this is great for everyone who does.

The right thing to do. I tip my hat.

Can they bring back the voucher program now? 2 for $100

Well, it does cost money to produce a physical product. Lower priced digital releases should have probably started back in the PS3/360/Wii generation.

surprisingly im seeing more people super cynical about this on bluesky than reddit. feels weird.

anyways, i'm leaning on the hopeful side, that maybe this means less games will cost 70 bucks by default and we get more 60/70 splits, rather than more 70/80 ones. starting this off with yoshi feels like it makes this harder to figure out, since i feel it was pretty likely they would've priced this game at 60 with the old pricing scheme anyways.

guess we'll just have to wait and see.

@jorel262 @VoodooTrumpet @jojobar @JR150 @wiiwouldliketoplay
Digital isn’t getting cheaper, physical is getting costlier.
At least the MSRP.

I still buy both physical and digital on a case by case basis.

Ideally I prefer physical because I like to have the option of trading in when I've finished with it (or if I simply don't like the game)

In the case of Mario kart world though I was more than happy to go with the cheaper digital version (I bought the bundle with the Switch 2) because I knew that I would get years and years of use out of it for the life of the console and beyond

That’s a major blow to retail sales, ouch…

Mildly pleasantly surprised Nintendo didn’t take the opportunity to just leave digital at the physical price and increase the physical price.

@wiiwouldliketoplay tbh, that is my initial feeling.

Fwiw, even as a digital buyer, I do think the option for physical is overall better.

@squiddu-real I actually agree since most of the native Switch 2 games go for $70 in the US. I don't think the split will be $70 digital and $80 physical because Yoshi was $60 on Switch 1, in line with most of the "big" first-party games.

@dskatter agreed, although $80 for Yoshi would have been a very very tough sell

Great options... but of course they are doing all they can to destroy physical format entirely in the next 5 years or so. Double edged sword for the consumers no doubt

@squiddu-real Yeah not sure but Mario Tennis Fever is $69.99 so idk hopefully its a $10 discount and the physical stays the same at whatever price they would have charged.

@PtM It makes sense. Production costs are going up. If anything, I'm just happy they're finally breaking with retailers and keeping the costs from rising for digital releases.

Considering the price of Yoshi in other territories (e.g. in the UK digital RRP is £50, physical RRP is £59), this is a price increase for physical rather than a digital discount. Probably safe to expect stuff like 3D Mario, 3D Zelda, Animal Crossing, Pokemon Gen 10, etc. to be $90 physical at this point.

Very grim for the future of physical.

I am almost exclusively physical when it comes to game buying, but this is the right move. It should have always been like this; digital doesn't require the manufacture of cartridges, so it should be a little cheaper.

@dskatter Yoshi is going to be 60€/70€ in the EU, in contrast to other N games being 70/80.

L O L

Digital should be (much) cheaper than physical. What they are saying here is that they will charge more for physical.

I don't really care since I can afford it and I'm glad I have the option to continue collecting physical games. When it's more handy or just makes sense, I do get digital games sometimes. And I sometimes double dip.

Saw the headline and immediately assumed physical price was going up and digital stayed the same, glad to see it was the other way around.

As a full-time digital buyer, wooooo

Can't wait for the next 3D Mario to be $80 digitally and $90 physically 🥴

I don't care that this is how Nintendo's operated in Europe and Japan for a while. When we're beginning to see physicals on Switch 2 in the $30-40 range because of the cheaper 16GB and 32GB cartridges, the fact that Nintendo's just inflating physical prices further leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, unless we're getting far more $60 digital games going forward.

This is a VERY good sign that Nintendo was hit right in the pocket. They likely noticed far fewer game sales than they projected due to the ridiculous price increase. I wonder if Mario Kart will be brought down to $70 now? They are still too proud to apologize and bring their games down to a much more realistic base price, but it's a start. Ideally, they would be launching their games at $50 like Microsoft is on PlayStation.

As it should have been all along. Though, the most cynical side of me can only imagine this is to incentivize buying digital so they can eventually justify ditching physical altogether since they undoubtedly make way more digitally without the logistics of physical getting in the way. I don’t believe for a second that this has anything to do with reflecting the costs involved with each distribution method.

Funny. Because in Europe it’s that way since the S2 launch i thought it’s in all regions … and i think in the us physical should be 20 more than than digital. Or are there import taxes on digital?

@PtM How so? I don't think there are any 1st party Switch 2 games that are $60.

@Grumblevolcano Oh shoot hahahaha you are 100% right. UK nintendo has Mario tennis fever at 58.99 pounds and this new yoshi for 49.99 so yep nintendo just raised the price on physical and kept the Yoshi game on digital the same as it was going to be.

@PtM
It's still a win because they aren't raising the price of digital games to match.

@LinktotheFuture Yoshi is 60€/70€ in a first.

@wiiwouldliketoplay I think rather than a push against physical Nintendo just wants to lower price however they can.

Digital doesn't require physical cost so it's always been possible to make digital cheaper. They're just actually doing it in the US.

Specific prices aside, this is what it should have been all along. I think it should be taken a step further and game key cards should be priced between digital and data-on-cartridge games.

@dskatter Nintendo'...Hold my beer.
Don't give em' any ideas

@PtM It most likely would have been 70 before this announcement anyway.

This was different in the US? Why though?

@ShadLink We have an inferiority complex. 🙂

As a physical buyer, I'm ok with this. Just get rid of key cards, not paying a cent for any.

As someone who's 100% digital due to laziness and convenience, this pleases my pocketbook.

@foursider agree !

Good news for digital buyers. I have always gone physical with Nintendo games and have always got them £10-£20 cheaper than digital. Using Mario Wonder (Switch1) for example as it's currently being talked about, I got my physical for £33 and had it delivered on release day. Despite the fact I benefited from this, it always seemed odd that digital should be so expensive.
I think long term with discounts on physical in shops, whether online or not, we may see a balance that actually means cheaper games across the board (unless Nintendo ups the trade cost so much that it's impossible to give a price the seller wants), which is great news.

@Grumblevolcano
How is this a price increase for physical? Other than Mario Kart World and some of the Switch 2 Editions, the Switch 2 original games have been $70. Yoshi is still that price physically, but digitally it will be $60

Proper physical copies pay for themselves in storage anyway, so the cost either way is ultimately about the same.

Here's just hoping that we get more actual physical releases on S2 going forward.

It should ALWAYS have been cheaper digitally, because they don’t have to pay to manufacture and distribute a physical item

Still buying physical 100% of the time it's available.

Very interesting to see this happen. If this price differential is so that way we can have games at a lower price while still having physical releases, I think I'm ok with it. Of course it could be a slippery slope with how the prices get pushed, but only time will tell. So for now, I think this is good to see.

I had already started buying more games digitally last year, but this will probably make me trend towards digital a lot more.

I'm kinda ok with taking the blow here, as someone who prefers physical games. but so help me Arceus if they're gonna do this they'd better keep Game Key Cards the same price everywhere.

Great news! As somebody who buys both digital and physical (depending on the game), this is at least slightly helpful for me. Moreover, it’s the way it always should have been.

I think this is fine. I am approx. 50% physical, but the physical media is presumably more expensive to produce and distribute. And why should digital pay for that.

This'll just help kill physical faster. 😢 It makes sense digital would be cheaper, but dammit I want physical games. 😭

Wtf? I’m in Europe and I’ve always gotten my Switch 2 first party physical games cheaper than the digital price… Right now, I just preordered the physical Yoshi for 57€…

@Grumblevolcano Right? I'm surprised with how many people seemingly think they are getting a discount on digital media from now on rather than being charged more for the physical.

I buy a lot of physical Nintendo exclusives. But this makes sense. Physical copies cost Nintendo more. They have to give a cut to the store (Amazon/Walmart/Gamestop/etc), the cost of the physical materials/shipping/supply/etc, and the loss of someone buying a used physical copy instead of a digital version. I’m just glad they lowered the price of digital and didn’t increase the cost of physical. Tbh with my current backlog growing and the how much publishers are hurting I’m ok paying a bit more for quality titles. I remember in the 80s a Nintendo game was often $50 new. So I’m still shock that with inflation and the cost of making games, they are only up to $70 new.

@Sindayl Yeah. That is because we do not have MRSPs. So someone usually sells it cheaper to draw the customers in.

You can most likely still find the game cheaper physically than you can buy it digitally. At least over here, I often find games for over 10 bucks less than the MSRP.

Either way, even if not, I'd still opt for physical, especially for this game. That box art looks TOO GOOD not to grab.

It sounds like it's more accurate to say they're lowering prices on digital releases, since Yoshi was probably always going to be $69.99. I won't be paying more than I thought I would for a physical copy of Yoshi.

The $10 is worth it to me. I've always known that my whole physical media deal costs me more money in the long run, because nearly every game goes on digital sale regularly.

Now if they start charging more for Game Keys, we have a whole different kettle of fish.

Don't care. If I can get a physical game that I'm interested in, especially complete on the cart, I will gladly pay a bit more. Though whenever I get DLC for a game, I usually get that game digitally because I dislike having my games in mixed format. Higher prices or not, physical forever 🔥!

@Strawblaze
Most Switch 2 exclusive games in America save MK World have been $70. How is the physcial price being raised when Yoshi is also $70 for physical while digital is $60?

So switch 3 digital only.

Welp, I’m glad I’m a digital guy for space and convenience reasons. Always will be. The thing is, are they making digital a cheaper option or will physical be more expensive? That needs clarified. Once again, we have to wait for more Nintendo S2 games to release to figure out what the standard will be. A Nintendo Direct can be a good place to start!

If the rest of the world has long had this variable pricing from Nintendo, I don’t understand how we got special treatment until now.

Well this was bound to happen in the US. But I'll still buy physical game and digital games on a case-by-case basis, based on the quality of the game or how fancy the box art is.

@Willo567 Other regions have been doing more expensive physical for Switch 2 only 1st party games since June, like with the UK the RRP was:

• £67 digital/£75 physical - MK World
• £59 digital/£67 physical - DK Bananza, Kirby Air Riders, Age of Imprisonment, Mario Tennis Fever, Pokopia
• £50 digital/£59 physical - Yoshi and the Mysterious Book

We can tell from this that Yoshi's pricing in the US is not because of a new norm for standard price but rather it's instead like how Emio was £40 in the Switch 1 era when the standard Switch 1 game price was £50.

70 dollar price for most switch2 games is way to expensive considering these are not games that cost 200 million or even 100 million to make..

Nice! Digital doesn’t get discounts as often as I like so this feels like it is being taken more seriously. Looks like Nintendo is becoming a little more digital forward. Now I just need the express cards to get some good sales.

@wiiwouldliketoplay people have been arguing for about a decade that digital game prices should be cheaper than physical

Excellent news. I went all digital during the 3DS era and haven’t looked back. Haven’t missed going to the store or the clutter one bit.

The real reason I switched is because I was professionally reviewing games back then and fewer and fewer physical games were making their way to me so… I went digital.

Now it’s saving me money! Another perk!

Must I be negative in every post? I was concerned this would happen. It makes some sense if they're planning to use those higher capacity cartridges they were rumored to be pursuing, but Nintendo, I only own two physical Switch 2 games! The cost is crazy! Do we get a booklet now? Physical bonuses? I bought Death Stranding 2 and the Collector's Edition separately, and I think it was worth it for the one time. But this division: collector's editions without the game; physical copies $10 more; Switch 2 Editions between $4.99 and $29.99; RAM costs raising the price of MicroSD Express cards and their availability.

Was there anything you wanted to do, Nintendo or anybody, that was actually pro-consumer?

I’m a 90% physical buyer and this is honestly fine with me. Physical games have resale value, especially Nintendo games. I know I can recoop 30-50% of the cost if I want to sell it on a marketplace, or keep them for decades, lend them to friends, etc.

@Grumblevolcano
£59 is about $80 while £50 is around $65. Again the physical copy of Yoshi in the U.S. is $70 while the digital is $60, so I'm not sure how this means the physical price is increasing

@Dev-N they're reducing digital prices to be less than physical game prices. They're not increasing physical game prices to be more than digital game prices

As it should have been from the start. I buy retail games physical outside of select scenarios (major discounts and/or a game I'd likely never sell, to name two), but this makes sense. Digital distribution isn't subject to manufacturing the plastic, inserts (though sparse these days, if any), and personnel required throughout the process. Besides, physical costs can be recouped through selling and trade-ins.

@sixrings no, the switch 3 won't be digital only. Gamers have been criticising the fact that digital game prices haven't been lower despite obvious cost savings from distribution. This criticism has been happening for a decade at least and definitely was quite loud during the Wii U era. @zeeba Don't know how some are suddenly treating this announcement as a possible bad thing

Outside the realms of the eshop and Nintendo store, competition exists and most Retailers sell at less than RRP for physical so it may all be equal in the end.

Its true of Sony and Xbox as well.

Finally, there's some sense in this, that we who buy digital don't have to subsidize people who buy physical media. I'm cool with people wanting to buy physical media, but I shouldn't have to subsidize it.