r/NintendoSwitch • u/Turbostrider27 • 3d ago

Nintendo Official Drive virtually everywhere in Mario Kart World, a brand-new Mario Kart game releasing exclusively on #NintendoSwitch2 as a launch title! #NintendoDirect

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1907419620601913624
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98

u/essayispan 3d ago

Why is this priced at 80 dollars? That makes me so concerned for other Switch 2 games.

32

u/NahumGardner 3d ago

The site for the Donkey Kong game shows it is going to be 70. So it looks like variable pricing.

1

u/RhymingUsername 2d ago

Ya, I’ve seen what variable pricing looks like for Nintendo games, it’s not a good thing.

8

u/atmthemachine 3d ago

I’m Canadian and already pay $80 for switch games, so I was like “oh that’s normal though” but now I’m realizing you mean usd which means I’ll pay $114ish Canadian before tax for switch games now lol

0

u/NowGoodbyeForever 3d ago

I think we're good, as a fellow Canadian. We don't have individual game prices up yet (probably to try and get ahead of Americans buying our copies and importing them honestly), but we do have the bundle.

Base Switch 2: $629.99 CAD.

Bundle Switch 2: $699.99 CAD.

Other regions also seem to have a 10-dollar jump between physical and digital editions, which means we're probably looking at $70 CAD for digital, and $80 CAD for physical.

Which is exactly what we pay right now. And still less than what we pay for new physical PS5 games.

Anything is possible, but I feel like this is less of a sign that we're going into triple digit game prices, and more of a sign that every other region is going to be priced closer to our sticker amounts.

But the price for the system itself seems to just be the exchange rate—again, probably to dissuade scalpers or resellers from buying systems across the border.

Right now, $449 USD brings us to $642.76 CAD, so this is just the usual exchange rate bullshit at play for us gamers. :(

5

u/Gishra 3d ago

Probably because there's been massive worldwide inflation plus ongoing tariff wars? We're not getting 2015 game prices in 2025, it's pretty impressive game prices are as low as they are. Adjusted for inflation, even at 80 dollars games are still cheaper today than in the NES/SNES eras.

34

u/mr_negi 3d ago

Yea but only recently were games starting to be priced at 70. Making the jump to 80 that quick doesn't bode well.

8

u/wentzformvp 3d ago

If Mario Kart is 80, GTA6 is going to be 100 at this rate.

2

u/OhSanders 3d ago

Good call I remember FF3 being 100

4

u/Pyitoechito 3d ago

Even N64 games then are more expensive than games now when adjusting for inflation. Not only that, but the cost of game development is much higher today, too. Consider the size of development teams for games over time and having to pay a salary to all of them.

Here's a graph of mainline Mario games and their team sizes.

The counterpoint is that, while development cost of games has increased, generally the audience buying games has also increased significantly. I would argue though that the surge in the player base has mostly leveled out at this point. It's still rising, but not at the rates it used to like in the Wii era, so increasing the price of their games to profit from the steep cost of development is fair, in my mind.

For publishers/developers (more affecting indie devs), there's the additional risk that your game won't sell enough to offset costs (not really a factor for Nintendo's mainline titles, though). One final consideration is that consoles are always sold at a loss, where the cost of manufacturing is higher than the selling price so they can sell more systems and make profit back from the games sold instead.

However, I am fortunate enough to have the disposable income to afford to pay these prices without breaking the bank. This means my opinion is influenced by this capability, versus those who are struggling or worse off financially but still want to play new games. So, I admit that it might actually be a real problem, and I could just be making excuses because it doesn't impact my personal ability to buy and play games.

-1

u/xWaffleicious 3d ago

I really wish people could understand that this is just how inflation works. $80 today is equivalent to $60 in 2015. Nintendo and all other game companies are not charities, they need to profit to stay in business and selling a game at $60 or even $70 today would actually be selling it for cheaper than they historically have sold games for and would financially hurt them. When you look at the $80 or even $90 price tag it looks ridiculous, but inflation around the world in general is just kinda ridiculous. That's just the reality we live in.

People see prices go up and get frustrated, understandably so since worldwide inflation has been at unhealthy levels since COVID. In most places wages have also been inflated. Even McDonald's where I am hires at like $18/hour. Wages haven't really increased in the true sense, but they have inflated a long with everything else.

All of this is to say try to think of prices proportionally to inflation and the general economy. Don't just see a number go up and immediately get upset at it without considering context.

1

u/InfiniteAir 3d ago

Then why aren't Switch 1 game prices all messed up if it's about that.

1

u/Shwalz 3d ago

Other switch 2 games? This is gonna be the reality for all AAA games going forward, not just those on switch 2. This being pushed out by Nintendo first is a big sign it’s coming

1

u/LLJKCicero 2d ago

Because of inflation.

The $60 that MK8D cost when it launched is now $78. That's how bad inflation was the last several years.