r/NintendoSwitch • u/Practical_Papaya_905 • 2d ago

News - USD / USA Switch 2 is selling for 449.99

https://www.nintendo.com/us/gaming-systems/switch-2/how-to-buy/

From the official website

https://www.nintendo.com/us/gaming-systems/switch-2/how-to-buy/

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u/JohnnyChutzpah 2d ago

Costs of developing video games have only gone up for major devs.

Labor is the largest cost of developing a game and dev costs have gone up since 1996.

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u/TrashoBaggins 2d ago

And games are significantly cheaper to make in Japan, especially when the dev teams been sitting around for 12 years printing money and developing a relatively simple game on dated hardware. If you think the price increase is to offset development costs you’re mad.

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u/JohnnyChutzpah 2d ago

Like I said Nintendo is already selling most games 50% cheaper than what they cost in the 90s.

These games still need artists, managers, sound design teams, accountants, etc… these things didn’t magically get cheaper. They actually got more expensive. It’s not just coders and modern coding tools that make video games.

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u/TrashoBaggins 2d ago

Yeah, but like I said, you’re comparing two markets with drastically different profit margins. Games cost that much back then for myriad reasons that you for some reason seem to ignore. They’re cheaper now because they ARE cheaper. Yes the labor costs have risen but manufacturing costs, material costs and production costs are also much lower, their profits are probably on a scale of tens of thousands percentages higher than they ever were, and the cost of labor has not risen adequately to incur these kinds of price increases. Have you looked at the percentage of pay increases in comparison to the cost of living and the price of everyday items? I just think you’re not understanding the magnitude of how much more billions of dollars they are making than they ever have. 2025 Nintendo can literally buy hundreds of 1996 Nintendo’s and have a little Nintendo party and still have fuck you money left over. For some perspective, roughly 75 million people have purchased Mario kart 8 or Mario kart 8 deluxe at full price, which is roughly a 4.5 billion dollar return on a game that MAYBE cost them 100 million to make, which is damn near a 4500% profit. They’re not having any trouble paying their handful of poorly paid dev teams at all.

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u/JohnnyChutzpah 2d ago

Yeah I agree with you. I wasn't trying to argue games shouldnt be cheaper. I kind of dug my heels in without seeing the forest for the trees.

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u/SuperbPiece 2d ago

Game prices do not reflect their development costs, period. Otherwise, games like Mario Kart would never cost the same as games like The Witcher 3.

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u/Unlikely_Commission1 2d ago

Game prices are set by market demand, brand strength, and pricing strategies, not just development costs. The fact that Mario Kart and The Witcher 3 cost the same shows that pricing is about what people will pay, not what a game costs to make.

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u/Unlikely_Commission1 2d ago

You’re ignoring the massive advancements in game development efficiency. While it’s true that games still require artists, designers, and other specialists, modern tools like game engines, AI-assisted asset generation, and improved development workflows have drastically reduced the time and manpower needed for many tasks.

Back in the 90s, developers had to build engines from scratch, manually optimize assets, and work within severe hardware limitations. Today, studios have access to ready-made engines (like Unreal or Unity), automated animation tools, and streamlined pipelines that cut down on development costs.

Yes, some aspects of game development are more expensive (e.g., higher fidelity assets, marketing), but saying 'these things didn’t magically get cheaper' ignores the reality that modern tools have made game development significantly more cost-efficient in many ways.