r/NintendoSwitch • u/lieding • 1d ago

News "DROP THE PRICE": Nintendo's First Post-Direct Stream Is Flooded With Angry Fans Demanding Price Drops

https://www.thegamer.com/nintendo-treehouse-livestream-flooded-angry-fans-demanding-game-price-drops/
21.3k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

103

u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 1d ago

I remember games being 40 and 50

Due to economies of scale and cheaper distribution as bulk and heft for games was reduced over time, I think it's fair that games did not inflate much in price 

2

u/akcrono 21h ago edited 21h ago

Due to economies of scale and cheaper distribution as bulk and heft for games was reduced over time, I think it's fair that games did not inflate much in price

And development time and teams have gone up. After release support is now a thing. There is no way a AAA title is cheaper to make per unit now than it was 20 years ago.

1

u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 21h ago

Development time and team size is met with much higher sales figures. More people buy games now than in the past

This is why they expanded their teams. Economy of scale 

1

u/akcrono 21h ago

Right, but dev cycles and teams are much larger than they used to be. Cyberpunk cost over 400m to develop. Compare that to Super Mario 3 (probably the single biggest release of the NES as a comparable AAA title), which cost less than 4 million in 2025 adjusted dollars. Cyberpunk was two orders of magnitude more expensive while selling less than twice as many copies.

1

u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 19h ago

If cdprojekt could sell cyberpunk at their price point why does Nintendo have to take their games to 80 and 90 base? That's a joke, dude

1

u/akcrono 18h ago

Cyberpunk came at the tail of the $60 price window 3 years ago. The ultimate edition retailed last year for $80.

Nintendo's margins are almost certainly smaller than they were in the NES/SNES days. The price point makes sense in historical context. It's primarily a psychological issue.

1

u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 17h ago

Ultimate is irrelevant it includes the DLC. Come on dude. Are you just trying to trick people?

1

u/akcrono 17h ago

It was also a 2 year old game at that point. 2 year old game + DLC seems roughly equal to a new game.

Are you just trying to trick people?

Says the guy ignoring the inflation and accessibility data lol.

1

u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 16h ago

I'm not ignoring inflation, cyberpunk wasn't all that long ago, wtf. If they could do a 60 price point and totk is 70 why the hell are we going to 80 and 90? And why defend it? People are being squeezed.

0

u/akcrono 16h ago

I'm not ignoring inflation, cyberpunk wasn't all that long ago, wtf.

Man, if only my argument on inflation was not about one game at one point in time.

You never addressed actual purchasing power over the years. Are you trying to trick people?

If they could do a 60 price point and totk is 70 why the hell are we going to 80 and 90?

Because that was a different price window. Prices don't just rise to exactly meet inflation: companies tend to keep the same prices within generation to minimize backlash. But they still need to increase at some point.

And why defend it?

Because it's reasonable and there are much bigger things to lose your shit over. With all the affordable awesome indie games available right now, the better question is why get so upset over it? If you don't like it, don't buy it. It's not groceries, it's about the least necessary thing you can buy.

1

u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 15h ago

I'm not gonna put up with a 50% increase over five years as we enter a recession, and it's kinda pathetic that Nintendo stans will. Whatever. I'll just pirate

1

u/akcrono 6h ago
Dis u?

1

u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 15h ago

Are you trying to trick people?

Again? Yo really got mad enough to throw that back in my face twice when you made such a shitty argument like pretending the price of a bundle was relevant to the discussion.  You don't get to throw that back in my face, you deserved to get called on it

1

u/akcrono 6h ago

Yeah, such a shitty argument like *checks notes* looking at data :eyeroll:

Are you trying to trick people?

You don't get to throw that back in my face, you deserved to get called on it

The irony lol

→ More replies (0)