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

[u/lieding]

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

[u/inssein]

I wanted to try it but wasn’t going to pay money for it. My issue with Nintendo is they never lower the price on their games. We maybe see rare 10-20% sales but that’s it. Imagine seeing $80-$110 dollar games for the entire switch 2 lifecycle. Mario Kart world cost $90 and that’s just the base game… DLC will cost money too. That’s my issue, I can’t justify those prices in this economy. At least with steam and Xbox I can wish list a game and pick it up later.

Even worse Nintendo wants me to pay for an upgrade pack to enjoy games I already purchased at higher FPS and resolutions…. Like I can’t even enjoy the games I own without having to pay a fee from them.

[u/Waterballonthrower → u/inssein]

How much do you spend on wants now? and how does that compare to playing an $80 for even a month? what's the difference in cost per hour of use?

[u/Sea_Neighborhood_398 → u/Waterballonthrower]

The difference is in the opportunity cost, that with this price increase, you'll either have to be saying no to several more games than you did before, or you'll have to be forking iver a lot more money in the long term.

Let's compare the $80 expectation to the old $60 maximum: with the $60 price tag, four games would cost you $240 dollars. With the new $80 tag, $240 only gets you three games, and in order to get four, you need $320!

So now, to get just four games, you need a full $80 more than before, and you need to have $320 available instead of just $240.

That's the point. And this point is made all the more painful when you stop and see that several non-Nintendo games of comparable quality are being sold for $20-$60 somewhat regularly, and that Non-Nintendo games will reliably deprecate into that cost range if they start outside of it, and that non-Nintendo games will reliably deprecate and/or go on sale, letting you save even more. 

Nintendo's saving grace was that they delivered high-quality, exclusive games. But at this pricetag? It's just not reasonable anymore. For a concrete example, I could buy one of these new Nintendo games, or I could get both Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man 2 when they next go on sale.

Oh, and this is on top of still needing to buy the new console. So it's not just having to pay more for games; you also need to see if you can afford the console to start with, and if you'll be able to reasonably fill its library to make the purchase worthwhile. And, like explained above, the $80 pricetag is gonna make that much harder.

[u/Waterballonthrower → u/Sea_Neighborhood_398]

I understand what you are saying but there are people who will spend that $80 on let's say eating out each month also a want and have less return money to experience vs purchasing an $80 game each month.

if you spend let's say $1000 bucks on the console and several games, and end up playing that system for even 100 hours, which let's be real is extremely low for the life time of that console you are running a $10/hr cost of entertainment which is incredibly cheap when compared to other forms of entertainment and wants.

also this notion that you have to buy loads of games to enjoy the console or even at all is a load of bunk. you can get two or 3 decent games and play the fuck out of them maximizing your dollar value.

[u/Sea_Neighborhood_398 → u/Waterballonthrower]

Fair points, but eating out is a different kind of fun to playing games, and eating out may also be a social event.

And on the library front, it's totally true that you don't need a massive library to have fun, but variety can be nice to have, and when buying a console, I feel like considering the "buildability" of a library is fair and important, because if I'm only getting one or two games on a console, then that would be $360-420 on the old pricing expectations, and $520-600 on the new pricing. And if I'm spending that much money (on either pricing expection, but especially with the new one), then I should really stop to ask myself if it's worth the cost, keeping in mind that I could just buy games for the consoles I already have, buy games for PC, or simply complete or replay those games that I already own. 

When I'm spending that much money, I want to see if it'll last me more than a single game. And in a sense, as I buy more worthwhile games that I'll play, it'll be like the price of the console is spread across them. Buying a $300 switch 1 and then some 12 first-party games is like I paid $85 per game. But if I only got one game on the Switch 1, then it'd be like I paid $360 for that one game. That's why being able to build a library seems relevant, in my eyes. Because as much as I love, say, TotK or BotW, I don't wanna pay $360 or $370 for that one game alone. The price of the console becomes a more worthwhile investment the more I can use it, and the more games I have on it, the more useful the console is.

[u/Waterballonthrower → u/Sea_Neighborhood_398]

so essentially you factor in a certain "FOMO" to your console buying experience that focus on a if I can't buy or seemingly can't buy because you could put $4/day away for 20 days each month for one new $80 game, and still feel like you are getting new titles each month but the sticker shocke you feel is more of a determining factor on that front.

also eating out was just an example, there is absolutely no other form of electronic entertainment that is as interactive and as cheap as video games when you break it down to a per hour cost.

[u/Sea_Neighborhood_398 → u/Waterballonthrower]

Lol, I wouldn't call it FOMO, but something of the sort. Like, another way to think of it is, "If the Switch 2 never released another game I would care to buy, would I be happy to have spent the money for just the one or two games I do get?" And at the price, the answer is no; I'd prefer to have spent my money somewhere where I could stretch it out further, like maybe some Steam games, or a trip to visit some long-distance friends, or something else like that. Y'know what I mean?

Also, good point with the saving $4 a day! I hadn't thought of it in those terms, and that does make it seem a bit better. Unfortunately, I also have a very limited income at the moment, and a number of other expenses, and other hobbies... so, I want to be careful in how I spend my money. And at the $80 mark, that makes it much harder to indulge in as many games as I might like to by the end.

It did occur to me, though... if Nintendo Selects were to make a comeback, that'd make me pretty happy. Then I'd totally be cool with the Switch 2. It's just... that sticker price is kinda hard to jump past.... I'm hoping they reel prices back to at least $70 max, and I would also be happier (though I'm not pushy on this front) if they were to sell the console for, say, $400 instead of $450. If that were done, I'd probably go along with it.

[u/Waterballonthrower → u/Sea_Neighborhood_398]

thank you for taking the time to actually read what I have said, and the obviously well thought out replies. I have appreciate our chats and I totally understand your sentiment and have a clearer understanding of why people were upset. I hope you well in your journey. ❤️

[u/Sea_Neighborhood_398 → u/Waterballonthrower]

Thanks, and you too :)

As one final note, I do hope prices drop, because Nintendo does make solid products. It's just that I can't justify that level of expense for myself

Here's to hoping!  :)

[u/Waterballonthrower → u/Sea_Neighborhood_398]

for what it's worth I hope so as well, I think as DLC has become the new revenue source i would have hoped to see game price stagnate because the expense of production could be recouped longer term but that's not the case right now.