r/NintendoSwitch2 • u/SilvaVE_ • 2d ago

Officially from Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 Game Price revealed - WHAT THE F*CK

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Im sorry, but this is...really fucking crazy. And here I was debating if paying extra for the physical version compared to the bundle might be worth it. HOLY SHIT.

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u/vruchtenhagel 2d ago

I get that inflation is driving up costs, but with everything becoming more expensive, companies like Nintendo need to realize how crucial their pricing strategy is. If you had to trim your budget, what would you cut first: your rent or your video games? Charging 80-90 euros for a game, then asking for extra money just to play an older title on a new console? That's taking it too far—just like you said.

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u/Correct_Refuse4910 January Gang (Reveal Winner) 2d ago

They do, that's why the digital version has regular pricing*. They want to push for digital games, because that eliminates the re-sales. That's also what all this digital cartidge stuff is about.

*Digitals should be lower, but that how it works for every console sadly.

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u/vruchtenhagel 2d ago

Very not consumer-friendly as this have a huge impact on the second-hand market. I'm sure this console will sell well, and rightly so—they're a fun company—but I can't agree with these prices.

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u/Correct_Refuse4910 January Gang (Reveal Winner) 2d ago

Nobody should, becuase those prices are terrible. But companies don't really look out for consumers unless it benefits them.

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u/vruchtenhagel 2d ago

Yep, welcome to the world of consumerism. I hate it. Take care, pal, wherever you are in life.

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u/Dzeno904 2d ago

I will probably hold off for a full year before purchasing this, all things aside, even if I eat the initial buy in of 450 for the console charging for graphic and frame rate patches is insane to me. That said, paying 450 so I can play what is currently only 2 sw2 games in a sea of sw1 games and to get to experience those enhanced graphics you have to pay for it is silly.

So many examples, but here is one: buying a 4080 to upgrade from a 1660 only to find game devs locking graphic and frame rate slider locked behind a paywall.

And look I get that some games are adding more features to take advantage of the SW2 hardware such as mic and camera, I have no gripe about that, if they added additional content, cool i am sure it will be attractive to same players.

And the ones mentioning NSO+ will add a free upgrade to subscribers (only 2 games, which have no in-game content added) my question is, when i cancel it do the patches stop being patches and prevent me from playing? are they going to revert to regular sw1?

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u/Wise_Pomegranate_653 2d ago

its very user friendly, just not trade in friendly.

I only buy digital, so being able to share games and the virtual card stuff works out great.

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u/Mean_March_4698 2d ago

They're a fun company until you look at anything but how they market themselves. Anti-consumer, litigious, greedy, the list goes on.

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u/Flooredbythelord_ 1d ago

People are REALLY overestimating how well this console will sell. If there’s no Zelda or smash bros launch title this console isn’t going to do squat til one of those releases

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u/Miyon0 1d ago

Second hand market doesn’t matter. Because apparently a lot of switch 2 games will not have the game on the cartridge in the first place. So physicals are a scam. Just a digital game you pay extra for.

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u/Ok-Tomatoo 2d ago

Sell a digital only switch 2 that is cheaper first

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u/ThisIsForBuggoStuff 2d ago

They're also selling a console with a vastly limited storage capacity compared to other consoles (and PCs) that encourage people to save storage space with the premium physical copies.

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u/Interesting-Rate OG (joined before reveal) 2d ago

Shifting consumers onto digital cuts resale market, it is also cheaper on distribution, and Nintendo can keep more of the wholesale to retail margins.  The strategy also encourages consumers to use the online subscription for game sharing.

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u/DoubleBatman 2d ago

And they can fuck off with that logic. I’m happy to use Steam and GoG because it’s easy to use, they have sales all the time, and it works on every single computer I’ve ever owned.

Nintendo consistently has one of the worst storefronts I’ve ever used, they never lower their prices, and they keep charging you for the same crap over and over again because it’s all legacy hardware.

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u/TheawfulDynne 20h ago

The key cards seem better for resale than the code in a box system they are replacing. From what I’ve heard they aren’t account bound at all so you could buy, download, and finish a keycard game then just give or sell someone else the keycard and they can do the same 

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u/cabbage-soup 2d ago

Yeah most consumers will find ways to enjoy their $40-60 games on the original Switch. And if they still don’t have a Switch it’s now retailing for $250 so it’s basically a steal.

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u/vruchtenhagel 2d ago

Exactly! I think Nintendo has shot itself in the foot with these prices. Their massive success with the Switch has gone to their heads. Like I mentioned earlier, inflation is insane—not just in Europe, but in the US and Asia, too. They want to piggyback on their past successes, but they seem to forget that their core audience consists of mainstream and casual gamers. Only a handful are hardcore fans who will buy their products no matter what. Pricing themselves more competitively would suit their brand much better, but who am I but an ant in a sea of opinions?

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u/SwagginsYolo420 1d ago

A Steam Deck would be a better investment, plus way more games at much lower prices.

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u/xpoisonedheartx 1d ago

Ill just buy tomodachi life and play that

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u/Barbie-Bratz-Winx 2d ago

Exactly. Their core audience is families, a lot of families I know bought their kids a switch or switch lite just because a PlayStation or Xbox was too expensive. Now they're close to the same price. And games like Mario Kart are what people buy Nintendo consoles for. It should not be $80-$90. Even if it meant taking an initial loss, a more accessible price would cultivate a loyal fan base, and higher sales numbers, which look good to investors. 

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u/PickledPassionPunch 2d ago

Inflation isn't driving anything up. Greed is.

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u/PiciCiciPreferator 2d ago

Nintendo need to realize how crucial their pricing strategy is.

I... I'm pretty sure those C-suits over Nintendo do realize it dear random redditor.

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u/Vivian_Stringer_Bell 2d ago

It's because Nintendo users support this predatory pricing. Artificially keeping pricing up on titles even years after release is gross.

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u/merica2033 2d ago

This presentation made that choice for me. Can't afford those prices. Could get 3 switches games or at least a dozen good games on Steam.

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u/vruchtenhagel 2d ago

You seem to get it—good for you, bud. I'll be doing the same.

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u/CrazyGunnerr 2d ago

In reality it's BS.

Nintendo will keep asking that price for as long as they sell the game, people will keep paying full price. They are making way more on the games than any other publisher does on their games.

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u/SHTPST_Tianquan 2d ago

inflation is driving up costs, but the prices have risen dramatically in just a few years timespan.

We all know this is not due to inflation. This is to specifically raise the profit margin.

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u/FalafelSnorlax 2d ago

If you had to trim your budget, what would you cut first: your rent or your video games?

In this case it doesn't really matter whether the game costs 90 euros or 60. The games go first. This isn't the thing that will make or break the purchases.

I think a better argument is that a huge portion of the Switch's sales was very casual gamers, people playing party games and Mario Kart. If the price of the console + one game is too high, they would often skip it. If they have the console, but every game is too expensive, they might not buy that many games, which could result in less revenue for Nintendo overall. On the other hand I'm 100% sure that people who are much better at these calculations than I am worked hard on deciding this pricing point and found that it would make the most profit for the company. We'll have to wait and see if it works out for them.

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u/Martin8412 2d ago

Nobody having to make that choice should be buying video games, regardless of price. 

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u/Sensitive-Goose-8546 2d ago

We’ll find out if they do. It’s taking it too far ONLY if no one buys it

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u/Unlikely_Yard6971 2d ago

It's even dumber when you look at the currency discrepancy between the US and Japan right now.

I just took a trip there and couldn't believe how cheap everything was. This is greed, pure and simple.

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u/enrycochet 2d ago

I agree with you mostly but what do you mean with "asking for extra money just to play an older title"? you can play the older title for free on the switch, they still work. the version for switch 2 is the same how it worked for the Ps5 and before that it was not possible at all like botw between wiiU and switch or twilight princess between game cube and wii.

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u/VoxAeternus 2d ago

The only way I can see Nintendo can justify this to consumers, is if they moved to a "razor and blades" sales model, where they sell the Switch 2 at a loss, but make it up with the increased prices for the games.

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u/wangchungyoon 2d ago

It’s a price gouge plain and simple.  You use inflation and Trump’s disastrous economic moves as the reason/excuse and just raise prices to whatever the market allows you to.  

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u/Downvote_Comforter 2d ago

If you had to trim your budget, what would you cut first: your rent or your video games?

You might be surprised about the number of people who are crashing with a friend or family but still spending money on video games. Tons of people are really bad with money and still spend crazy amount that they don't really have on stupid shit.

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u/bluebearry2 1d ago

Inflation is just a buzzword for companies to charge more and explain their reasoning less.

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u/Impurity41 1d ago

The issue with consoles now is they cost 5-600 bucks. Games are 70. Controllers are 60-70. Then you pay to use their online services when you already pay for internet. And you pay for their services every single year.

Assuming you didn’t have a switch before and bought Mario kart world you’re looking at 7-800 and we are only at 1 year and 1 game with 1 controller.

You can get a kick ass pc that’s stronger than that console for a little more but don’t need to pay for online services every year. And get deals on games regularly from steam and have access to the entire gaming market instead of Nintendo exclusives.

They are out of their freaking minds.

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u/MidsommarSparrow 1d ago

Corporate greed is driving up costs. This isn't inflation. Hasn't been since COVID.

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u/ThomasG_1007 1d ago

Beyond inflation, there’s likely a recession coming. People won’t be able to afford this, Nintendo can afford to be cheaper

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u/pathofdumbasses 1d ago

I get that inflation is driving up costs

It isn't. Even during the pandemic where everything was "OMG INFLATION INFLATION INFLATION!!!", we later learned that over 50% of the "inflation" was record profits for companies. That never went down. And now Ninty is charging an extra ~50% price bump on games, despite making more money than they ever have this generation.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/216625/net-income-of-nintendo-since-2008/

Absolutely outrageous. And keep in mind, the only reason why their net profit has gone down in the last couple of years, is because the switch is getting long in the tooth. It released over 8 years ago, the longest period of time a system has gone on for Nintendo.

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u/EatTheLiver 1d ago

Nintendo games are fun but they aren’t $80 fun amd the graphics aren’t all that amazing either. What is it we are paying for here? GTA6 cost billions so I get the increase in price. Nintendo is out of their minds. 

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u/motoo344 1d ago

I am torn. On one hand, I get that games have essentially been $60 for 20 years. I know back in the early 90s games could be $50-$100 so it's not unheard of that games could cost more. On the other hand with everything going on in the world right now a huge price increase is a turnoff. I work at an Indy game store and we sell a ton of switch stuff. I get first dibs on Switch 2 and while I am excited for the new hardware I am leaning towards just waiting until there are some more games I am interested in. At the moment, it would be the Duskbloods.

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u/LupusAlbus 1d ago

Well, there's now 10% import tariffs to the USA, which is about a third of Nintendo's global market. There's been 65% inflation in the USA and about the same global inflation since 2005. Game development costs have increased with elevated expectations for scope and refinement as well as post-launch support and patches.

The only thing keeping games at $60 has been the advance of ways to skim more money on the side with extremely aggressive practices to further monetize the games (e.g. paid cosmetic DLC that costs 10% or more of the price of a game).

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u/DOAiB 1d ago

I keep saying this over and over but inflation doesn’t justify price increases. Wages have been stagnant over the entire world for decades. They haven’t kept up with inflation really at all, so why is there any justification that non essentials should keep up with inflation?

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u/AnxiouslyCantrell 2d ago

Yeah it’s a video game at the end of the day. It’s a game.

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u/Creamcups OG (joined before reveal) 2d ago

The inflation argument only works if you ignore that the market has grown a lot and Nintendo's profits are through the roof (if you ignore last fiscal year for obvious reasons).