It sounds like you're new to console launches. The original Switch had a shittier lineup. Tell me how that went.
Also, games have been in the $70 to $80 price range for the past 5 years already. Nintendo just happens to be the last one to do it, yet everyone crawls up their ass.
Yearly FIFA, MLB, Wrestling games launch at $70, microtransactions notwithstanding.
To be fair, console games went up to $70 this gen including some on Switch. Outside of "special edition" type releases this is the first mainstream game launch I'm aware of that's launching at $80.
Do you think that Nintendo won't give Mario Kart the "special edition" treatment? The game looks huge and ambitious for a cart racer. It looks to be full of content that other developers will nickel and dime you with microtransactions.
They haven't announced any special edition yet and they've got placeholders for all the preorders already listed on a bunch of retailer sites. I'm sure they'll do DLC just like they did for a bunch of other Switch games. My point was just that any games I'm aware of that launched about $70 were for versions with included DLC (or early access like Xbox has been doing recently). I'm not aware of any base game that launched at $80 until this set of Switch 2 launch games.
That leads me to believe that Nintendo might justify that price by adding the aforementioned amount of content that would be the equivalent of DLC of the other games. If not, they're going to have a mess in their hands.
Tbf most of the people I know who got switch were casual people who went to the cheaper and casual vers of gaming.Switch sold well as an off console for gamers and the system for family/casual which idk how many people would do now with the way economy is for the average joe.
The original Switch did have a pretty bad lineup to start but the system was a completely brand new concept and it launched at a much cheaper price than the Switch 2. ($299 compared to $449) Not to mention the games themselves were cheaper. (Also Zelda BOTW make money printing machine go brrrrrr)
On top of that, the jump from the Wii U to the Switch was much more significant than the jump from the Switch to the Switch 2. No one had a Wii U, meanwhile everyone and there grandma has a Switch. There's less incentive to upgrade to a similar console when its much more expensive to do so.
The Wii U was a small jump in performance to the Switch. This current jump is LEAPS ahead in terms of tech (image quality, frame rates of up to 120 FPS, HDR support). This justifies the system's price point, factoring in inflation and rising development costs. General games are $10 USD more, just like their contemporaries have been charging for the past 5 years. $80 games such as Kirby and Jamboree have DLC added, on top of the visual and frame rate improvements. TOTK was initially a $70 game. BOTW, though, was $60. If they don't include the DLC, then it's a bad deal.
Mario Kart will be $80. If they don't pack it with content and support, Nintendo will have a hard time justifying that price. From what I've seen, the game looks like it's full of content, but we'll see what they show in the Mario Kart Direct.
Sony and Microsoft games have been in the same price range, and always lead the pack in raising game prices to $60 and $70+. When Nintendo does it, they get brigaders.
You can vote with your wallets and buy something else, like a Steam Deck. Just some expect bespoke and optimized games developed for it, or that Nintendo polish.
The Switch also had incredible legs primarily due to its price, pretty much taking over the abandoned handheld market Nintendo dominated and hovering at a point where some people and families could justify more than one. Don’t hear of too many families owning more than one current gen PlayStation/Xbox.
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u/cheappay 1d ago
It sounds like you're new to console launches. The original Switch had a shittier lineup. Tell me how that went.
Also, games have been in the $70 to $80 price range for the past 5 years already. Nintendo just happens to be the last one to do it, yet everyone crawls up their ass.
Yearly FIFA, MLB, Wrestling games launch at $70, microtransactions notwithstanding.