Nintendo Announces Big Change to Switch 2 Game Prices

Nintendo has announced that it’s making a huge change to prices for Switch 2 games, but it’s not necessarily a bad one. Upon the launch of the Switch 2 this past year, Nintendo drew some criticism for its steep cost of Mario Kart World, which arrived at a retail price of $80. While this price hasn’t been seen for any other Switch 2 games since, Nintendo has now provided more context for how it will look to price its games moving forward.

In a post on the Nintendo website today, the longtime gaming publisher said that it will soon begin differentiating the cost of its physical and digital games. This move, which will go into effect in May, will see Yoshi and the Mysterious Book as the first game impacted by this shift. The new Yoshi title will sell for $60 digitally on the Nintendo eShop, while physical versions of the game will go for $70.

“Nintendo games offer the same experiences whether in packaged or digital format, and this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format and offers players more choice in how they can buy and play Nintendo games,” the company said of the decision. “As always, retail partners set their own prices for physical and digital games, and pricing for each title may vary.”

This Is a Surprisingly Good Move by Nintendo

While those who might buy all of their Switch 2 games physically might feel slighted by this change, it’s actually quite a good one by Nintendo. Moving forward, essentially all Nintendo games were going to start to retail for $70 no matter what. Instead, Nintendo has made it so that there is at least a path to a lower cost for those who don’t mind getting games in a digital capacity. This is something that more publishers around the globe should be doing themselves, since so much of the cost tied to video games is related to the manufacturing and shipping process.

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Given that Game Key Cards also continue to be prominent on Switch 2, there’s more reason than ever to purchase some games digitally rather than physically on the hardware. While this change might be a surprising one to come from Nintendo, given its history with keeping game costs up, this move is hopefully one that will sway other companies to follow suit in the years to come.

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