Since the Nintendo Switch 2’s official unveiling in early April, discussions about the consoles new features and games have been overshadowed by one topic – the prices.
The console itself will cost $450, significantly more than the original Switch’s $300.
On top of this, Mario Kart World, the console’s flagship launch title, will release for $80, a jump up from the $60 price point consumers are used to.
Yet, for as shocking as this move is to fans, it is not entirely out of character for the company.
Nintendo’s history is littered with pricing controversies, and business practices that showcase a clear philosophy towards their consumers, if you know where to look.
The $60 Standard
Nintendo’s game pricing used to be simple, and standard. A home console game was $60. A handheld console game was $40.
Barring the occasional deviation, or the Nintendo Selects program (a discount program that ended before the Switch era, without a comparable replacement), that was their pricing method.
However, with the Nintendo Switch inheriting the role of both portable and home console, things got a little awkward for consumers.
Now, every game was priced at the $60 standard, regardless of if they would have wound up on a home console or a portable console in Nintendo’s past.
Remakes or remasters of old games, as well as lower-budget projects, were all set at the same price point as Nintendo’s shiny new AAA offerings – something that was hard to ignore, even for those who bought and enjoyed these “smaller” games.
This problem was only further compounded by what fans coined as the “Nintendo Tax,” or, Nintendo’s seeming refusal to put their games on sale, even years after the game has peaked in popularity.
However, fans who were clamoring for Nintendo to base the prices of their games on the development effort that went into each of them individually would soon get their wish granted, just not in the way they hoped.
Tears of the Kingdom, and “variable pricing”
When The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo’s follow up to the immensely successful Breath of the Wild went up for pre-order in February of 2023, fans were shocked to discover its 70$ price.
According to official statements by Nintendo, this $70 price tag would not become the new standard for their games, but was rather a unique determination based on the amount of resources and time that went into making the game.
Now, with the Nintendo Switch 2’s price hike on games, Nintendo appears to be adopting a similar stance, which a business practice they are calling “variable pricing.”
Defined by Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser during an interview with Washington Post: “What you see right there is variable pricing […] We’ll look at each game, really look at the development that’s gone into the game… and there’s many more [factors] that go into consideration of what is the right price point for the game.”
So, according to Bowser, games like MarioKart World are the exception, not the new norm for prices.
While this does leave the door open for this “variable pricing” to swing both ways, with smaller games costing less than standard, Nintendo’s reluctance to sell their games for under $60 in the past has left fans skeptical about the probability of lower budgets leading to lower prices.
Regardless, Nintendo has stepped into a new era with this philosophy, and many fans are worried about the precedent set by these prices.
Nintendo’s Message
Nintendo has always been a company that plays by its own rules. If you want to play their games , you are going to have to play on their consoles, and with their prices.
More than just a business strategy, Nintendo’s prices are a form of branding.
As former Nintendo PR manager Kit Ellis explained in a YouTube video after leaving the company “It’s a Nintendo tax […] A lot of those other games that are $60 are junk. They don’t have the level of Nintendo Quality or polish or attention, so we need to distinguish how premium this thing is through the pricing”
This “Nintendo Tax” is the company’s way of communicating to the consumer that they value each and every one of their games, and this value is reflected in their high price point.
It is not like this philosophy is new, either.
Just look at Shigeru Miamoto , and his initial resistance to packaging Wii Sports with the Wii all the way back in 2006: “[You don’t] understand the challenges of creating software that people love to play… we do not give away our software.”
It takes a lot for Nintendo to waver from this core philosophy, but that is not to say it has never happened before. Wii Sports did, after all, wind up as a pack-in title for the Wii, and many attribute the console’s success in large part to that decision.
In fact, there is one story in particular from the company’s past that draws many parallels to this recent controversy, and could provide insight into what it would take for Nintendo to change their mind about these new prices.
The launch of the 3DS
After the smash hit success of the DS, a successor was all but inevitable, despite Nintendo’s spotty history with sequel consoles.
With an original price point of $250, the highest of any Nintendo handheld console up to that point, the 3DS failed to sell the numbers the company was hoping for, reportedly selling under a million units in its first few months.
So, in response, Nintendo did the “unusual,” and cut the console’s price from $250 to $170 – a 32% cut.
While this cut drove sales it resulted in an awkward PR situation – Nintendo ultimately gave a whopping 20 free legacy games to those that bought the console at its original price, to keep them from feeling scammed for adopting early.
Needless to say, Nintendo would not want another situation like that on their hands.
Yet, just over 14 years later, could history be repeating itself?
What comes next?
It is true that the 3DS became a handheld staple once its price was cut. It is true that the pack-in title of Wii Sports helped the Wii become one of the most popular consoles in the world. It is true that $450 may be too much for many fans – Doug Bowser himself admits it.
But does it matter to Nintendo?
When the Nintendo Switch 2 went up for presale on April 24th, it sold out nearly instantly.
It seems many fans might just be buying into Nintendo’s premium ideology.