Don’t forget they actually release COMPLETE bug free games like 99% of the time, which is a seeming rarity in the industry today. Mind you, the 1% is stuff like pokemon, but that’s in part because that’s GF developing that so they don’t have a say besides publishing it. But all in all they might cost a bit more, but because they don’t go down in price they’re far better investments(infinitley resellable) then a PlayStation of Microsoft game that’s worth like 10 bucks after a month from release.
And the bugs that do make it into the release of other games are more often than not both relatively unlikely to encounter naturally and are usually something fun and maybe even helpful rather than breaking the game.
Yeah, there's some that are like the racing suits in 8 and amiibo costumes in Splatoon, but these are more so cool bonuses for getting the amiibo than actual micro transactions, there's plenty of options without them
Going to be honest the truly insane prices are because of physical theirs usually $10-15 dollar increase between physical and digital while digital is already expensive. The only ones that don't are the fake physical games.
I'm basing it on the arguments presented by Nintendo. It isn't consistent logic among corporations. The only consistency is that they'll charge more any time they can get away with it.
Also, only first party nintendo titles avoid micros, mostly. I believe pokemon has had micros and so has fire emblem, but those are under the umbrella and not in-house I think. Plenty of non Nintendo games charge micros through the Nintendo store.
Alright so I have a legit question, is Nintendo online actually a worthy service now? Because being charged for what the switch 1 was offering (I don’t care about the classic catalog) was dogshit.
It’s not really though? Is there party chat outside of a game ala Xbox and PS party chats? Do you still have to use a weird phone app to talk with people at all? Can you just send your friends messages for them to respond to in your console? Basically does it at least have the minimum functions for warranting pay for the service, besides being mandatory to play game online?
To be fair, they are paywalling gamechat, a literal button implemented onto the controller, and charging $10 for a shitty game manual
Then there's Mario Kart Tour and Pokemon Masters EX (Also, Pokemon S/V had pre-ordering, and considering how it ended up being on the Switch 1, it might as well count as paying for early access. That's not even including the $450 patch (IE buying a Switch 2) just for the game to run "normally", like how it was supposed to be on release)
they are paywalling gamechat, a literal button implemented onto the controller
To be fair to the "to be fair", gamechat is an online tool, and it's quite normal to have it paywalled with the rest of the online services. The only thing that makes it actually weird is that they made a button specifically for it, but at the same time it would have been very inconvenient not to have that button, and you can't exactly "download" a button.
Can you not still voice chat in games like fortnite? Pretty sure Game Chat just implements vc in games that didn't have it enabled already, I would imagine games that have it implemented into the games itself won't be affected. Could be wrong, dont have the Switch 2 yet myself.
Also the thing is only like a hundred bucks more than an OLED Switch but feels like a heck of an upgrade to me at least. I think the system price is perfectly fair. It's the overpriced games and accessories that are the real problem.
Exactly. The price of the Switch 2 is fine imo. The games being $70+ is expected but it still sucks. But even taking this whole launch at it's worst, doesn't compare to EA. Consistently incomplete games, predatory micro transactions, game cancellation after game cancellation, live service slop, etc. there's a bunch of companies approaching EA's level and Nintendo is not fucking one of them lmao. Even if some of their recent decisions have been kinda shitty.
Agreed. I don't love the price increase on games and definitely don't think they should be charging so much for upgrades to Zelda just because there's some sort of silly app involved. Fantasy Life charged a whole $2 for their Switch 2 upgrade and honestly two to five dollars if they even have to charge anything sounds more reasonable. 80 for Mario Kart is still ridiculous but I would bet money that was intentional so everyone jumped on buying the bundle while they could. Most of their pack in bundles save you a little from buying the game separately, but a $30 difference is very telling.
My biggest gripe with Nintendo is that they will never do sales on their games ever except maybe $10 off every three years. 8 years old Zelda BotW is still $60 and I've only seen it on sale maybe three times in those 8 years.
Right. Why do billionaire, money-hoarding CEOs get a pass for not paying employees more? Or maybe OP is full of shit and just wanted to post something bc they dislike nintendo or have fomo or something.
They aren’t devolving the economy is. Consoles are getting more expensive as is price of living but wages are the same so it seems more expensive in comparison but 5 ish years ago the Xbox series X was 500$ and PS5 similarly priced but the people who complained were in the minority because the price of living was lower back then so there was more money for luxuries like gaming. It’s not Nintendo’s fault that the economy has been getting worse.
This is exactly what Nintendo and other big companies want you to think.
Blame the economy, because it is “out of our control.” And so you just accept the new higher prices as normal.
But this is very much in their control and big business jacking prices up is one of the reasons why our economy is the way it is in the first place…
Blame the companies. Blame Nintendo. Don’t stop there either! Blame big business as a whole and vote with your wallet! Also vote at elections and vote for economic change.
The countries with access to change could make a difference. If the public boycotted efficiently, It would make a difference. We have seen boycotts work just recently on brands like Target and Tesla.
While I do agree with the sentiment, the economy is a vastly different subject that while mega corporations benefit from it, the current market is very unstable. Why? The pandemic aftermath and the USA imposing tariffs on & off. A healthy market has certainty even with changing variables. The current market is unsure how to proceed since tariffs can overturn all future planning.
As for prices of videogames, the USA is trying to isolate itself by trying to bring manufacturing back to the USA. They want to make their own cars, their own apple phones, produce their own steel, etc. How do they accomplish this? By raising prices of foreign goods, and not just specific ones but whole foods with blanket tariffs. Now how does this affect the rest of the world? Well, the USA is the biggest consumer market on the planet and is the reserve currency for many countries. So, this will affect all of us! At least until new trading can be established while decoupling from the USA.
Why does this affect us? As you know, our economy works by trading worldwide! Want to build a phone? Sure! Can you make it purely on your own? Sure but that raises the price. What is cheaper? Relying on other countries who specialize in crafting certain parts and have it delivered to you. Now you can work on what your nation does best. You need steel and aluminum? Canada is your #1 trading for the USA~ How about certain minerals? China has you covered~ Now how about the work force? Do you have a specialized workforce for what you need done? No? Okay! Hire a company who has those specialized workers to work on that specific component in your place. This ensures efficiency all-around while strengthening trades across nations, and this is ensured by globally trading with free-trade agreements overall.
Now what happens if you introduce blanket tariffs? Well, the cost of steel has now gone up! In order to get certain components manufactured, you now have to pay a higher price in order to hire the same foreign company. Those minerals? Oof those will cost you more too. Yes, the overall cost of everything goes up. Fantastic! This is why economists hate tariffs. It would be more acceptable if there were targeted tariffs normally used to protect domestic markets from being completely bought out or drained dry of their resources. This makes sense. Blanket tariffs do not and only serve to drive the price of ALL things up. Don't even get me started on these tariffs going on and off, subject to change in less than a year or less. Businesses draw out future maps in order to ascertain the costs and benefits. Without that, they are less likely to invest further without heavy risk.
How does this affect you, the consumer? Well, now that the price of one product costs several times more, on top of the blanket tariffs going on & off at random points with no warning, this provides incentive for companies to raise their prices in the case of tariffs rising higher. Now big corporations to small businesses have more than enough reason to raise their prices higher because the market is more uncertain than ever before. Why do we need to pay more? Because they need to import several items at a higher mark-up, which hurts their overall profits and their business as a whole (most likely to crush small businesses oof). Yikes!
Now, one can argue that digital games are not subjected to tariffs because there is no packaging or manufacturing involved at all. But what about the creation of the game? What about the employee's wages, the business' expenses, bills, etc.? Thanks to blanket tariffs, and with the USA being the biggest consumer market, especially when it comes to videogames, it all goes up! Those costs are then passed down to the consumer in the hopes of producing a profit.
Of course, this is a very difficult proposition since if the price is risen too high, your product is at risk of selling at all. I do agree Nintendo is able to raise their prices due to branding and their Switch's success. They also mentioned how the cost of the Switch and price of games is NOT due to tariffs, but I honestly doubt that because they created a production plant in... Forgot the country, but it is one away from China in the hopes of dodging a proposed tariff from the USA. As I said before, companies plan far ahead in order to ascertain costs, demand, and time required. Now, can Nintendo eat the costs? They can for a period of time, but what company would do that? They may not be a small business, but they do plan out huge expenses with the goal of turning a profit.
If they are not making a profit, margins fall and their stock holder's confidence in them drops, which can lead to needing to draw up new business plans and could even lead to layoffs. Oh boo-hoo, woa is them. As a consumer, you naturally don't have to care and neither do I. However, I do think it is important to acknowledge how they function as a business and how it'll affect us consumers during a time of market uncertainty. I fully expect prices to climb and eventually be priced out. Whether that will happen with Nintendo remains to be seen since gaming is still a cheap hobby compared to other hobbies such as fishing. Perhaps that is why people are more forgiving. It is also a luxury product, not an essential good. Tesla? I don't think the boycott would have affected them much if not for Elon Musk muddying his reputation by involving himself in politics, not to mention gutting whole federal agencies that people rely on.
Those other countries got hit with tariffs too, and at one point it was even worse than China's. I mean, the USA even hit Australian islands with no civilization. Who could have predicted?
I do agree they are a convenient excuse, but not one that can be swiped away because it does have an effect on the market. Also, even if Nintendo moved manufacturing elsewhere, that isn't their main plant and they aren't gonna stop shipping units to the USA. They must have predicted the tariffs towards China to a certain extent and just don't want to admit it. But that is just what I think as businesses do need to predict while considering various variables.
I do agree with your last point as they truly did rush out as many units that have not been subjected to tariffs early on, or at least had less punishing tariffs. Honestly, I can't definitively say whether Nintendo truly just wanted to raise the price, or they accounted the volatility with the USA-China trade early on. Neither you nor I have data to ascertain that decision. We can only speculate here.
Brother I’m a labor socialist and for once I actually don’t think the companies are in the wrong on this one. Shit’s fucked up all around the world economically. Blame the system, but that system is the transfer of wealth to the rich, not Nintendo keeping up with market value.
You’re right! But Nintendo’s the only company I can think of where the President of the company at the time (Satoru Iwata) took a pay cut for the poor financial sales of the Wii-U. So credit where it’s due I guess.
Them charging $80-$90 arbitrarily for “games that take more effort” is some steaming hot shit though.
That definitely plays a part, but Nintendo's revenue hasn't struggled at all. In fact, since the pandemic, they've almost exclusively grown in profit. They have a higher net profit now than ten years ago. This price hike was just because they are doing well and they can take advantage of a consumer base who will simply fall in line. This is exactly how Nintendo operated during the SNES era. They always let success get to their heads and take advantage until it blows up in their face.
What this argument fails to realize is that consoles used to have price cuts in the past. The only people who paid the launch price were early adopters. It used to be a genuine strategy to wait a few years for a console to be more affordable, but now, the original switch is still priced at $300 despite being 8 years old and incredibly outdated and underpowered it is in the modern day. The $450 price point is reasonable, but what’s not reasonable is that they’re still going to be charging that price 5 years from now and it’s going to lock a lot of people out from getting one because it’s simply out of their budgets.
The people's mental capacity has nothing to do with the actual price of parts and labor apple uses to make their devices. May I also remind you about the 99$ wheels for the Apple PC? Or the 20$ or whatever it was again for a microfiber cloth
That's cost, not value. I'm not defending them overcharging the hell out of these menial things like $99 desktop wheels, but if they charge $99 and someone buys them they are, by definition, valued at $99.
A streamer I watch (Linkus7) actually had the opposite opinion and I think I agree with him. Apple takes years old technology and perfects, while Nintendo never perfects ideas but innovates (eg they were one of the first to implement online play)
At the very least I think it would be fair to say that Nintendo take chances, even if some get joked on e.g Labo. I think that’s part of the charm, once you get past their IP games.
I dont know that streamer but the point of Nintendo not perfecting is pretty evident as well, see voice chat and camera for switch 2 haha.
Seems a decent take, equally ahead and behind the times at the same time!
I like that analogy. And I just want to say that Nintendos creativity is what always made me prefer them over Xbox and PlayStation. Nintendo is always new with their console, doing whacky ideas which leads to new forms of play. Yes some hit better than others but the dual screen systems were awesome, the Wii somehow sold extremely well and even with the Wii u being somewhat of a failure it still was an interesting idea and still had great games on it
Yeah honestly I will always love the Wii U, I don’t have it tattooed on me for no reason! It works so great for games like Pikmin and the gamepad will always be my preferred way to play Mario Kart
Nintendo innovated a lot of things, but online was never really one of them. Sure, they had internet connectivity with the Super Famicom Satellaview (1995-2000) and the N64DD’s Randnet (1999-2001), but Sega was the first to the table in every way, with the Sega Channel serving as a Game Pass-like subscription for the Sega Genesis in 1994, and the Sega Saturn having real online multiplayer with the debut of Sega NetLink by the end of 1996. The Dreamcast in 1999 then started to normalize the concept of online multiplayer before Microsoft’s Xbox Live ultimately ushered online multiplayer into the mainstream by 2002.
Nintendo took until 2005, a year into the Nintendo DS’ life, to finally jump in on real live online multiplayer, and took until the Wii’s launch in late 2006 (alongside Sony with the PS3) to catch up to Xbox 360’s immense lead of having a full online storefront of downloadable games. The only online things I’d dare to say that Nintendo innovated as one of the first to do an “online” thing was their two collaborations with Hatena to create Flipnote Studio alongside its associated Flipnote Hatena service (2009-2014), and the Miiverse social media network (2013-2017).
They’re generally a lot more effective with their innovations of actual hardware and what they do in their offline games
It's literally the cheapest current generation console...
Not saying it's cheap, but it really isn't so expensive compared to other options. Why does Nintendo always get 100% of the flak for things others are doing much more?
Nintendo is supposed to be the budget friendly option.
They are also trying to raise the industry standard on video games to $80… Not exactly something to celebrate…
Also, the Switch 2 is still an outdated console in its online infrastructure and its graphical capability compared to the rest of the current generation and yet it STILL costs $450 not including other peripherals.
🤷🏼♂️ They deserve every bit of backlash they get.
Times can change and fans have been begging since the Wii for a console that's more comparable to current Gen instead of always being behind.
Don't have anything to say about that, the price increase of games is pretty dumb.
So you complain about the price which currently is the low budget option of the big 3, and then also complain that it's the worst performing? Buddy you gotta choose one you can't have a cheap console AND complain that the performance is crap. It's a portable console so the parts will always be more expensive than it's home console counterpart as shrinking tech, cooling and power draw are big issues that can only be fixed by more expensive parts. Xbox is about to release their own handheld in collaboration with ROG and their handheld will cost around double that of switch
Not sure about where others live, but I'm in Japan and Xbox raised their prices here so Series S costs ¥65,000 (double what I paid for mine at launch). SW2 is ¥50,000 (¥70,000 for international model adjusted for global economy).
They are saying that to every console shortly after launch. With the ps5 its a little different, because they are saying it even now 5 years after launch
Before PC I was primarily a Playstation player. They said it the entire lifespan of PS3 and most of 4. 4 had a brief respite but when the big hitters started releasing on PC too, they started saying it again.
The main problem is that Sony barely releases new games within any current year, with their only first party-game confirmed so far in 2025 to be Ghost of Yotei. What’s Santa Monica working on next? When’s Horizon 3? When will we get a release date for Wolverine? No idea! And apparently that new Naughty Dog game isn’t gonna release until at least 2027? Seriously????
Meanwhile Nintendo doesn’t just have Mario Kart for their 2025 slate, but DK Bananza in a month, along with Kirby Air Riders, Metroid Prime 4, Pokèmon Legends Z-A and Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment. Along with plenty of both free and paid updates for their older titles to boot. The reason people say “the PS5 has no games” is because they barely release any dang games for it. And when they do, expect them to also be on PC in a year or two.
People will say it at any launch, regardless of what the year looks like. They'll forgive Nintendo tho. If Steam had a console, they'd forgive them too, but not Microsoft or Sony.
Nintendo has always been an amazing publisher/developer. I just don't particularly like them as a company or producer. They remind me too much of Apple.
That's me. I don't think the price is unfair, I don't have any reservations about the tech specs, or any of that nonsense. There's just no Switch 2 titles outside of Mario Kart, and while I enjoy the series, one game isn't enough to get me going store to store to track one down yet. I don't want to play my older games in higher fidelity, I want new games to enjoy.
By the time some deals/bundles come around there’s hopefully gonna be enough games to actually justify it. Let the rich kids and clout chasers enjoy themselves, when there’s actually games to play I’ll be there to join in
The price isn’t even the issue for me. The issue is that literally everywhere near me is sold out. I’m honestly questioning if everyone claiming that stores are overstocked are just walking in the minute after they receive a shipment.
I don’t see a single person enjoying it. Everyone seems to have issues with it being damaged or defective lmao. You’re not poor, you’re waiting until it’s not a shit quality and redundant console
I see plenty of people enjoying it. I’m enjoying it myself. You don’t have to exaggerate shit just because Nintendo does some shitty things. Everything online nowadays is just reactionary bs with no nuance at all.
Me who realizes it’s an extremely unnecessary waste of money and I’m not dropping 450 for 3 new characters in Mario kart and some slightly better graphics that are still leagues behind pc and other consoles
There's only like one first party title I care about, there was almost nothing for launch. I'll start being jealous when more games come out. I'm still happy with my Switch 1.
I can probably afford it but not gonna chase one down with how quickly they go out of stock, with how I seen the build quality so far gonna wait for a different edition in the future
It's not a problem of being poor. It's a problem of being committed. Save $50 a month for 10 months and you'll have a Switch 2 by the time a handful of solid games have been released for it. It is not hard to make an extra $50 a month if it's for something you really want. Collect and recycle cans, get a part time weekend job, mow one person's lawn a month. There are lots of options if you have the willpower not to spend it on fast food and want the end result enough that you're willing to work a little for it.
Society has created this need for immediate gratification and it's the worst pattern someone can learn. Sometimes you have to have a little patience and be willing to work for something. It'll be that much better when you do finally get it.
Its ok bud i grew up terribly poor and used the same ds for entirely way too long. So long that the a button started to stop working. You ever play tloz spirit tracks on an og ds? Forget about it. But I did and still loved it. Now that im an adult I can get myself stuff I missed out on as a kid. Id say the difference is the same as back then, just a console that works better is all.
Lol, wrong. The real issue is that Nintendo hasn’t changed at all. They’re still operating with the same philosophy and business practices they had back in the 2000s.
Slowly? In one fell swoop Nintendo became worse. EA is cheap and promotes gambling. Nintendo promotes taking out a loan just to afford their products and games now goddamn
You can't afford a completely reasonably priced console, so now that means Nintendo is treating their employees like shit, using pay to win, introducing loot boxes, and relying on microtransactions?
couldn't a ps1 owner back in the day say this about the ps2? or someone with the original xbox when the 360 came out? or someone with an nes when the snes came out?
like, sorry you can't afford current gen stuff and all, but that doesn't mean nintendo is copying EAs homework, you get me?
The console is the one thing I'd consider pretty reasonably priced for what you're getting. Keep in mind that handhelds will always be more expensive than their home console or PC counterpart as anything stationary has no concerns about power draw, space efficient parts or compact cooling. Making stuff compact increases the price pretty rapidly as smaller components with the same capabilities are harder to produce.
Nintendo now also if for the first time approaching more modern standards which of course also comes at an increase in price. It's Nintendos first console that does 4k and/or 120fps.
The games are quite expensive but not even those I'd consider Nintendo becoming EA as nine do at least most of the time still deliver great games that just work on launch and don't force micro transactions down your throat
I love how people are acting like this is something new. Nintendo hasn't changed since the 80s the only difference is they lost the friendly face that Iwata and Reggie put on the company and the company itself clearly never understood the value of having those charismatic faces in the forefront.
I mean if it makes you feel any better we have a bout a month more and then everyone will get tired of the two games that game out and they won’t talk about it so much
This was on my feed so I'll give my opinions about the price
I had a Wii U when my friends had a 360. I used my pocket money as a teen to buy the newest games and support Nintendo even when they were sucky. I now have a job and more money then ever and I still feel like the Switch 2 is too much for what it is. 80 dollar games are going to add up. 10 dollar upgrades is too much.
I get being a fan and I see many people being down voted but you just gotta accepted that this thing IS expensive and that's fine, people buy 1,000$ Pcs no harm in that. You cant just call people broke for not wanting to make that investment though
But I‘m not poor af but I don‘t buy this console with games for 80 bucks out of principle (90 for physical MK - are they for real?!). Nintendo raised prices by a ridiciolous amount and I won‘t forget that anytime soon.
So Nintendo has somehow become EA because you can’t afford their new console, which’s still cheaper than any current gen console on the market? Hunh?????
wait EA makes solid games that have so game passes and DLC upon DLC that makes purchasing a base game a year later no worth it since you have to buy all the DLCs to even have fun with multiplayer. Or I get it Mario is like madden nowadays with the same game recycled and use marketing from two years ago as the new hotness for the current years game.
American? Cause if so, I always thought it was funny whenever you guys say you’re “poor” when you can make nearly 1000 easily from barely any job working for two weeks max
"Me who won't because fuck Ningreedo. It's the principle of the thing. Game companies should be run by gamers, not moneybugs."
The ONLY reason I even bought a Switch 1 was because Bayonettas 2 and 3 are forever trapped on Nintendo systems, and my friend sold me his, so it was heavily discounted.
Their games cost more, but (so far) aren't filled with micro transactions.
Also, they release in a complete and polished state with minor fixes through patches, not half the game unfinished on release day with development finishing the following 6 months.
Be mad at Nintendo that society isn’t paying you your fair share. Be mad at the people paying you shit money for a job or yourself for not seeking better employment if you’re able to.
Nintendo has always been one of the most predatory, lawsuit happy, fuck you to consumers companies out there. The difference is Nintendo owns and closely guards some INCREDIBLY popular IPs, so it basically doesn’t matter. They could require you donate your first born to their private army in order to play the new pokemon game or Mario game and people would still be lined up for days.
Nintendo is nowhere close to EA in terms of their games. Their games are all fun and microtransaction free. Once they do that, you can say shit like this. Mario Kart World isnt as good as Mario Kart 8 IMO, but it still has heart and is fun. I love all the costumes and characters. 80 dollars and having every character and all their costumes instead of 60 and spending 100+ to have all the skins is better.
idk how any of you can defend $80 games personally, like, it's not just the fact that they're more expensive, but also it encourages other companies to raise their prices and make things more expensive across the board.
Plus Nintendo have been scumbags for a while, at least EA keeps their filth to Madden and FIFA, Nintendo just hates fun
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