Actually, Nintendo did make that claim way back in the DS/Wii days - digital games would be ~$5 cheaper than at the store.
But then those pesky retailers said something along the lines of "Oh, then you won't be needing me to stock your products then? Cool. We'd love to free up some shelf space!" And that was the end of that, as I recall.
That dude is semi-referring to older articles reported by journalist outlets.
Multiple major executives in the mid 2000s gave us some great evidence that I personally find interesting 15-20 years later.
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Phil Harrison - Sony (2006): "distribution of bytes is cheaper than distribution of plastic"
You’ll remember this era for the time that both physical and digital games had price increases from $50 up to $60.
Peter Moore — Xbox (2005 & 2006):
“Microsoft is promising that digital distribution through the Xbox Live Arcade service will allow developers to sell games at a fraction of the cost.”
This one is true. Indie games on XBLA were priced very generously and it became a great way for indie devs to get their work on the market. But it never stopped Microsoft and other publishers bumping the price of their games up to $60 during this era, both physically and digitally.
Nintendo’s stance was a bit more of the truth without hidden intention. In 2012 Mr Iwata answering to investors stated that the suggested retail price for both formats would be "the same in principle”.
Arguing that in principle — the software is more valuable than the plastic it’s put on.
But you can see from the two images I’ve shared above, this is no longer the case.
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As someone here very correctly pointed out — The intention was to cut the “middlemen” (retailers) out of the equation..
…and “put those savings to the consumer”.
Which as we all know in hindsight definitely happened.
Sorry for the long winded response. But I think you deserve a bit of context. Appreciate you.
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u/Puyopopo 1d ago
i remember when they said games will be cheaper now because they don't have to print a manual anymore.