"DROP THE PRICE!!!" Scream Nintendo Fans During Nintendo's Treehouse Live Broadcast

I’m guessing this is largely due to inflation and tariffs

@Mattock1987 it's a combination of that and Nintendo being overzealous with how much money they can get from consumers for their product(something they've done before).

Brokies goin hard but they’re still gonna buy it. Hate to say. Me included

Time to start selling feet pics!

Inflation, amirite?

If they're that concerned over price, then perhaps they just need to be patient and buy things secondhand or wait for a better deal. That's how it always is with new hardware launches. You either pay a premium to experience things as they come out, or you suck it up and wait for a better deal.

@N00BiSH the PS5 was a lot pricier on release, and games in general are creeping up in price. A lot of new PS5 games are £60-£70

Either 2 things will happen 1.) Nothing or 2.) People speak with their wallets like they did when the original 3ds was released and eventually after 5 months of slow sales. I hope the price drops but only time can tell

The article seems to imply people are complaining about the cost of the console, but I'm pretty sure everyone's complaining about the cost of the games.

You're genuinely trying to tell us you expected the games to cost £75? Really? Mental.

Also, no one mentioning that all switch 2 physical copies are just keys for downloads. RIP physical collecting 02/04/25.

Edit: it seems I'm misinformed and only a selection of games will be key cartridges.

People pay more for free to play games lol just saying.

Price of the console is fine in my opinion.... it's the Games that are a bit on the high side.

I think this will be my first console where I go fully digital

Nah, won't ever buy at that price, if Nintendo is resanoble(something I doubt) they will adjust the price for here in Brazil, otherwise will take an yea at least for me to buy one.

@old-red yes when I was a kid they were way more money than they are now.

The switch is a secondary console for me and the price of entry is high but not too off putting, the real issue is the cost of the games, Nintendo titles rarely drop in price.

I think anyone can see it's expensive. Everything is these days. Capitalism is broken and needs a hard reset. I'm buying one becaue I've been saving up for one. And I dare say I'll get my moniesworth out of it as I don't have every other game system under the sun. But what I will say is this. The Switch 2 can very well outsell the Switch, but it's not going to beat it without a price cut unlike it's predecessor.

I think the console price is fair, but the software prices do seem steep. Maybe tariffs? Maybe just long overdue for the game industry? Either way, I’ll be getting them and won’t complain at Nintendo for what they deem necessary to charge. At the end of the day, I don’t deserve a new console—or need one to survive. It’s merely a luxury I’m able to purchase and am thankful for that.

With that said, I do find it funny most comments with the original Switch were “give us more power and performance and improve the overall system specs”. We got what we asked for — and it comes at a cost.

I understand the sticker shock, but games themselves have been consistently undervalued for decades. I'm not a fan of the price increases, but I understand from a business/economics sense.

I was laughing. We've gone from silk song to price drop. Something new is better than nothing new.

Good. Mario Kart at $80/€90 is unacceptable imo, doubt they will actually listen but it’s much better to stay loud and keep complaining than submitting.

@Mattock1987 the difference is people were expecting the PS5 to pricey upon it's release due to expectations set by previous systems, and there were still plenty of people who were upset about games being pricier.

Mario party and Kirby go up to 80$ because the DLC included is 20$ and includes the upgrade so that makes since to me personally. Upgrades just like on the PlayStation at 10$ so you do the math on the other games that are ports.

Again: The problem isn't that one time payment.
IT'S 80 TO 90 PER GAME!
It's almost almost a quarter of the price for the console itself. And we don't even have controllers or micro SD cards (because they cheap gits didn't give us on console memory)

Nintendo have always told us they don’t swim in the red ocean, competing with graphics and power, fps and 4K gaming. They swim in the blue ocean innovating and making fun weird games for families and everyday gamers.

This machine is drowning in the red ocean.

Look what is happening today. They might have to drop the price if everyone is broke

The Switch 2 hardware is more powerful than most anticipated. They might be selling it at a loss.

I’m not paying 80 for Mario kart.

At $80, I would expect any DLC for Mario Kart World to be free.

Like others have said the problem does not lie in the consoles price but it’s games. I mean if (and that’s a fat if) they were to lower it at all I would settle for 70 as highest over 80 tbh.

Look the price is unfortunate but it’s not exactly outrageous or anything. The console is $50 more than I was hoping for, and I figured that many first party games would be $70 like Tears of the Kingdom, so Mario Kart is about $10 more than I expected. It adds up though, and multiplied across everything, new pro controller, new micro sd card, etc it becomes more than I personally can afford at launch.

@sporesmoldsfungus I disagree, you can make that case on insanely expensive games to produce like a GTA 6, and even then it’s iffy since they make more money on selling MTX, DLC and more.

But for a Mario Kart game to cost $80/€90?! It’s just pure greed that screams “we’re charging this much because we can”. And I bet they’ll eventually announce DLC for it, further monetizing it, don’t defend this BS.

@SwitchplayerJohn And how well did the N64 fared against the PS1 at that price?

I saw an old Toys R Is advert on Twitter the other day and it showed SNES games priced at $80 - $90.

I'm not saying we should be pleased about Switch 2 game prices, but maybe we've been spoilt since the mid 90s.

Games are getting too expensive in some way, shape or form.
Makes me wonder how much Mario Kart World actually costs to develop and how much it needs to sell in order to break even.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

@SMJ Right. The original Super Mario RPG launched at $75 in the States.

It would be nice to have a range of game prices (based on content). Like how Game Builder Garage launched at $30.

Protip: buy the console early. Later when they drop the price if you already own it you will get 20 free games instead

And they have every right to do so. But still, could be worse.

I think $80 is okay for MarioKart since the last MarioKart lasted 11 years on the top 10

@MrGawain I think it’s stuck in both.

@MrGawain this I think is the most interesting point. People complained incessantly about the Switch being “behind” the other consoles, couldn’t get third party ports, etc. Now everyone complains about the price. They wanted all the enhancements without any cost. 2+2 cannot equal 5. I think Nintendo is succumbing to the law of gravity here. Eventually they had to upgrade to 4k and there are enormous costs in terms of man hours associated with that. I’d rather they just raise the price than try to micro transaction the game to death. It looks like that’s the path they are taking.

I feel like I'll get so much time and fun out of Mario Kart that I'm honestly not that bothered.

This hobby has always been on the expensive side and the writing has been on the wall for a while that game prices were headed this way.

I don't like it, but I'm also not exactly outraged. Again, they can choose their price on a game by game basis and I'll choose what I want to play or feel is worth it.

In this economy the best you can do is save (and frankly people have had rumors about switch2/switch pro for YEARS. Why not save a few bucks a month for a few years?) if you can’t afford it outright. The global economy is gonna be turbulent for the next few years and some folks are still recovering from the panorama. However A) gaming is a luxury item B) I am willing to bet especially given that Japan got an economic friendly version that Nintendo tightened the margins as much as they could. C) nobody HAS to buy it at launch. Save. Buy it later. We got a year or three of cross gen games. So beat down your backlog. Or perhaps it’s time to exit gaming. D) they may drop the price but expect to pay for it elsewhere (game pipelines getting scrapped), shorter game support windows. E) better tech costs money upfront. And factoring in inflation the Switch 2 is only slightly more expensive than the switch (that got no price drop).

Also there is a bundle for the game everyone is mad about. If you were gonna get mario kart why not buy the bundle?

Everything is high on both sides. Consumer and company are paying more.

Most games on other consoles are currently 70USD (higher for deluxe or collector editions). And both sony and ms are talking next systems. Prices for games are likely gonna be 70-80 USD as the baseline.

But this happens every release. Folks complained about the switch pricing too.
Still cheaper than gaming in the 90’s.

@jkirchgessner07 I was ready to dish out $500 for a console with no game included. $70-80 for one game? 😵

Does anyone at NintendoLife actually pay for games or do y'all still get them for free from Ninty?

Again with the $90 nonsense... who's paying $90?

How embarrassing… fans need to have a word with themselves.

Switch 2 cartridges should have different colors for the different types!
Red- Standard/ complete on cart!
Blue- Key Cards
White- whatever I missed ...

The price actually makes me feel more relaxed about missing the Switch 2's early years.
For Mario Kart, I'd get my money's worth. Same for the next mainline Zelda. But I'm not paying that as standard.

Will happily keep enjoying my Switch, and see how things are when the revisions/OLED versions release

@JamesR
The USA!
We have tax added after the price!

The console price is fine. I can even deal with the price of games going up to a point.nWhat I'm insulted by is every third party game that isn't Cyberpunk (of all things) being "code in box but somehow worse" (pending any statement on being able to resell and redownload the DRM token for another system)

Hopefully Mario kart has a real battle mode this time!

@Mattock1987 Prices are worst in Europe. Its got nothing to do with Tariffs. It's all about exchange rate to the yen

The price for the system is fine, but the game price not so much. Since I'm the only gamer in the house, unless something unique or price drop happens game wise, I'm gonna pass on this.

@DwaynesGames
Star Wars Racer on the 64 was $90

@Spider-Kev yes, that would need to be a post sales tax number. It feels like people have been quoting $90 as the base price.

I liked the post Wii U failure nintendo better. Now that they're coming out of another success, they are getting way too greedy

@Spider-Kev this is a good idea. The clearer the difference between proper physical releases and 'licence-on-card' releases, the better.

It looks more copycat than angry to me. Like I could go in there now and type Shrek for Smash and the next 50 posts are going to type Shrek for Smash b/c lemmings.

Not to say people are happy about the price, but Nintendo doesn't care if you pay up while singing, screaming, crying or cursing, as long as you pay up. And it's Mario Kart, 30 million people will buy it regardless of the price. The dozen who don't, meh. 🤷‍♂️

When people start typing "Luigi is coming for Luigi" well then we have a problem.

The big 3 are colluding on this, mark my words.

I totally understand the anger.

It's INSANE that Mario Kart 8 cost 60€ on Switch, and World will cost 90€ on Switch 2. But it's EVEN MORE INSANE that Kirby Forgotten Land cost 60€ on the Switch, and it will cost 90€ on the Switch 2... A game that is now over 3 years old.
We can't afford to spend 90 euros in every videogame. You buy 11 and spend a thousand euros...

I really hope Nintendo backs down here.

@Old-Red This is not true. Only some games have the Key Card, not all of them. Nintendo's 1st party titles for example are regular carts, same with Cyberpunk.

The Game Key cards are a replacement to Switch 1's code in a box

I think that I will still pick up the console. But perhaps this is an opportunity to become more judicious about my purchases

@bluemage1989 Why? They're right to be upset over these ridiculous prices.

DROP THE PRICE

@ScalenePowers This is a good practice in general.

With these prices, I’m skipping this console entirely. Most of their games are already on the shorter side, and now they’re charging $80–$90? Meanwhile, Valve basically made a 'Switch 2' with the Steam Deck!

Honestly, I see the Switch 2 ending up like the Wii U—a total flop. And honestly? Nintendo deserves it.

The revolution has begun...

@IceClimbers I hope so, because I'm completely out if it is the case.

@SMJ I got Super Metroid for £75 in the 90s. I think that had a dev team of less than 20 people.

We've absolutely been spoiled.

As if they will ever listen

@axelhander because having a tantrum over an extra £10 or £20 a game is the sort of behaviour I’d expect from a spoiled child.

Sending that into the YouTube live chat is equivalent to screaming into the void.

There needs to be a combination of vocal outrage (with articles like this covering it) AND underwhelming sales for Nintendo to consider dropping the price.

@sporesmoldsfungus yeah its absolutely wild that games have stayed roughly the same price despite the ballooning of development costs. I think greater variety in pricing, like making smaller budget games $50-60 and reserving $80 for big AAA titans, could help ease this blow of the increase too, though I doubt they'll do that. I wonder too if putting more of the cost into the base game will slow down the rapid rise of DLC and micro-transactions etc?

Blame Oompah Loompah and his very poor understanding of how tariffs work.

I love everyone saying they'll wait til the price drops haha if you were waiting on a switch 1 it's been 8 years now is the time

@AG_Awesome yeah absolu... wait, what!?

Thanks, don't think I've ever laughed so hard at a comment on here 🤣

I’m basically parroting what a lot of other people have said about this: the price of the console is fine considering all of the new technology in it but the price of the games are genuinely awful.

As far as me picking up the console’s concerned it’s definitely got me stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’d like to get the Mario Kart World bundle because the game is essentially $50 but I also have to take a trip to this year’s Pokémon World Championships (as a spectator, not a competitor) into consideration.

I think what I’ll end up doing is putting in a prepaid preorder for the bundle at GameStop, paying in off over the weeks until release, getting Donkey Kong Bananza in a similar way, then freezing my Switch 2 spending (outside of Switch 2 upgrades of Switch 1 games) until the price of Switch 2 games drops or certain US retailers stock them for below MSRP.

@Dexter2015 I have a Steam Deck and I have to admit that, after getting a proper gaming PC for Christmas a few months ago, it’s in desperate need of a refresh.

Its almost the price of a PS5 with Astro Bot here in the UK. I can only really afford one of these current consoles, so I'm undecided which to go for. I have decent size digital libraries on both PS4 and Switch. I really like the portable aspect of Switch but I'm not rushing in with a pre order at this point with these prices.

It's a new console for the first time in 8 years - if I'm worried about spending an extra 20 bucks on a game, I'll just order 3 less beers at a pub one month. Problem solved.

I'm going to pay $50 for MKW, but yes it should be $70 for those that miss the bundle or don't want to get Mario Kart right away. Since I'm okay with paying more, on the whole, I can't (and definitely won't) complain about prices decreasing if there is backlash. Tbh, they could end up backing down. They did that for N64 games after a while (at least in the U.S) where they were $60-70 around launch, but dropped.

@Old-Red How do you know this?

Watching the stream right now... it's still going... if Nintendo drops the price because of this then cool, but I honestly don't expect them to. Maybe during Christmas time with the launch of Kirby Air Riders, but for now, I'll bite the bullet and start putting money aside to pick it up, if not at launch then in early July.

@Shepdawg1 as the article mentions, the pricey complaints are mostly not about the new Hardware that you mention. I could also have expected it to be even $100 more expensive.
The main issue is that the first party games could now be $80, which is a crazy jump when considering that it is even more expensive than PS5 games.

nintendo choose to make mario kart a test at that high price because they know tens of millions will buy the game while donkey kong is 70 bucks..

For everybody complaining about the price, there is this thing you can get, it is called a JOB, in which a regular activity is performed in exchange for payment. This payment is not only for video games, it can also be exchanged for goods and services.

I won't be buying as nearly a week's wage for me not much above minimum wage. And Def not working a day to pay for online video game. Nintendo used be good value for money they will still sell well. As get one on credit pay installments or credit card. Didn't have all that when I was a teenager used have to save for a console and then think do I really want spend that much. If the launch game were worth it

@MSaturn one of the more sensible comments around. Completely agree, and your math is solid.

@johnedwin Exactly. Nintendo knows people will line up at the door for Mario kart, and about 80% of those YouTube dorks are probably going to raise their flags in surrender and just buy the game anyway.

Not condoning the price by any means, but that’s just reality

@MCHuddle I agree I do have a job at work 50 hours a week my partner work too well have two children and before you say I don't take any help off government in tax credits. Feeding my children keeping them clothed and paying bills maybe more important for some people and not getting into dept ( personally not fun learn hard way as a teenager) this is not a dig at all just a general opinion

@AndrosEGD

@Mattock1987 Tariffs have nothing to do with that. cuz if they did, it wouldn't apply worldwide.

they are STILL chanting to drop the price 3 hours after it started

All those jerks typing "Drop the price" before I had a chance to. So inconsiderate.

They absolutely need to be dropping prices all around.

I’m not comfortable being part of moving the market in the direction of being able to charge that amount. I’ll stick to my indies thanks.

For some, it’s not even about being “poor”, it’s just a matter of principle. Mario Kart World may well be this huge open world game that justifies its asking price, but once it’s opened up the door to other publishers charging $80 per game you’d better believe their price hikes will have absolutely nothing to do with the size and scope of their games, nor will it dissuade the usual predatory suspects from continuing to stuff these games to the gills with mtx and season passes and the the other paid bs - ON TOP of the $80. Nintendo have always been reasonably good at not doing that, but it sure as hell isn’t going to stop others.
I get it. I’m a BIG Nintendo fan, and I can afford it, but that’s not the point. If we don’t speak up and vote with our wallets, then the giant companies will just continue to push and push and push. I’ve found it pretty heartbreaking seeing so many comments online from people saying they’re being priced out of their favourite hobby.

And of course Nintendo will listen………

The thing is; The system itself I think is fair. I was expecting something around £400 even before the direct aired especially considering the increases in specs.
But what I think is unreasonable is the price of the games. Unless Mario Kart World is absolutely packed to the brim with content, I don't see how what they've shown justifies the asking price.
I also don't buy into the tariff argument, that's a US thing, if it was about that it wouldn't be happening worldwide.

The people complaining are there to simply complain. Games production costs have gone up massively. We all wanted the incressed visuals etc... but forgot that comes at a price.

So all these people complaining - why not just get the bundle? Are you planning to get Mario kart after launch? $50 game in the bundle.

@Old-Red It isn't all physical copies. The first party games are still on the cartridge. The key cartridges are basically no different from the download cartridges that existed on Switch 1, and are utilized by third parties. One of the few games utilizing it so far is Bravely Default (which is stupid given that the game is a literal port of a 3DS title, so it should still be on the cartridge).

@BFahey3 Even if you get the bundle- if 80 dollars is the standard price for the individual game in the future, people are going to be buying less games. Especially given that the value of the American dollar is weakening and wages haven't yet caught up to it.

@Strictlystyles “Brokies”

It seems like you don’t understand that people actually have to pay rent/bills and buy their own food/water/etc. to survive and can’t drop a bunch of money on a shiny new device with overpriced games?

@BaldB3lper78 They listened back with the Nintendo 3DS. The console undersold because of the expensive price-tag combined with having hardly any games with launch. Nintendo reduced the price 6 months after it wasn't selling well. This could be the same situation, even with Mario Kart. The price is too high for casuals to feel comfortable buying into the console.

@MCHuddle Almost as if jobs in this economy don’t pay enough and people really have to stretch their dollars just to not die? Defending capitalism is a weird hill to die on.

@Jam777 Majority of the Switch games I buy are first party titles. Mainly because I don't own a Switch for third party. I have a PC where I can get those games for cheaper, along with being on more powerful hardware. While I don't buy every first party game, 80 dollars per game is still a huge blow to my wallet.

I m dropping the price on my own, but picking this as my stepping away from Nintendo this generation.

Wished I had skipped the Wii U too, and this is the Wii U all over again. And it a lot like the disaster of the 3DS launch, which thanks to the legendary Iwata, saved the entire company when he course corrected and took the blame for it all.

The mighty always get overconfident and they will be humbled yet again.

I'll be watching while I emulate, and share the games with my family and friends, and enjoy myself for practically free compared to this price gauging, or "class -shaming" new age of "nintendo".

Anyone that disagrees with this is not looking close enough to the entire pricing scam they have going on. It is like a mafia shakedown, not the inclusive ideals of their entire past history.

@VoidofLight I agree that the game prices are high but the console is about right. I thought it would be between £350 and £400 , so with MK World , at least £429.99 is fairly reasonable.

Early predictions are still for around 18 million units sold in the first year from release which would be phenemenol.

@BaldB3lper78 Those are just predictions. Predictions can and have been wrong in the past. Given how USD is weakening and families/individuals are struggling to pay bills or even survive- I genuinely can't see it selling well. Even if the prices are catching up to inflation. Wages haven't caught up.

@Jam777 The Wii and Switch were also reasonably priced. I know a ton of casual gamers who were excited for the switch 2 that aren't getting the system now due to the price of the games. I imagine the massive casual following with families aren't going to buy in.

@jkirchgessner07 I guess what you're trying to say is be careful what you wish for.

@msvt This isn’t even close to Wii U. Not close. The Wii U was poorly marketed and it was never clear what the difference was between it and the Wii.

It is hugely clear, almost painfully clear that the Switch 2 is a sequel. Watching the Treehouse Direct today, it’s clear this is a significant step up, and whilst nobody expects OG Switch sales figures be beaten by Switch 2, this is nothing like the Wii U.

@Jam777 10-20 is a pretty massive dealbreaker to me. I'm way less likely to take a chance on a game I'm unfamiliar with if it's priced at 80 USD. I would also purchase far fewer games due to that price increase.

@VoidofLight Switch sold at its best during the pandemic when people were on furlough, the cost of living crisis was even worse and redundancies were rife.

If you check Nintendo game prices back to the NES, SNES, they were selling games for £50 plus decades ago.

I’m not saying I agree with it, but it’s not as sudden many are making out.

@Jam777 MK World does look incredible but it will have paid extras as there is a pretty big live service game element to it underneath.

If I have to look at this objectively, I would say that the price for a single game is steep.

But I would also note that (hopefully) it will be a full game, with all content at launch with DLCs being an optional bonus rather than essential part of the game.

Meanwhile if you look to other games in the AAA space, they charge up to £70 for the basic game, then a bunch of "Deluxe Editions" which in Ubisoft's case can go as high as £120 and then they contain Microtransactions and/or DLCs that should have been in the core experience.

Essentially, MK World is steep, and is the beginning of a new price trend (GTA6 rumours notwithstanding) but people have not actually seen the actual game in full, to truly determine whether it's worth the price tag.

So maybe save the shouting for then, should the game fail to meet what is expected of the high price?

@SwitchplayerJohn I sent them a handwritten letter moaning about this being two years pocket money and they sent me a controller and carry case.

Although £250 to 14 year old me was a lot, I was looking forward to it so much I wasn't too bothered about it. Those are good memories!

@Dexter2015 A total flop. It will outsell the Steam Deck’s lifetime sales in months.

It's a fair price for the tech inside a thin handheld. Just save up the money!

@Jam777 I don’t. But with all the possibilities, I just think it is very likely. Time will tell

@BaldB3lper78 100%. Most people who aren't on reddit or a Nintendo specific website will not care about 10 or 20 bucks. The Switch 2 will do fine.

@Jam777 Additional characters, costumes, new tracks , new worlds. Could be done as DLC but could easily be done as a live service charge.

I hope I’m wrong’

$90? I thought it was 80, where did the extra 10 come from?

I will never pay seventy or more with tax for a new Donkey Kong game.

@tobsesta99 found another brokie

@tobsesta99 If you really have to stretch your paycheck just to not die, then you have bigger problems than video games. I will suggest getting your priorities in order before buying the latest console.

Pretty sure they're talking about the games, mostly. Specifically Mario Kart.
That's where I stand anyway. The console price, while a bit on the high side, is fine. Mario Kart is literally a 50% increase from what was previously the norm. That's frankly too much at once.

The price increase is only for the physical side, digital versions will still be at the standard $70 or $60 they said would be case by case for games starting with TOTK. But if physical sales crawl to a halt, they'll either backtrack or stores will just stock less Switch 2 games from now on. But physical media is way more prevalent in say Japan than the US, so it'll lean more on how those markets respond to this.

Though IMO, ultimately unless it's a game you've been waiting for a long time to happen or it just never goes on sale (ex. being Pokémon games which only get discounts via stores like Walmart or Target), you should be trying to shop during sales anyways. Even if it's only $20 off, it adds up when you continue the habit.

@Jacket_p I bought Starwing on SNES for £70 and I remember a friend of mine paying £90 for Virtua Racing on Mega Drive.

Those were crazy times.

Seems reasonable to me. Games haven’t gone up enough to match inflation have they? The new sock has a fan and is more like a console.

I’m okay with the prices…just makes me more picky about games.

I don`t tink we`ve beeen spoiled when it comes to the price of games and I don`t think Nintendo`s pricing reeks of overconfidence, on the contrary. Most people don`t own a console or a gaming pc, these days. They`re fine with their mobiles and their notebooks. The snes, playstation 1 and 2, wii and switch were consoles for everyone, the rest has been "for the players" (remember this slogan?). Most people would like to have games that last about 15 hours (or forever, look at Tetris, Move the box and the likes) for a reasonable price. Movies have been that expensive in production for decades and don`t cost a fortune to watch and own. Nintendo goes after the "players", i.e.: harcore-gamers, for the first time. They know that the families and casual games they used to target won`t afford a new console.

@VoidofLight Donkey Kong is $70 so not every Switch 2 game will be Mario Kart's price. The only other ones at $80 seem to be the Switch 2 edition games that get extra content/DLC alongside the update.

I think Mario Kart World will be a "special case" because it's the follow up to one of the best selling games of all time and Nintendo's 2nd best selling game (behind Wii Sports,).

And if Mario Kart World isn't a special case I think the backlash will very silently make it a special case, as Nintendo may be reluctant to make another game (presumably a Switch 2 original 3D Zelda) that price.

@Dexter2015 Yeah it'll still sell, and I'm going to buy one I'm not interested in PC gaming or the steam Deck.

@Mattock1987 Tarrifs don't exist on digital products

You guys are funny. Come up to Canada if you want to complain about prices. $630 for the base console before taxes. We’ve been paying $90+ for years for games so that’s nothing.

Give me one without a screen which just works from the dock.
And reflect this in the price.

"the mental barrier of 500 bucks"

there's nothing mental about it for many of us. it is a real, financial barrier.

Contrary to belief, you're not, in fact, required to buy this or the games. Shocking, I know.

@ScalenePowers This is my feeling as well. The console itself I feel prepared to buy into for all of its benefits across my Switch 1 library, Indies, affordable third-party games and etc.

However, I am adamantly opposed to $80 games, and I will certainly wait for sales before buying most anything at that price. There are only 2-3 franchises I will make an exception to for a day-1 $80 buy-in, and Mario Kart most certainly is not one of them for me.

@Mz3player Yeah. I definitely get the feeling it is the games/paywall upgrades/features and not the hardware

The console price for me is fine, it's the software price that is laughable. I love that some people even seem to justify it by saying "inflation". But the fact is, we only see a adjustment in price when it is an increase and never a reduction, even when justified. When more and more games went digital, there definitely was a strong argument for a price reduction, but we never saw that, so clearly it's just pure greed and people should put pressure on it. Probably become the best argument for emulation, if this doesn't stop.

Not surprised to see the number of corporate white knights in the comments.

The next Live Stream TreeHouse will have no chats...

I still play Wii U, n64, snes and of course Switch so will wait at least a year to buy the deuce

@Reptilio , I’m the same way with you and I’m not paying $80 dollars for a Mario Kart game, that’s way too much for a game on the Switch 2, that’s unacceptable and Nintendo doesn’t even care and they only care about money 💵

I think the price for the system is spot on. Seeing as how Switch 1 still goes for $299/$349, the price tag seems quite nice. I think $69 for most next gen games seems fair as well. Other consoles already adopted that price for games, so it's understandable. My one hiccup is $79 for Mario Kart. I mean, lol... I'm going to get it, because it looks amazing and packed with content... But I do think it's too high.

The system price is fine, it’s the varying prices on exclusive games, creeping past $70, selling a tech demo (no matter the price).

Ultimately, the market will decide. 3DS had its fair share of problems on release and it was consumers who made them change stance. That could easily happen again if their launch window of releases underperform.

@bluemage1989 It is faaaaaaar more childish to fail to understand why people are upset over raising prices in 2025.

@DonJorginho the best, most sensible take in the whole comment section. People need to stop nonsensical shilling and be able to call BS when they see it.

I think I'll wait until there's a Special edition of SW2. A Zelda one again?

Just under 10 years ago I bought Splatoon on Wii U at launch for only £25. That was the cost for the complete experience and I got 700 hours out of that game.

Now Nintendo is charging triple that price and that's before factoring in potential DLC for games like Mario Kart World...

Doesn't bother me, things are more expensive now.

Remember the Super Mario 3d All Stars limited time release... its crap like that again they are testing the limits and a very very slippery slope for the game industry with the amount of crap they're trying to pull.

That's gonna be added to the list of Nintendo memes 😂

Here in sweden the price for only switch 2 gonna be 595 dollars. (5995Sek) To high for me at the moment so i will wait even if i know the price wont go down.

@VoidofLight $80 is not the standard. The new DK Game will be $69. I think Nintendo is going to expand on the TOTK philosophy and price things on perceived value. $80 doesn’t seem that bad if you are putting 200 hrs into it vs a $60 game that lasts 20, or seeing a 2 hr movie for $15.

I knew game prices had to go up, ps5 and xbox already went up few years ago but thst said it seems 10 euro too much of an increase here in Ireland.

Still cannot get over that Luigi Mansion 2 price tag, or the Donkey Kong game they released earlier this year. Those games should not be priced that high lol.

I'll get it on launch, but I am not willing to spend 80 euros on games. I will wait for discounts, or something similar to the voucher program we have now, since I buy most of my games digital.

Pretty sure Nintendo have deleted the full 4 hour Treehouse livestream on YouTube with the drop the price chorus and put up separate videos for the games instead.

People might drop 80/90 bucks for Mario Kart or Zelda, but many other games are going to struggle at such a price tag. I fear a situation where developers are going to take even less risks and only focus on what they know will sell.

One way or another, I can't see this playing out positively for the consumer.

The problem isn’t really that the game prices have gone up. Everything has recently. The problem is wages have not gone up to match inflation.

So instead of complaining to Nintendo that you can’t afford Mario Kart. Complain to your boss that you can’t afford anything like you used to be able too.

Seriously I went to buy a tube of Pringles the other day and the ‘sale’ price is now more than what the standard price was a couple years ago.

Initially, I was just as shocked by the game prices as everybody else.

But, on second thought, games have cost 60 € for a decade or two, and they have 10 or 50 times the amount of content (and pixels) they used to, so... I guess it makes sense.

I got a theory, not sure if any truth to it but...

What if the rest of the world is getting charged way more to compensate for the fact that they're selling it cheaper in Japan? So it all evens out in the end?

It seems really stupid but I dunno.

Welcome to the new industry standard. Guarantee every major publisher will be following suit, Nintendo was just the first one to bite the bullet this time.

@Mattock1987 Unlikely, as the Japanese localized region locked model is like a hundred dollars cheaper and the only difference is having other languages.

@dequesi But the content is boring compared to the games of old. The quality has gone down the drain in favor of quantity of hours spent doing very little.

@bluemage1989 First of all, fair criticism, esp in overwhelming numbers, is not a tantrum. Second, it's the kind of behavior you'd expect from people expected to either spent their hard earned money on less entertainment, or have to explain to their children why they can't have Nintendo right now.
To say otherwise is incredibly bad faith argumentation.

@WilloftheFans That's true especially for RPGs and certain other games. Personally I'm very much in favour of smaller games - I don't need to be playing the same old thing for hundreds of hours. But then it's my choice to buy smaller indie games instead. AAAs today are huge -and therefore expensive- whether we like it or not.

@WilloftheFans I have yet to see any fair criticism, however, I have seen plenty of emotive ‘poor Timmy won’t be getting anymore Nintendo now’ statements. It’s not Nintendo’s fault Timmy’s parents are wasters.

$710 Canadian including tax is WILD. I’ll buy a game here and there and save for the system for next year lol. Welp. Unless there’s Black Friday sales.

I will still buy it and I will still buy the games, it's just that instead of buying 2-3 games per month, I might buy 1 game and that's about it.

@Jarl76 here let me tell you something about inflation.

In 1995 AAA video games cost £50 to purchase, they normally took 18 months - 2 Years to make and they would take about 50-80 people to work on them.

Let's just based on inflation that £50 you spent in 1995 is actually around £100 today.

This doesn't even factor in that modern AAA video games cost more resources to make, more time to make and requires more people.

If you want to actually get technical about this, your video game is supposed to cost around £180-£200 EACH if you want a real fair price.

You won't buy Nintendo anymore, that's okay, by next year EVERY video game company and AAA game studios will ALL be charging these prices and more.

You have to choose, either you pay these prices or you pay for loot boxes, you cannot have games for £50 anymore, the cost doesn't work anymore.

Ok, not sure how the prices are so mental as 449 USD at the moment is 346 GBP, so HOW is "Mario Kart World bundle costing £429.99 / $449.99" - 429.99 GBP is 559.15 USD
And the Americans are saying its expensive?

The folks labeling others poor for not being able to justify a 33% increase on a leisure hobby are insane. Eggs are often a necessity and some of us are having to justify buying them or not. Budgeting isn't being poor, it's making good decisions and planning ahead. Props to anyone doing so with this farce. The Whole world economy is being ripped apart and Nintendo comes late to the party with this crap. Smh...

@WilloftheFans my above statement applies to you too.

You want to talk about "a fair price*... Okay let's talk about that shall we, in 1995, $40-$50 for a video game was considered a fair price.

$50 in 1995 is worth around $100 today and this is just for inflation. But you wanna talk about fair prices right?

Okay how about the cost for making games? The resources needed, the additional time needed? In 1995 an average AAA video game would take 18 months to 2 years to make and had about 50-80 people working on them.

Today your average AAA video game takes 4-6 years to make and requires around 200-400 people working on the project.

What do you think the fair price would be now? Better experts than me actually value a fair game price today should be around $150-180 😂.

You know what the hypocrisy here is though? If you heard that the Devs had to work in modern slavery conditions, getting paid peanuts and the studio still laying off staff, you would be up in arms about it, you'd be mad about it, but you're not willing to pay more than $50 and you best believe there better be no microtransactions.... Right?

You genuinely think this is fair? 😂

@Xbox_Dashboard ^

@Jarl76 eventually the costs will trickle down to PC too for new game releases, it doesn't matter what platform you play games on, within 2-3 years on EVERY platform including PC, you'll be paying $70+ for all your new game releases.

Special sales will still occur, you will be able to get deals and whatever else, but new games will start costing $70+ on every platform, including PC, they'll follow on too.

Now there is another factor that can keep some PC game prices low and that when you get them on PC, which can sometimes be nearly 2 years after the game initially released.

But generally every industry will soon follow suit for new game releases, even PC. Inflation effects EVERY market.

DS was $40, Wii was $50, 3DS was $40, Wii U was $60, Switch was $60. One of the reasons why I didn't buy Zelda Tears of the Kingdom was because for Nintendo to charge $70 for a Switch game simply tells me that Tears of the Kingdom was being worked on for the next Switch system (Switch 2) and moving forward, Switch 2 games will be at $69.99. No problem, the problem now is the sudden jump from 99% of Switch 1st party games being $59.99 to a new standard for Switch 2 games being $79.99. (Save the $79.99 for Switch 3/Switch 4 Games. That makes a lot more since to me than Switch 2 current prices.)

Also, speaking of Tariffs for a brief moment, if you all take the time to education yourselves. You will find that Tariffs didn't do this. It was Nintendo not seeing the vitally important bigger picture here by refusing to operate at a momentary lost for the sake of future hardware/software sales. Now we have seen in the past were Nintendo would operate a few years at a stagnant lost, but if it wasn't for that lost for that moment in time, you wouldn't have had new consumers years later. And it greatly helps to Lower the Price of Switch 2 games to a reasonable $69.99. It's that simple, but they won't listen unless we vote with our wallets even more this time around.

Yes, Streamers and fans will buy this, but I am willing to bet that the consumer base, the family market one that has kids that ask for the new Nintendo....you wanna know what the parents are going to tell there kids? "You already have a Switch, you have Mario Kart, you have Zelda, I am not buying a $80 game." $80 for a video game may not seem much for some, but in the long term...the many games that kid will ask for....it all accumulates. "If i don't buy my kid the New Switch, I can still get him Switch 1 games and the chances for price drops as Switch 2 games take over in store shelves, I will find over time even more bargins."

Keep in mind that for many years, the parent(s) were accustomed to buying games at $59.99. The moment they see these Switch 2 games for $79.99-$89.99. Is the moment you lose them. They will look for the Switch 1 games still at a reasonable $59.99-$29.99 price.

And that's why the Switch 2 will struggle this year and 2026 unless they keep in mind of the future consumer base, and the parents who pay for these games.

@Poco_Lypso What I am telling you is that Nintendo themselves didn't see the grander picture to all of this, by simply not operating at a momentary lost as these Tariffs take into effect, they choose the route to punish the consumer market for the sake of "Lets increase the price so that we can still make profits, and not simply break even during 2025-2026". It will have a ripple effect even more to other game markets now.

Yeah, they're trippin at that price. I'm gonna hafta bow out of this generation.

@Poco_Lypso Another factor, had they simply not integrated 4K and stuck with 1080p and keeping games locked at 60pfs for most game, and didn't try for that 120fps, we would have seen the price of $399.99 instead. Now those specs are the Switch 2, the specs we got on this so called Switch 2...are Switch 3 territory. They dun stick Switch 2 levels and went to Switch 3 alongside the $79.99 price tag for games. I want my $69.99 games that they stole from us.

They ain't gonna so stop complaining

@Tempestryke Agreed. For many years I didn't buy tears in the Kingdom because I knew deep down that that's $70 price point was foreshadowing the switch to being $70 but I was a fool to think that Nintendo wouldn't pull a Nintendo thing at the last minute and because of that I'm strongly considering buying a PS5 slim the cost benefit of analysis of buying a PS5 slim at this moment in time over a switch to is the price and the long-term game games that you can get on sale at this moment in time on the PS5 store will greatly outweigh the current $80 $90 price for these switch games that you're going to buy had you have bought a switch 2. Heck I am simply going to enjoy and find more value in my Switch 1 and plays games that I didn't see myself playing. Never have I ever completed or finished all the way through a file of fire emblems game hack them I'm thinking about playing Fire Emblem Shadows of valentia on my 3DS and if I like it because I play games mainly for the story and I think that's on the 3DS has the most story oriented voice acting and if I like that I'll consider getting the Fire Emblem and gauge on the switch and the other the three houses you know point is to find more value in your switch one and play the backlog like there's so many games I bought that were on sale like in the event that I get a switch to in the Far Far Future I'm not talking about anytime soon once they lower the price or have a revision Home console version for $400 only and they lower the prices that's the only hook they can get me on a switch to Home console version only that is $400 and it gives you like a year of Nintendo switch expansion pack things in that nature cuz they're going to have to do a lot to win me over again if not I'm just going to enjoy my PS4 my possibly PS5 that's coming soon my modded Wii U my modded 3DS my modded Vita and I think I'm you know when it comes to this hobby I'll find some other hobbies to focus on that don't have me spending more money than the previous model

@Poco_Lypso the $90 games is outrageous and an issue.

@Poco_Lypso But Switch v1 does. Promises kept, promises made. That Metroid Prime 4 teaser back in 2017 I believe was my reason to get a Switch. I never go in expecting to buy the next Nintendo or Playstation because it's the newest. (Also Zelda). Current moment in time, no new Zelda game for Switch 2. NEW Zelda.

Also, It's not Tariffs, it's Nintendo's decision to delay due to there concerns on making money due to Tariffs. It's the MONEY/DECISION and the HOW CAN WE MAKE MONEY that caused the Delay. Meanwhile they are letting something like Tariffs blind them from the bigger picture here.

Sale the console at a lost per usual, and make the hard decision to sale the launch year games at a lost too, if they do this. Over time, they will recover much like the 3DS senerio. Yes, I'm saying Hardware and software sale lost as these Tarffis take effect. Drop the game price to $69.99 as it should be. Take the L, and your consumers will reward you in the long-term. If they delay the console, increase the price, and keep the game prices at $79.99....they will lose a large chunk for consumers. In other words they should take the lesser of two evils approach because that very approach is going to get new consumers and previous switch one consumers to transfer over to Switch 2.

Then over time once the tariffs have subsided and everything in the global economy has adjusted they will now be left with a bunch of consumers that transferred over to the switch 2 are now going to purchase their games even more.

@Bunkerneath Have you not heard of VAT? I'm assuming you're from the UK.
The US retail price doesn't include sales tax, because it differs in percentage depending on the different states.
Add 20% to that £347, and you get £417. Switch 2 pre-tax price is a little cheaper in the UK compared to the US.

surprise! Its gonna go up for my fellow Americans. Because we elected the trash clown

@Mando44646 Video Game prices were going to raise with, or without some clown. All they can do is provide the many factors to either slow the process or amplify it. It could have been the Black/Indian Woman Clown to have done this too in some form. The only difference here is that "Orange Clown Bad", "Black Indian Clown Good." Over time it would have happened in some form. The main backlash is price of games. GTA isn't going to be $69.99 or even $79.99 , we all know should know why by now. A clown wasn't going to prevent it from happening.

@PersonaTexas keep taking that copium. And maybe an Econ 101 course

@Mando44646 Let me tell you a story that you must already know. Some people tend to forget. Not everyone has a lot of time to enjoy the entertainment of video games. My video game time is limited, and with that in mind, my wallet to invest in such a limited time I have for video game goes with that. Video games is just one section of my life that I try to make room for after work, after paying bills, after gasoline, after food, and water, after turning on the Tredmill, after mowing the lawn, after gardening, and many other factors. With that in mind:

I took a look at the Switch 2 Games, and I did not find a single game that would warrant the purchase of Switch 2 any time soon. (I will honestly explain.)

Metroid Prime 4 - I have Switch 1
Mario Kart World - Mario Kart 8 on Wii U is enough for me.
Zelda BOTW - I have it on Wii U and Switch 1
Zelda TOTK - I didn't buy it on Switch, and will buy it on Switch 1
Cyber Punk 2077 - I'll get it eventually once I get a PS5.
Bravely Default - I have it on 3DS
Yakuza 0 - Few years back I bought Yakuza 0-6 on PS4
Street Fighter - Don't care, I have Super Smash on Wii U/3DS.
Hogwarts Legacy - Played it on PS4.
Split Fiction - I'll watch streamers play this.
Raidou Remastered - After SMT III Nocture, not a fan of the look.
Tomagachi Plaza - Not thanks, I have Animal Crossing on Switch
Donkey Kong Bananza - Not a fan of Donkey Kong
Shadow Labryith - I'll play it on sale once I get PS5.
AI The sodium Files 3? - I have the 1st one on my PS4 backlog.
Super Mario Party Jamboree - Dont' want another Mario Party.
Kirby and the forgotten land - I Don't play Kirby games.
Demon X Machina - I have Xenoblade Chonicle X for Mechs.
Tony Hawk - I don't do skate boards.
Hyrule Warriors 2025 - Youtube Cutscenes, I'm good.
Pokemon Legends Z-A - It's on Switch 1
Elden Ring - PS4?...I'll get it on PS5.
Kirby Air Riders - I don't play Kirby Games.
Final Fantasy VII Intergrade - Played Remake on PS4. I'm good.
Drag X Drive - Arms All over again. No thanks.
Borderlands 4 - I have the 1st or 2nd one on PSVITA.
Hades II - I don't do indie games all that much.
Star Wars Outlaws - Star Wars? No thanks.
Professor Layton - I have the 3DS games in backlog.
Sonic X Shadows - Switch 1 backlog
Project 007 - Interested a little, but not going to buy a 3rd party for Switch 2 just for this.

So based on this...I wouldn't get a Switch 2 any time soon. I tried to be honest. Project 007 was the closest to added 1 game, but unless it's exclusive...even then...that won't be enough.

As for me getting a PS5 based on Cost/Benefit, and the odds of these games going on sale by the time I get a PS5.

• Stellar Blade
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• Astrobot
• Ghost Wire (Wish it was on PS4)
• Silent Hill 2
• Death Stranding 2 On The Beach
• GTA VI
• Silent Hill F

You may be wondering "Why only 8 PS5 games?" It's simple, this video game hobby of mine is very limited, and with every console I have had, I always prioritized trimming my catalog to a Top 10 that I would predict that I would enjoy. (With the execption of the 2020 events where after work, I would buy games on sale just to experiment, but overall finding that I was better off simply sticking with games that I knew that I would replay and value the most per console.)

Why are people so mad about the console price? It's no more expensive than the PS 5 or the Series X. People are not yelling at Microsoft & Sony. 80$ for Mario Kart is a little excessive but it's not too much more than what most games cost. But that's just my two cents worth.

@BaldB3lper78

Comprehension matters; so tell me this, was the Wii U a follow-up to Wii?

And is Switch 2 a direct sequel to Switch 1?
hmm. yea.

We're mad because the natural course of switch games becoming switch 2 game should have been 69.99 we got a hint of that with tears of the Kingdom on switch for 69.99 and for a Nintendo to suddenly jump up the price skipping our expectations that it should have been $69.99 the next standard for switch successor games that's the part where it pisses me off because in reality save the $79.99 for switch three games. And some can tell me Well Donkey Kong is going to be $69.99 no no I don't care about that I care as soon as they jump up the price of any Nintendo game if they jump it up more than $ 20 to set the new standard no I'm sorry they just lost me with that

@Alpha008 @JamesR

$80 is digital price. $90 is physical price.
Plus tax if in the US. This is a $100 game in the States

@Gkobz I’ve tried looking it up and there’s a lot of conflicting information on this subject, with little actual sourcing. (This is Nintendos fault for not clarifying things, leading to mass confusion)
Can you please link me to a source for the 90 price tag?

Going back to SNES pricing, eh Nintendo?
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/game-console-launch-prices-adjusted-for-inflation-1975-2024/

The hardware is reasonable. The software I understand why some people are upset. It's not cheap. 😢