Nintendo of America President Addresses Nintendo Switch 2 Game Prices: "What You See Right There Is Variable Pricing"
Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser recently addressed the varying prices for a number of its Nintendo Switch 2 games it announced earlier this month.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Bowser discussed the differences in prices between Mario Kart World, which is priced at $80, and Donkey Kong Bananza, which is priced at $70.
Bowser observed, “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, the breadth and depth of the gameplay, if you will, the durability over time and the repeatability of gameplay experiences,” he elaborated. “Those are all factors, and there’s many more that go into consideration of what is the right price point for the game. So I think you can anticipate that there will be variable pricing, and we haven’t set a benchmark.”
Bowser also rejected the idea that this was Nintendo trying to set a new benchmark throughout the industry. He said, “I think it’s less about representing the industry … this is really about Nintendo deciding the right thing to do for its products or what the pricing should be for its products overall. Even in the previous generation … we had some variability.”
He then reiterated that variable pricing model is the one they plan to pursue, “I think for us, that’s really how we want to proceed and go forward. I can’t speak for other games that might be released by other publishers or other platforms. It’s more about what we think is right for our content, what is the right value for the consumers as they come into our platform.”
Bowser was not the only Nintendo of America executive to make such comments. Nintendo of America Vice President of Product and Player Experience Bill Trinen spoke to IGN about the pricing for the games saying, “I would say it's less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it's more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what's the content, and what's the value?”
“Mario Kart World, I think especially as you see from the Nintendo Direct, not to give you any hints or anything, but I did read your article this morning and I think you had mentioned that you didn’t find a lot to discover when roaming around. So I would say tune into our Mario Kart Direct to see what, maybe you'll be able to find out about that,” he continued. “But honestly, this is a game that is so big and so vast and you will find so many little things in it to discover. And there's still some other secrets remaining that I think as people end up buying and playing the game, they're going to find this to be probably the richest Mario Kart experience they've ever had.”
As for Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of games such as Super Mario Party Jamboree, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and The Legend of Zelda: The Tears of the Kingdom, which are also reportedly to be priced at $79.99, Trinen explained, “Well, again, what I would say is that we just look at each individual game and we look at the content and the value of that game, and then we say, 'What is the right price for the value of this entertainment?’”
“What I would probably counter to some of that is that really what you're looking at is for the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, that's the physical price for somebody that has not bought the base game,” he added. “For somebody who has bought Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the Wild, the upgrade packs for those are $9.99. And if you happen to be a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack member, both of the Zelda upgrade packs are inclusive within that membership. So there's no additional charge for those.”
“But I think overall, our general approach is really just focus on what's the content, what's the value, and what's an appropriate price based on that,” he concluded.
What do you make of Bowser and Trinen’s comments?
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Well, duh. This has existed for a while - different games cost different prices. I think this is a way to deflect by not focusing on how expensive some of the games are.