The biggest surprise of the Nintendo Direct last week wasn’t the functionality of the C button or the lack of a new 3D Mario game—it was the price of new Switch 2 games. Nintendo is going to charge an eye-popping $80 for Mario Kart World, and despite fans raiding a Switch 2 livestream to demand lower prices, the company isn’t backing down.
Speaking with IGN after the Nintendo Switch 2 presentation last week, Nintendo of America VP of Player & Product Experience Bill Trinen was asked about the strategy behind putting an $80 price tag on Mario Kart World, and this is what he said:
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? […] 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.
In other words, Nintendo is selling Mario Kart World for $80 because that is what it believes this game is worth. Meanwhile, we know the Switch 2 exclusive Donkey Kong Bananza will retail for $70, which suggests it’s not as robust as Mario Kart World.
Complicating matters further, Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games that bundle Switch 1 titles with upgrade packs cost more than the originals did at launch. For example, Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition costs $80. By Nintendo’s logic, a game from the previous generation with visual enhancements has the same value as Mario Kart World and is somehow worth $10 more than the Switch 2 exclusive Donkey Kong Bananza.
“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?’” Trinen added when asked about these games. “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.”
Games are more expensive to produce than ever, and the $60 price point for major games was not sustainable. That’s all well and good, but I’m not sure I buy Nintendo’s messaging here. The lack of consistency in pricing has unsurprisingly drawn the ire of consumers everywhere, and that’s before we even see the impacts of Trump’s tariffs.
