Nintendo Switch 2 and Game Prices Cause Uproar
Nintendo Switch 2 and Game Prices Cause Uproar
WRITTEN BY EDWARD BRYAN SABA-CASTILLO
On April 2nd, Nintendo revealed their newest upcoming console as well as its launch title, Mario Kart World. Things were looking up as fans were ecstatic for the new gaming era. However, once the presentation ended, Nintendo put out the price for both the console and the newest Mario Kart, and let’s just say…fans are not happy about it.
It was revealed that the Nintendo Switch 2 would be priced at $449.99 and Mario Kart World would be $79.99, making it the first Mario title to cost 80+ dollars! This was a big shock to many fans as the majority of games have always been around at most 60+ dollars. It’s even more strange that another Nintendo title, Donkey Kong Banazna, was announced to be less than that at around 70 dollars. This may be an alternate norm for game prices, but what is going on?
There is some talk about how this is a result of the recent tariffs being put in place around the globe, and because of that prices are being increased everywhere and people’s wallets are hurting.
The newest Mario Kart entry is exclusive for that console so if fans want to play that game, they have to purchase the console, massive price tag and all. This was also followed up with the exclusive additional content for other games that also cost 80 dollars, and its new content is exclusive for the Switch 2. Although some of this additional material doesn’t seem to be big enough new content to justify these high prices. To me it seems like they could make it DLC, and that’s added onto the fact that the Switch 2 is backwards compatible, so I would be able to play the original game regardless of the Switch 2 versions. All in all, this is a textbook example of what people would call, “Highway robbery.”
Mario Kart World is a launch title, so it does make sense to ride on the hype of a new Mario Kart, as we have had its predecessor for basically 10+ years now. Speaking personally, I am happy to see them focus on the new Mario Kart and it is clearly a big deal, it just doesn’t seem right to buy a game that is practically 20 dollars away from 100!
The Nintendo Switch 2 is 100% more powerful than the Switch with its added features, such as its obvious bigger screen, performance improvements, and larger storage. However, there is one other new feature that explains the issues at hand regarding price.
Nintendo Switch 2 introduces a C button that activates GameChat, where you can chat with friends while playing and/or streaming games, even if you’re all on a different game entirely. Basically, it’s Nintendo’s Discord. The big catch is, you will need the Nintendo Switch Online subscription for this to work, so if you don’t have NSO, you can’t use it, meaning that the C button is just useless., You would also need to purchase a camera to use to do “Facetime.” The camera costs 50 bucks, so getting all those items, Mario Kart, Switch 2, and the Camera, that’s 80+ dollars, 450 dollars, and then 50 more bucks, practically almost 600 bucks! This is not a good strategy for pricing. Now we can see why they didn’t announce the price for anything during the Presentation, because they KNEW that if they did, the fan reception would be negative across the board. It was a good marketing trick, cutting the price announcement from the presentation in order to have fans still hype over all the game announcements.
In my opinion when it comes to Gamechat, just stick to Discord. You don’t have to worry about buying a microphone or camera because it’s free!
We did get the announcement of a bundle which technically lets you purchase the new Mario Kart for 30 dollars less but the price of the bundle is $499.99, THAT’S 500+ DOLLARS!!!!
And that was the tipping point for fans. In Nintendo’s treehouse presentation showcasing the new upcoming games for Switch 2, the comment section was just filled with spam:, “ Drop the price! , Price drop! , Boycott the release! , Delay the release!”, the list goes on.
It has gotten so bad, fans are considering NOT buying the console or the game to help send a message to Nintendo that this is too high of a price for them to believe it is acceptable.
After a few days, Nintendo finally has provided a statement on the high prices, in an interview with IGN, Bill Trinen (Nintendo’s vice president of Product and Player Experience) stated that the high price for Mario Kart World is justified due it’s high amount of content within the game and players will understand why it’s such a high price after playing it, “ 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?” 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 the Switch 2 prices, Nintendo of America’s president Doug Bowser (yes that’s his last name) has stated that it is NOT due to the tariff’s going around; In an article with the Verge, he explains that “ Any previous tariffs were not factored into the price itself.” There’s still no new date for when pre-orders for the Switch 2’s June 5 launch will begin. “The news is fresh, and like many companies right now, we are actively assessing what the impact may be” He even defends the $450.00 prices due to the Switch 2’s many new upgrades.
Even with Nintendo finally addressing the issue at hand, there are still so many red flags going around about this, it doesn’t seem right to have this much be spent on a console and future games.
A former Nintendo PR employee Kit Ellis, stated in a video on his channel, “I don’t want to blow things out of proportion, but this does feel like a true crisis moment for Nintendo. It just shows some disrespect to the consumer, where, ‘oh, you just saw the Direct you’re so excited, you’re just gonna throw your money at us blindly, you’re not going to even ask the question of how much it cost because you’re so excited, aren’t you?’ “
He speaks the truth on this as it IS setting Nintendo up for disaster. We already received confirmation that they are delaying pre-orders for the Switch 2 due to the tariff’s, but the release date is still June 5th, so we can only hope things change as the story unfolds.
However, while we all may feel annoyed with this situation, the Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart World may still sell well regardless of what’s going on in the world. Content Creators and other fans of the franchise who are financially stable enough will still go out with their hard-earned cash and purchase it, so only time will tell what happens next. Will any of the outrage from fans even matter, or will time pass and people will move on and just accept it?
Yin-Poole, Wesley. “Switch 2 Exclusive Mario Kart World Justifies Its $80 Price Tag, Nintendo Insists in First Comments Addressing Cost Controversy.” IGN, 7 Apr. 2025, www.ign.com/articles/switch-2-exclusive-mario-kart-world-justifies-its-80-price-tag-nintendo-insists-in-first-comments-addressing-cost-controversy.
Webster, Andrew. “Nintendo Boss on Switch 2 and Tariffs: ‘We Are Actively Assessing What the Impact May Be.’” The Verge, The Verge, 7 Apr. 2025, www.theverge.com/nintendo/643277/nintendo-switch-2-price-tariffs-doug-bowser-interview.
Ellis, Kit. “The Reactions Inside Nintendo As Fans Rage About Switch 2 Pricing.” YouTube, youtu.be/jMibVyYvSYU?si=LAek6-lh2PlWHAj4. Accessed 10 Apr. 2025.
