Nintendo fans experienced a bit of sticker shock following the Switch 2 Direct on Wednesday, April 2, when the iconic gaming company announced via its website that the price for some marquee Nintendo Switch 2 titles would be $79.99. The company omitted any discussion of game prices during the livestream, but shortly after its conclusion, the internet was confronted with the new price tag on the Mario Kart World landing page.
The new MSRP reflects a $20 increase from what we saw throughout the original Nintendo Switch generation and a $10 increase from what we are currently used to when buying games for other consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. But will this be Nintendo's new norm? It's likely, but we aren't entirely sure just yet, because it would appear that the $79.99 asking price won't necessarily apply to Nintendo's entire slate of Switch 2 titles — currently, Donkey Kong Bananza is listed at $69.99 for the digital edition, which is more in step with what other platforms are charging today.
Will physical editions cost even more?
Things got more interesting when Nintendo's Spanish website posted EU prices for Nintendo's Switch 2 launch games. A visit to the site reveals that not only will digital editions of Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza cost €80 and €70, respectively, but their physical editions will cost an extra €10 on top of that. That's €90 for a physical copy of Mario Kart World, which is a pretty staggering price hike from the original Nintendo Switch's physical editions, which cost the same as their digital counterparts in most cases. We can't confirm that US prices will end up being the same, but this change indicates that pricing differences between digital and physical games in the Nintendo Switch 2 era could be likely.
Other big Switch 2 titles announced during the Direct, including The Duskbloods and Kirby Air Riders, have not yet published their retail prices.
What about Nintendo Switch 2 game upgrades?
Amongst the Switch 2 announcements, Nintendo also revealed that select original Switch games — including Super Mario Party: Jamboree, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond — will receive Nintendo Switch 2 edition upgrades for those who want to experience them at higher quality on the new console. We don't know exact pricing on those yet, but we do know that those who already own original Nintendo Switch copies of those games won't have to pay full price for the upgrade. Instead, they'll pay a smaller fee to access the titles on the Switch 2. Unfortunately, we don't know what that upgrade fee will be yet, either.
A new industry standard?
While the Mario Kart World pricing news was a shock to many in the gaming world, we've been expecting an industry-wide price increase on games for some time now. The $59.99 base price for both digital and physical copies of games hasn't changed much over the past few decades, with some new-gen games only recently donning a $69.99 price tag. But, with inflation and increased game development costs, it was only a matter of time before we'd see increases like the ones we're seeing with the Nintendo Switch 2.
What remains to be seen, though, is whether other platforms will follow suit. Will $79.99 games come to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in the near future? We think it's likely.
Are Trump's tariffs to blame?
Naturally, President Donald Trump's new tariff policy came up in conversation following the Switch 2 game and hardware pricing news. Will they have an impact on the new Nintendo Switch? The answer is yes and no. Games industry expert and Director of Research and Insights at Niko Partners, Daniel Ahmad, posted his take in a thread on X, saying, "This isn't because of tariffs by the way. Nintendo games are manufactured in Japan and tariffs don't apply to digital goods."
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It's a different story for Switch 2 hardware, though, which includes the console itself and its compatible accessories like Joy-Con controllers and the Switch 2 Camera. Nintendo has manufactured some of its products in China, and with the 34 percent tariff that Trump just slapped on the country's exports, we wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo hardware prices increased even more. In fact, on April 4, Nintendo announced that it would be delaying preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2 until they could assess the potential impact of the new tariffs, so a pre-release price hike could potentially be incoming. The Nintendo Switch 2's June 5 release date remains unchanged.
