I think the console being $450 is reasonable given the upgrades. The games being $80-90, though, I’m not as forgiving. Fingers crossed they go down.
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I want to put my own two cents into the mix on this price stuff. Starting with the Switch 2 itself being $450, while that obviously looks kinda rough, it’s still $50 lower than launch PS5. Now obviously the PS5 has better specs, but this is an expected thing to happen with Nintendo consoles. They’ll have lower specs, but you get a slew of other features to make up for it. If you further compare prices based on older consoles you get the Switch at $300 and the PS4 at $400. Obviously Nintendo jumped their price up significantly more than Sony did, but I would also say that the hardware improvements between consoles is bigger for Nintendo here, although I could be wrong since Switch 2 isn’t here yet.
The games are something I’m more split on. To start things off though I completely agree with the sentiment that $90 for a physical game is absurd. Onto the other numbers I’ve been seeing we’ll just go straight down to $80. As far as I’ve seen so far the only $80 game so far is Mario Kart World. I saw a comment about how Nintendo specifically raised the price on MK to get more people to buy the bundle. It kinda makes sense, but I think it’ll be worthless information as soon as the next $80 game is announced. As for $70 games, I think this is more likely to be the standard. The new Donkey Kong is listed at $70, so I can’t think of a reason why it would randomly be cheaper. While I’m not thrilled that $70 is becoming the industry standard for games, it is still the standard. I see no reason to be angry at Nintendo specifically for this.
Something else I’d like to add is that this price tag is only for Nintendo’s first party games, albeit they do have a lot of those. Indie games and third party stuff could potentially be cheaper. I also feel like this isn’t really a new issue with Nintendo, their games have always been expensive, just not necessarily up front. The prices of their first party games take forever to drop in price. The best example of this being 1, 2, Switch. It was a crappy tech demo launch title that to this day costs $50 on Nintendo’s website. Nintendo has always been pricey in this way largely because they have a monopoly on their genres.
So while I can easily stand by other people and complain about how I don’t want to spend more money, I also think it’s a bit overblown.
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I personally think all the launch titles looked very weak. Looks like another Gamecube and Wii U problem, they used all their peak on the previous consoles.
No Zelda was a given, but lack of a mainline Mario in favor of the controversial Donkey Kong redesign? Meh. And Mario Kart I care little for, it’s only fun with friends, and I have zero friends who will pay for this console.
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Well…there was that Hyrule Warriors announcement.
It is more of the tech-demo being advertised as something one must pay, rather than a free launch title, as such was the case with Sony and the Astro-Bot demo. That signals, personally, that a trend is nigh.
And the rumor of game cards serving as licenses to own a game, but not holding the game data itself. Perhaps, like anything one loves, the moment it reaches heights of success in the mainstream, downward will it fall.
Is this welcoming a greater conversation on the nature of gaming becoming one for the elite rather than the passing consumer? Perhaps.
I, for one, would love to know who thought it best to write within the presentation the claim that the Gamecube port of Windwaker is somehow far superior to the Wii U’s HD Version that not only improved the view, but the gameplay mechanics as well.
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I’m not sure how that translates to the game being a weak launch title. It’s a pretty big deal considering the last Mario Kart stuck around for eleven years.
It’s a very concerning possibility. Digital games have always concerned me when there is any sort of implication that the game you bought and paid for the ability to possess is not actually in your possession, and your accessing it is held at the mercy of a massive corporate entity which could, at any moment, pull the plug.
I’m also just a big fan of analog systems. Tech capabilities have increased dramatically since the days of VHS tapes, and I often wonder what could be accomplished if the two formats were merged beyond ‘stick the cartridge in the system’.
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Wasn’t it the CEO or something like that of Ubisoft that said you should get comfortable not owning your games? And people started saying “if buying it isn’t owning it, piracy isn’t theft?” I don’t really agree with that saying but there are definitely people who do… Nintendo’s gonna anger a lot of people if they decide to go with game licenses instead of actual copies of the game.
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