Nintendo Defends Controversial Switch 2 Pricing Strategy And Says $450 Isn't Because Of Tariffs
All of the cool stuff revealed in last week's Switch 2 Direct was quickly overshadowed by worries about its higher prices, including $450 for the console and Mario Kart World being Nintendo's first $80 game. Then the company halted pre-orders in the U.S. in the face of unprecedented tariffs that could push prices even higher. Now Nintendo has gone on record to defend those prices and claim tariffs weren't part of the original arithmetic.
'Put [the April 2nd announcement] aside,' Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser told The Verge. '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 added.
Bowser defended the Switch 2's existing $450 price tag by pointing to its bigger, newer LCD screen, stronger GPU, better Joy-Con, and new features like GameChat, a Discord-like voice and video chat option gated behind a Switch Online subscription. 'We want to make sure that this is a device that is approachable, that consumers will see as part of their overall entertainment experiences and will understand that it has longevity to it,' Bowser told The Verge. 'And all of those factors really go into the consideration of the price.'
He did hint at something interesting, which is that the existing Switch models are part of the calculus. The 2017 edition has still never gotten a price drop and remains $300. The Switch OLED is even more at $350. If Nintendo continues selling them, it's not shocking that the Switch 2, a generational leap, would be $100 more. 'You want to consider pricing relative to the Switch since we still have that in distribution,' Bowser said.
Mario Kart World's $80 price tag is arguably what's been upsetting fans even more, and leading them to spam Nintendo Tree House Live demos of the game on YouTube with wall-to-wall 'drop the price' comments. Bowser confirmed to The Washington Post it's not the new 'benchmark' for Switch 2 games, and the company will continue exploring variable pricing. But why make Mario Kart World the canary in the $80 mine right at launch? 'We just look at what is the experience, and what's the content, and what's the value?' Nintendo of America's VP of product and player experience Bill Trinen told IGN.
He also suggested that there are tons of new details about the game that haven't been revealed yet that will win fans over. '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 said, referring to a deeper dive into the game slated for April 17.
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.
Trinen also confirmed Welcome Tour, the Switch 2's Astro's Playroom-style mini-game explainer for the new hardware, is a $10 digital-only download. Why not a pack-in for the console, like Wii Sports? 'Just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, 'Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you're getting out of the product,' he said.
The veteran Nintendo employee also weighed in on why games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be $80 on Switch 2 for their upgraded content, despite having been released several years ago at this point. '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,' Trinen said.
Poor Donkey Kong Bananza. At just $70, Nintendo must not think it's as good or just not the same 'value' as some of its other games. One big question remains, then. Is $70 the new $60 on Switch 2, or the new $50? I hope Welcome Tour has a The Price is Right mini-game.
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