Why Nintendo Switch games are ending up more expensive

Eurogamer: Last week we reported that Rime, the puzzle adventure game due out in May, is £10 more expensive on Nintendo Switch than on other platforms. It's safe to say this did not go down well.

[UltraNova]

I guess Nintendo's mindset on innovation affects devs, afterall, as they innovate as well on raising game prices on Nintendo platforms. Go figure...

[bouzebbal]

lol they can tell anything..
we are dealing with lies every single day to satisfy people's money worship.
Changing format cannot inflate the price of the games this much they are lying.
and how about digital prices? ahh ok..

[UltraNova]

Digital game prices are a joke and a bad one at that. Here we are having devs trying to explain why they ask 10 dollars more to print their games on a card while digital games that fill our limited HDD space and have no packaging cost for publishers are priced to the max and stay up there for months on end.

[bouzebbal]

@UltraNova

"Here we are having devs trying to explain why they ask 10 dollars more to print their games on a card while digital games that fill our limited HDD space and have no packaging cost for publishers are priced to the max and stay up there for months on end."

proof they are feeding people with garbage, especially the loyal fans like many here all of a sudden.
they are like new year's resolution. give them 2-3 months and they will vanish.
increase card games is one thing, but price digital games the same is nonsense. i am not ready to back nintendo before a long time.. not only they are making same mistakes with wii u but they have included Vita mistake with overpriced cards.

[gamesR4fun]

for sure its a money grab but you think anyone who spent on the switch cares about that?

[nitus10]

You can save money on digital downloads "only" if you don't pre-order or buy on release and wait for a sale. Sometimes games on media actually drop in price quicker than the same game for digital download, other times it is the other way around. Basically, it is up to the buyer to do their homework or "Caveat emptor" which is a Latin term that means "let the buyer beware."

When a game is brought out in a physical format such as a CD, DVD, Bluray or cartridge you have to consider multiple factors in the cost. Firstly there is the cost of the game which is normally set by the distributor based on the perceived worth of the game. Secondary there is the cost of the media and the packaging. Thirdly is the cost associated with the reseller (ie. Amazon, Best Buy ... etc).

The first and third category are pretty much similar across all games and all platforms, however, the second one (packaging and media) is one that can add to the overall price of the game.

Comparing the packaging of games for Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony games look like there would be little if any differential in price. Comparing the cost of a Bluray disk to a games cartridge is significant since the cartridge is much more expensive even in OEM quantities. It is basically this cost differential that makes identical games more expensive on cartridge than on Bluray.

[Nivekki]

I used to take sleeping pills for my insomnia, but now I just read nitus10's comments, they're very effective.

[Bathyj]

Its baffling to me to think that the pigheaded mindset Nintendo had in the 90's with cartridges that gave birth to the Playstation, is still alive today.

I mean CARTRIDGES? Its 2017. Were 3D printing body parts. The gaming world is on the cusp of going digital and they make cartridges. And only up to 32gb as well.

This stuck in the past, living on gimmicks, sticking with underpowered hardware hoping to catch lightening in a bottle twice is the reason I havent enjoyed a Nintendo Product since the Gamecube, and why they havent enjoyed really fantastic 3rd party support since the SNES.

Nintendo seems happy to be and to alway be, a console you only buy to play Nintendo games on. It may be good enough to become my secondary as it is different from the others, but I dont see Nintendo ever being anyones Primary console again, unless you have very specific tastes.

[UltraNova]

By spesific tastes you mean Zelda and Mario, thats basically it.

I need more at my age and Nintendo has been giving me the finger for 10+ years now, its a shame realy cause I've been there for them from the start.

Nintendo needs to realize that the people who made them what they are today are in their 30s now, accept this fact and try and cater to them as well.

It seems they dont care, why should I?

[CocoaBrother]

A couple of counterpoints:

1) The PS4 store always has download games at full retail price on launch (around £55) and can be slow to discount them. This has always surprised me considering that beyond the convenience of download, purchasing games this way has very few benefits (you eat up memory space, you can't easily transfer the game to another machine, etc.)

2) Recommended retail price rarely ever reflects the price you can actually buy games at.

3) I'm not happy about games like Rime and Puyopuyo Tetris costing £10 more than they do on PS4. The portability of the games on Switch is worth a few more to me, but not ten. I'll be eagerly watching to see if both games drop in price to a more reasonable price difference, closer to launch.

4) The Switch already seems to be developing a clear model of premium games at a high RRP on cartridge, and smaller indie games available to buy at lower prices on the eShop. Rime is a weird game in that it looks to lie somewhere in between the two models (much like No Man's Sky did on PS4, and we know how that turned out).

5) If Nintendo can use this model of cheap indies on download, and premium games on cartridges I think it's on to a winner. That being said, we've all seen in the past how slow Nintendo can be to adapt, so I'm not holding my breath.

[MVGeneral]

The reason ps4 and xbone has full priced games on the digital market is to appease the retailers. Retailers are worried that digital sales will make them lose money if it was cheaper. They lose the cut they get. And Sony and Microsoft need to have good rapport with retailers for their consoles and other products. So to fend off bad relationships with retailers, they offer digital only for around the same price. This issue was discussed regarding the vita

[crazychris4124]

Because people will buy it, simple as that.

[psuedo]

Dont know why you got disagrees. Same thing with the switch..

[FallenAngel1984]

I knew that producing games on cartridges would cost more for developers than producing them on Blu-Ray discs, which the costs would then be put onto consumers.

This isn't going to go well for console gamers when later third party games cost more on NS than they do on competing platforms. Not to mention it's doubtful if a lot of traditionally handheld gamers will pay a premium cost for their games to begin with.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

even so the cost of development is not.
Dev kit are around $500 and everything else after that.

Sure the manufacturing maybe a bit more if the situation even comes.

[nitus10]

Comparing the cost of development kits is not really a good measure. I think the development kits for the PS4 are around $2,500 but in reality, this cost pales into insignificance against the overall cost of the game so depending on the game you may find the overall cost saving on a Nintendo Switch game is only a few cents (if that) compared to the same game on a Sony or even Microsoft platform.

Ignoring digital downloads (you need storage to do this) the overall cost of a game cartridge even in OEM quantities is quite significant (I am talking dollars not cents) compared to the same game on a Bluray disk.

[PhoenixUp]

@ Otaku

Even so we can already see the production costs from these cartridges being passed onto consumers. Titles such as Ultra Street Fighter II & Super Bomberman R have no business costing $40 and $50 respectively

[davand114]

There's nothing indicating that those games are being sold at those price points because of cartridges. If that was the case why does does Disgaea complete would cost $70, Has been heroes wouldn't cost $20, Binding of Isaac afterbirth+ wouldn't cost $40. There's no evidence that games are going to cost more because of cartridges. All the games that are coming to the switch are the same price as they are on other consoles. The prices of Ultra Street fighter and Super Bomberman R are just the companies overpricing games that they are releasing. This isn't the first and won't be the last time that we see games that have content that don't justify the price on any console.

[davand114]

The only game that costs more is Rime. Disgaea 5 complete is $60, the physical version of I am setsuna is $40, Has Been Heroes is still $20 physical. The only game that costs more is Rime and the reason might be because they decided to hire another company to do the switch port.

[Segata]

It only costs 50 cents more.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

The cost is a BS excuse.
We've got plenty of other devs saying that it's the easiest of all current systems to port their games to, and even one that is saying they got their game ported in a week's time.
Then there's the fact that Nintendo can still price the games at a normal console game rate with no $10 mark-up.
This is on the RIME devs. It's a cheap cash grab intended to stiff new Switch owners, which the RIME devs obviously think are all naive and won't notice the difference.

[VersusDMC]

Jesus... We were paying 40 dollars for portable games and now all of a sudden cartridges (that look like 3ds cartridges) cost more to make. And people still defend this. Nintendo fans have Stockholm syndrome....

[yezz]

I would assume that some of these Switch games are much larger than anything on the 3ds. A 4gb cartridge is probably way cheaper than a 32gb one..

[VersusDMC]

Puyopuyo Tetris is 10 dollars more expensive on switch. It must really be filling up that 32gb card...

[nitus10]

If you look at SD cards which can vary widely in price per capacity per performance you will see that a 4GB SD card is not that much cheaper than an 8GB or even a 16GB cartridge.

It is not good economics to produce a whole range of different capacity cartridges so it is best to standardize on a few sizes such as 16GB, 32GB and 64GB since the manufacturing process is essentially the same and it so much easier to get a more consistent quality in cost and performance across three sizes rather than multiple sizes.

Let's put it this way. How many 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2Gb and 4Gb SD cards do you see on the market now and even if you did, would you buy them?

[davand114]

What are you talking about? One game gets a higher price because of development cost and people think it's because of cartridges and not because they decided to hire a outside company to do the port?

[VersusDMC]

If developers charged more because of development cost then GTAV would have cost 200 dollars at launch. GTAV cost 265 million to develop. By comparison horizon was 47 million. Bayonetta for PS3 was ported by sega and not platinum... Should it have cost 10 dollars more?

[davand114]

@VersusDMC
That's the reason that the dev team for Rime used to charge $10 more. Platinum doing the port themselves would be cheaper than them hiring a outside dev team to port the game for them.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

It's not Nintendo pricing RIME wrongly, so no.
There are plenty of games on Switch with normal price tags.
Anti-Nintendo fanboys like you have more issues than National Geographic...

[VersusDMC]

I'm anti overpricing. Please tell me 1-2 switch is priced appropriately. Please rationalize that that in your head... Everything Nintendo switch is overpriced. One instance of consumer appreciation from Nintendo is bayonetta 2. Including Bayo 1 in the package was a classy move. 👍🏽 So I know they can be better.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

" Everything Nintendo switch is overpriced. "
So Zelda isn't worth the normal price that it IS going for?
Nor is Blaster Master, or Fast RMX, or anything else?
Please justify THAT kind of illogical BS to me.
12 Switch may be a party game, but there are plenty of other party games on plenty of other consoles that go for regular price instead of discounted prices, yet I'd bet the overinflated price of Rime that you never batted an eye at them for it.

Just come to your senses already; this whole RIME fiasco is not the fault of Nintendo, nor is it justified, especially digitally.

If you're going to complain about Nintendo-based price hikes, try looking towards the price of a Switch dock or some of its other accessories.(not all, but some)

[VersusDMC]

The system(arguably), controllers, Lan adapter sold separately, all retail games (exept Zelda) are overpriced. Digital only games are the same price as the ps4 versions or are in the 9.99 - 14.99 price range that indie games usually are admittedly.But puyopuyo Tetris being 10 dollars more expensive than the Ps4 version is BS. As well as Rime, street fighter 2 and other indie games charging 40$. The Switch retail market is a predatory one right now. Gouging their hardcore fans or people starved for content unaware they are paying a unwarranted premium for content available on the other consoles for less. Nintendo is allowing it to happen while doing it as well.

[Enigma_2099]

This conclusion was based off the price of TWO games?

From the article:
Eurogamer may have found the answer: high production costs. The site notes that while Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé stated publishers and developers alike can set any price for their games, the cost of Switch cartridges don’t allow for much wiggle room; in fact, they’re actually more expensive to produce than PS4’s Blu-Ray discs! And that’s not even factoring in their various sizes: the Switch cards can range anywhere from 1GB to 32GB.

Note the part where they say that publishers and developers can set any price for their games? Now when you start playing the blame game, remember who to point the finger at.

[ColonelHugh]

I don't think anyone should be playing the blame game at either side. The cartridges ARE very expensive, that's true. This basically forces the publishers to raise the price, and that does not make them the bad guys. Nintendo couldn't use discs with a handheld, or even go full digital with such a small hard drive, so they chose what was already successful for their handhelds.

All in all, I think gamers should just avoid multiplat titles on the Switch when they opt for an increased price. Every multiplatform game that shows up on PS4, XB1, or PC is bound to look and run better than the Switch versions. The ability to game on the go, to me, is not worth the added price in most cases.

Eventually, 3rd party devs will either choose a financial loss while pricing games the same as other versions, or the devs will simply avoid the Switch entirely, UNLESS... the Switch becomes massively popular, which is possible.

[davand114]

If that was the case don't you think every game on the switch would cost more not just the game that was made by a indie that decided to hire a outside company to make the port. Wouldn't games like the Binding of Isaac, Has Been Heroes, Disgaea cost more? Most of the games coming to the switch have the same price as the other systems. The only one that is raising the price for development cost is Rime and they're a indie that decided to hire another studio and they had to cover that cost. So far from what I see with the Japanese third party games that are coming to the switch they are going to be the same price as everyone else.

[Segata]

Actually no. The carts only cost 50 cents more than a Blu Ray pressed. So they are not VERY expensive.

[Enigma_2099]

Oh get real... you KNOW they're gonna blame Nintendo.

[rocketpanda]

So how will thing affect 3rd party publishers in the long run. If it is to believed that the cost of games being on larger capacity cards, and cheaper on other platforms, won't that just drive sales down on the Switch besides their 1st party titles and more important the loss of 3rd party support.

If 3rd party publishers see low profit margins then why would they support the system in the long run if the same game is available on other platforms and cheaper.

[Emme]

The irony is that the industry went with dvds and blu rays for some reasons, and Nintendo now is back in the 80s.Small, expensive cartridges.

[hahaha]

Why Nintendo Switch games are ending up more expensive? Because they are not cheap.

[mch2011uk]

Not in GAME £59.99 for switch and wii u version.

[Segata]

This is bunk. Easy way to debunk it. Blu Ray costs 2 American Dollars to press. A MASK ROM from Macronix who also did DS and 3DS costs $2.50. SO it's really not much more to justify 10 dollar price hikes. It's an excuse.

[OrbitingTheOrb]

I can't imagine EVER buying a 3rd party game on switch anyway. It'll always be the lesser version, so why bother. Once again nintendo is all first party or bust

[Dragonscale]

Because nintendo lol. The whole thing is extortionate not just the games.

[PlayStation_5]

Somewhere right now a Mom is tearing apart the family room trying to find her kids' tiny $60 Switch cartridges that keep getting lost, and thinking to herself, "Why couldn't Nintendo just put their games on discs like everyone else?!"

Meanwhile, the dog has one in his stomach, another one is lodged in the vacuum cleaner, there's one stuck in the backseat of the car, one is in the lint trap of the dryer, and a few more are buried in the bottom of the kids' Lego bucket...

[feraldrgn]

Great, so if true the Switch games won't go down in price & will continue to be a rip-off compared to the competition, especially when it comes to multiplats.
Thanks Nintendo.

Then again though, it's not just the games that are more expensive than expected.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Nintendo can, and do, price their games normally, so can, and do, plenty of other devs on Switch.
Production costs are a flat out excuse for publisher greed in the case of these two games.
And here you are trying to pin blame solely on Nintendo for a 50 cent difference in format being inflated by none-Nintendo devs, which are the ones who decided the price, to an extra $10 in cost, even digitally!
As expected from a Nintendo hater...

[feraldrgn]

This is about UK prices.
Zelda, published by Nintendo (on Amazon) = £66.76
(on Argos) = £54.99

[ElectricFeel]

Making a game on sd card definitely doesn't cost an extra 10 dollars. The price hikes definitely aren't justified on the devs part.

[ShadowWolf712]

Could also be Nintendo asking for more of a cut.

They did it back during the GameCube days too.