No other prices are currently listed that I can see. Upgrade Pack cost is also not listed. Looks like Switch 2 first party games will be $79.99 USD going forward.
Between tariffs, scalpers, the recession/depression and just the bizarre stuff they’re implementing im gonna be slow rolling this one.
Inflation or not, a 50% price hike between generations is beyond absurd.
Yeah, this secures a pc handheld for me going forward.
Been a Nintendo fan since the NES, bordering on obsession when I was a teenager and young adult. They’ve always made my favorite games. Looks like their new leadership has really shown its colors today though. The fucking hubris. I will not be paying these prices. $90 physical games? Iwata made sure games were $10 cheaper than the more powerful competitors, not $20 more expensive.
Burn in hell, Nintendo. I hope hackers work really hard to crack this system so I can steal your games. Otherwise I’ll emulate them sometime down the line.
N64 games were $70 in the 90s. We’re still way below that with inflation
That is true. Regardless, I’m not paying $90 for video games when we’re in such hard times in my country. Steam sales and fit-girl is how I’m rolling into the foreseeable future.
I’m a patient person who doesn’t need a game at launch and will wait a year to get it at a good price. What stings with Nintendo is that they don’t lower game prices even years later though. Looks like I’ll be waiting quite some time before I play the next Mario and Zelda adventures. Unfortunate but I’ll live.
80 digital, 90 physical? I don’t see me doing that although i could. Didn’t buy any PS5 games in that range either.
Switch titles were great because most titles I purchased were either 1st party or indie.
The Indies were usually modest in scope and priced accordingly and all of my 1st party games were purchased with 2 for au$135 vouchers.
These bought the per title price down to the equivalent of us$38 (pre tax), quite a bargain and I bought quite a few games in launch week where i would have been waiting for a sale on other platforms.
Now the voucher page is telling me:
Regarding Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive games: Please note that Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers cannot be redeemed for Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive games.
If they don’t offer an equivalent Switch 2 Voucher program I’m likely to pass on the smaller releases.
I suppose open world Mario Kart could be interesting, but not worth $80. And having to pay more to “upgrade” games I already have is a no for me. Especially when it seems like the upgrades are just minor graphical improvements.
For me, it depends on how much the upgrade packs add. If you frame it as “We will be releasing select Switch titles as enhanced editions on the Switch 2. If you already have the Switch version, you can buy the enhanced edition at a discount by getting it as an Upgrade Pack.”
Doesn’t PlayStation have a similar program?
Yeah but isn’t PlayStation sometimes the upgrades included all the controller features and audio features that didn’t exist for ps4. Games like Death Stranding charged for their upgrades ($10 I believe) but it massively changed the feel of the game. Many other games were free. Put the disk in and it automatically installed the ps5 version, or you had to click something on the shop and it upgraded. Other than death stranding every game that I did an upgrade path for was free and there were a lot of them.
I don’t know about Sony, but I can play all of my digitally purchased games on my Xbox, regardless of generation. I can play my original xbox, 360, and Xbox one games on my Series X without any additional charges.
The fact that I have to upgrade my Switch games to play them on the Switch 2 is annoying. Especially for a game like Breath of the Wild, which has already released at full price on 2 other consoles.
You can still play switch 1 games on the 2. The upcharge is for the enhanced versions.
Fair, I didn’t see that it was optional. Even so, having to pay more just for better frame rates and faster load times is a little silly considering it’s a new console and that should be expected. I could understand if there were new higher res textures or quality of life improvements, but it doesn’t seem to be that.
For Mario Party Jamboree, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land they are including additional content (a bit like adding Bowser’s Fury or Lanky Kong). For the Zeldas they are adding second screen features.
I don’t like the up sell but it is offering something, I can see them feeling they have a justification for the fee there.
Really I’m surprised they are offering the upgrade licences as cards they can sell in 3rd party stores, hopefully we see some competition there.
Edit:
The Nintendo published games receiving free updates are listed here:
Many backwards compatible games on Xbox automatically get upgrades like increased frame rate, higher resolution, and HDR. They don’t charge for these, it’s just a feature.
It remains to be seen whether Nintendo adds enough new value to justify paid upgrades, and we don’t even know how much they’ll cost, but on the face of it it’s a worse value proposition than what the competition has been offering for years.
When you consider that Mario Kart 64 cost $120 in 2025 money, it seems much more reasonable.
Not necessarily. You can’t just say games should cost more because of inflation.
You’d have to take into account the cost to produce the game and the size of the market.
Right, but production cost has also increased steeply. Game scope has increased across the board, every asset is much more detailed (expensive) to produce and every developer is now more expensive than in the 00’s.
Ocarina of time reportedly cost ~12 million. Breath of the wild is estimated closer to 120 million, not counting marketing budgets for either.
Now games have gotten more popular but they haven’t gotten 10x more popular.
That’s a good point, but there are also significantly lower costs for digital downloads compared to a plastic cartridges that have to be shipped.
Well gonna lean more into sales than I already am
I’m getting one to play with friends but everything 3rd party is going to Steam
I’ve had Metroid Prime 4 pre-ordered for years, I almost didn’t want to cancel that order out of sheer spite. But why wouldn’t I get the Switch 2 version instead?
