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Nintendo Switch Prices with 3rd party’s why are they different

Telpis

Telpis

Banned
Jan 17, 2018
1,319
Browsing Argos & Smyths Toys today I'm looking at buying Sonic Mania & It's €19.99 for PS4 & Xbox One and it's €24.99 on Nintendo Switch.

I've noticed this trend for awhile now, same goes for LEGO DC Super Villians is €5 more on Switch.

I'd like more games on my Switch so I ended up buying Sonic for PS4.

So why does this happen is Nintendo charging more or is it the publisher or the store doing this?
 
Cosmonaut X

Cosmonaut X

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,952
Switch cart media is not cheap, basically. Hopefully the more software sold, the more that prices to publishers will come down and the more they can pass that on to consumers.
 
Seedy87

Seedy87

Member
Jan 4, 2018
255
It's been well-documented for a long while now that Switch game card production costs are higher than Blu-ray discs. The publishers choose to offset that on the consumer rather than take the hit themselves, which is why you will see Switch prices marginally higher.

Digital pricing's a more complicated story, but, compared to Wii U and 3DS, there are far more regular Nintendo eShop sales to hold out for.
 
OP
OP
Telpis

Telpis

Banned
Jan 17, 2018
1,319
Cosmonaut X said:
Switch cart media is not cheap, basically. Hopefully the more software sold, the more that prices to publishers will come down and the more they can pass that on to consumers.
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Didn't know this thank you.

I guess I'm sticking to my usual Nintendo routine so

PS4 for 1st & 3rd Party & Nintendo for 1st Party only, oh well
 
Noppie

Noppie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,801
I think it's sometimes also because the Switch version sells better. Starlink I can find for ~15-20$ around here, while the Switch version is still 35+.
 
Fliesen

Fliesen

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,281
I would also assume that publishers have noticed that their games still sell great on Switch - i.e. customers aren't deterred by a $5 "Switch tax". So even if carts came down in price (for the publisher) i wouldn't count on them automatically passing on those savings to customers.

I guess the Switch is still meaningfully different in perception to consumers that price parity isn't necessarily demanded.
 
ShinUltramanJ

ShinUltramanJ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,950
Cart Media is more costly, but on the digital front publishers know they can get away with charging more on Switch.
 

Deleted member 3010

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,974
In the case of Sonic Mania and 3rd parties in general I think it's the publisher that decides the price and not Nintendo. The higher price though is due to Nintendo carts higher production value than your usual blu-ray.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
44,013
They never have price cuts or big digital sales, that's why my Switch is a exclusive machine.
 

Deleted member 36622

User requested account closure
Banned
Dec 21, 2017
6,639
I remember eshop curators once said that Nintendo is/was very against the Steam race to the bottom when it comes to prices, with big discounts for games that aren't even out yet, or that just came out.

They believe that practice is not healthy for the industry so they encouraged developers to release games at their full price.

Though i think that was maybe for the first year only, because since last year we have games like The Way remastered which is crazy cheap and constantly on sale, competition is tougher now so we see more interesting discounts now.
 

Deleted member 36622

User requested account closure
Banned
Dec 21, 2017
6,639
Telpis said:
Didn't know this thank you.

I guess I'm sticking to my usual Nintendo routine so

PS4 for 1st & 3rd Party & Nintendo for 1st Party only, oh well
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It's not always true though, there were few occasions were Switch games were actually cheaper, and many with prices on par with the other platforms.

It happens but it's not a standard.
 
ZhugeEX

ZhugeEX

Senior Analyst at Niko Partners
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
3,099
This question gets raised a lot. I have answered it before but maybe it's time for an update.

The issue is mainly that Nintendo uses carts whilst Sony and Microsoft use Blu-Ray discs. Of course the usage of carts can't really be helped given that Switch is designed to be both a portable and a home console.

When a game sells for $60 there are various costs associated with that. For example, ~25% of that ($15) is what the retailer takes. Then there is a static platform/manufacturing fee that Sony/MS/Nintendo take. This static platform fee is around $12 for Sony/MS. Then you have to factor in returns and other costs such as licensing fees or whatever. Generally speaking the publisher ends up with around ~55% of that $60. Sometimes lower depending on what other costs are included.

With Nintendo there isn't a static platform fee as carts vary in size from 1GB to 32GB. Whilst using an 8GB cart (with manufacturing/packaging) will cost about the same as the static fee charged by Sony/MS. The platform fee for a 32GB cart is about double that. Meaning that publishers on Switch see a much lower margin when using higher capacity carts. Therefore it is really hard to lower the price of these games without sacrificing a lot.
 
cw_sasuke

cw_sasuke

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,547
The games you listed are probably bad examples because those are games that likely perform quite well at retail on Switch relatively to the other systems. Retailers are much less likely to drop a price if they think they can sell the stocked copies at the current price. On PS4/XBO you have much more new releases and new big releases fighting for stock space so retailers act faster when it comes to dropping prices so they can get rid of older titles.

There are always many factors at play on why some games are cheaper on one system than the other - if im a retailer selling Lego and Sonic on Switch ill know they will sell sooner or later because the comparison will be the first party Nintendo titles that rarely drop in price. So a Lego or Sonic Mania will look attractive compared to a full price Kirby or Yoshi title. Especially when the target audience are families or kids for that specific retailer.

We had similar discussions about indie titles and why devs werent in a rush to drop prices or have bigger sales on the eShop - why would they when they are selling well enough ?
 

PrimeBeef

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,840
Cosmonaut X said:
Switch cart media is not cheap, basically. Hopefully the more software sold, the more that prices to publishers will come down and the more they can pass that on to consumers.
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LOL. Publishers doing something good. ActivisionBlizzard just laid off 800 people after record numbers to cut costs. Prices won't become cheaper even if carts are 1 cent more than disks.
 

Nuclear Muffin

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
4,721
ZhugeEX said:
This question gets raised a lot. I have answered it before but maybe it's time for an update.

The issue is mainly that Nintendo uses carts whilst Sony and Microsoft use Blu-Ray discs. Of course the usage of carts can't really be helped given that Switch is designed to be both a portable and a home console.

When a game sells for $60 there are various costs associated with that. For example, ~25% of that ($15) is what the retailer takes. Then there is a static platform/manufacturing fee that Sony/MS/Nintendo take. This static platform fee is around $12 for Sony/MS. Then you have to factor in returns and other costs such as licensing fees or whatever. Generally speaking the publisher ends up with around ~55% of that $60. Sometimes lower depending on what other costs are included.

With Nintendo there isn't a static platform fee as carts vary in size from 1GB to 32GB. Whilst using an 8GB cart (with manufacturing/packaging) will cost about the same as the static fee charged by Sony/MS. The platform fee for a 32GB cart is about double that. Meaning that publishers on Switch see a much lower margin when using higher capacity carts. Therefore it is really hard to lower the price of these games without sacrificing a lot.
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Even in cases where publishers are using 8GB cards (or lower sizes), they are still charging higher prices though!

More often than not, it's just a matter of publishers feeling that they can get away with it. Capcom are a particularily egrigious example... Here in the UK, Street Fighter Collection was £29.99 on PS4/Xbone and a whopping £44.99 on Switch; despite the fact that the game is only around 5GB! Absolute complete and total bollocks!
 
justiceiro

justiceiro

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
6,664
ZhugeEX said:
This question gets raised a lot. I have answered it before but maybe it's time for an update.

The issue is mainly that Nintendo uses carts whilst Sony and Microsoft use Blu-Ray discs. Of course the usage of carts can't really be helped given that Switch is designed to be both a portable and a home console.

When a game sells for $60 there are various costs associated with that. For example, ~25% of that ($15) is what the retailer takes. Then there is a static platform/manufacturing fee that Sony/MS/Nintendo take. This static platform fee is around $12 for Sony/MS. Then you have to factor in returns and other costs such as licensing fees or whatever. Generally speaking the publisher ends up with around ~55% of that $60. Sometimes lower depending on what other costs are included.

With Nintendo there isn't a static platform fee as carts vary in size from 1GB to 32GB. Whilst using an 8GB cart (with manufacturing/packaging) will cost about the same as the static fee charged by Sony/MS. The platform fee for a 32GB cart is about double that. Meaning that publishers on Switch see a much lower margin when using higher capacity carts. Therefore it is really hard to lower the price of these games without sacrificing a lot.
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What do you mean by update? Those values changed recently?
 
Shibata100

Shibata100

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,645
Nuclear Muffin said:
Even in cases where publishers are using 8GB cards (or lower sizes), they are still charging higher prices though!

More often than not, it's just a matter of publishers feeling that they can get away with it. Capcom are a particularily egrigious example... Here in the UK, Street Fighter Collection was £29.99 on PS4/Xbone and a whopping £44.99 on Switch; despite the fact that the game is only around 5GB! Absolute complete and total bollocks!
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Pretty sure i paid £35 for SF collection day 1. Not sure why anyone would pay £44.99
 

Nuclear Muffin

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
4,721
Shibata100 said:
Pretty sure i paid £35 for SF collection day 1. Not sure why anyone would pay £44.99
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The RRP is £44.99. You can see it for yourself if you go onto the eShop (coincidentally it's "on sale" for a generous £31.49 on the eShop right now. What a bargain! Even when it's on sale, it's STILL more expensive than the standard RRP on PS4/Xbone!)

It's a complete joke! The publishers simply think we're mugs!
 
Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,789
I feel like we need a debriefing every time someone buys a switch

Basically switch carts cost more than discs. Possibly$5-$8 for a 16GB cart, $10 or more for a 32GB cart.

A Blu-ray Disc costs less than $1 to make. Hence why third parties add the "switch tax"

It's not a conspiracy. It's the one big trade off with having a hybrid console, you can't have it be all digital, can't have portable disc drive so carts are the only solution for all markets and they cost much more to make than a disc
 
fiendcode

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,964
Nuclear Muffin said:
Even in cases where publishers are using 8GB cards (or lower sizes), they are still charging higher prices though!

More often than not, it's just a matter of publishers feeling that they can get away with it. Capcom are a particularily egrigious example... Here in the UK, Street Fighter Collection was £29.99 on PS4/Xbone and a whopping £44.99 on Switch; despite the fact that the game is only around 5GB! Absolute complete and total bollocks!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Microsoft and Sony scale their platform fees with price point. It might be around $12 for a $59.99 release but only around $9 for a $39.99 release or around $6 for a $29.99 release. Nintendo used the same fee/price scaling on Wii U too.

Smaller Switch cards (2GB or 4GB) also come in lower price too.
 
Gnorman

Gnorman

Banned
Jan 14, 2018
2,945
In Smyth's in the UK pretty much every 3rd party game is more expensive on Switch. Usually it's a fiver but there are plenty that are £10 more too.
 
Tigress

Tigress

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,190
Washington
Harald23 said:
I remember eshop curators once said that Nintendo is/was very against the Steam race to the bottom when it comes to prices, with big discounts for games that aren't even out yet, or that just came out.

They believe that practice is not healthy for the industry so they encouraged developers to release games at their full price.

Though i think that was maybe for the first year only, because since last year we have games like The Way remastered which is crazy cheap and constantly on sale, competition is tougher now so we see more interesting discounts now.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You know what, honestly I agree with Nintendo. The race to the bottom is why you have developers do things like offer exclusive in game items for more, microtransactions, and other stuff gamers complain about that they feel is exploitive. Since they can't get as much money from the purchase of the game they find other ways. And now they've figured out some of those ways are way more lucrative anyways (microtransactions) so there is no going back. Which sucks cause microtransactions in general encourage purposely bad game design.

Though I would say switch prices are also more because you can't experience the game the same way on other devices. I'd still pay more to get it on switch because I can play it on the go as well.
 
lorddarkflare

lorddarkflare

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,324
Tigress said:
You know what, honestly I agree with Nintendo. The race to the bottom is why you have developers do things like offer exclusive in game items for more, microtransactions, and other stuff gamers complain about that they feel is exploitive. Since they can't get as much money from the purchase of the game they find other ways. And now they've figured out some of those ways are way more lucrative anyways (microtransactions) so there is no going back. Which sucks cause microtransactions in general encourage purposely bad game design.

Though I would say switch prices are also more because you can't experience the game the same way on other devices. I'd still pay more to get it on switch because I can play it on the go as well.
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But...

The sales and the prices have very little to do with all that.
 
2shd

2shd

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,602
I'm still waiting on a digital sale to pick up Ultra SF2 at less than the ludicrous $40 MSRP. That's a weird one as Capcom has run sales on other games that have cart versions.
 
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