Is Nintendo's Stance on First-Party Pricing Preventing You from Enjoying More of Their Games?

In Brazil Nintendo prices are waaaay too high

Example: Physical Hyrule warriors cost around 350 Reais something like 90 dollars

And digital not looking better with our currency undervalued

I tend to buy games I want on release day so it's never really been an issue for me.

I don't really think it's a troublesome policy that their games retain value though.

TheMisterManGuy said:

No. In fact, there's actually a misconception regarding Nintendo's pricing practices. Nintendo's philosophy has always been to offer affordable, but still premium priced products. They always straddled the line between being at an accessible price for the average consumer, while still being somewhat expensive. They've never aimed to make cheap products, as doing so involves putting the least amount of effort into the content, value and build quality as possible, in order to sell it for as low as possible, and that's never been Nintendo's MO. Being affordable isn't the same as being cheap.

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What is this post even saying?

No offense or disrespect meant, but this post sounds like borderline Nintendo marketing/PR.

InfiniteCombo said:

What is this post even saying?

No offense or disrespect meant, but this post sounds like borderline Nintendo marketing/PR.

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Someone looking to get hired.

Yeah, honestly I only really buy Nintendo games that I'm really really sure about because of how rarely they go on sale. If a game is brand new I can easily resell it for almost full price after I beat it, but if it's a headline title that sells a million copies and has been out for a few months, the resell value might not be all that hot. It really depends a lot on resell value for me. I'm poor.

Absolutely. Games like Mario Kart and Smash Bros are fun and all, but I don't really like playing them alone and they're not worth AU$80 a pop just for the few times a year I have people over for gaming. Not when I can already fire up Wipeout, Rocket League, Jackbox, That's You! or a bunch of other fun games I have received for free or bought for less than $20 on my PS4.

Also digital games cost $10-20 more here, which is pants-on-head. I want to embrace that digital future, but not if I'm going to be penalized for it.

yea, I haven't gotten xenoblade 2, donkey kong country tropical freeze, and arms.

I'm not paying full price for those games when I'm not sure if I'll enjoy them or not.

Slam Tilt said:

Doesn't matter if it's Nintendo or EA or Sega or Ubisoft or whoever -- these are luxuries, not necessities. If the price bothers you, don't buy it.

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As a consumer it is in your best interest to advocate for lower prices or affordability for more people. Portraying it as "whining" is you buying into the us vs. them bullshit and doing yourself a disservice, your attitude is one of the reasons why so many people will vote for a party that does nothing in their interest. You should be thrilled the conversation is being had.

Sure but only the games I'm only slightly interested in, like ARMS or a Paper Mario game.

Even then I end up buying almost the entirety of their console catalog since the Wii days.

People should have no problem paying for quality. I have no problem for a Mario or Zelda at 60€ but their B and C series should be way less expensive.

In fact, it all depend to the base. Sometimes, it's better for a company to sell a high priced product, even to less people, since it can happen to make more money than selling it for a low price to more people but not enough to gain as much as the high price.

Most of Nintendo games are great anyway for their specific audience but others are really otherprice while not that great.

Definitely. I'd be buying way more of these games if some of them got price drops.

So far the only NS games I've bought are Zelda, the Bayonettas and Mario Odyssey, all games I was sure I'd enjoy.

I'd try experimenting more on Games which only mildly interest me like Splatoon 2 and Mario kart if they were cheaper. The $60 price tag is a bit much for a game I'm not fully sure I'll like.

RedMercury said:

Totally, I barely have any games for my Switch. I can't pay the crazy prices they have because I might not like something and I have no way to return it.


I mean, this is kind of narrow thinking. Plenty of people with careers have other more pertinent financial commitments. People have student debts or hospital bills, etc and not all careers pay well.

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I have a career that pays nicely. That doesn't mean that I'm suddenly not caring about getting value out of my entertainment dollar. What a strange comment from that poster.

I only pay full price for a Nintendo game if it's a special edition of it. I have more than enough games to play between x1/ps4/pc that I can wait until I see Nintendo stuff used later on. In some cases a game is tempting but I don't have any interest in paying $80+CDN for a slight remaster of a game I already own on WiiU and/or 3ds.

It's hard to justify buying their games at $60 when so many great games on the other consoles can be had for <$20. Nintendo games may be generally good, but they're not that much better than everything else.

NO!

A bit, especially when Nintendo is in greedy mode like now with the Switch. Remasters at full price, fuck my life. Some years old and the jump isn't even full generational.

Prices and promos were pretty great in the Wii U era though.

But for actual new games I don't mind the prices.

Not new games, no. It def stops me from double-dipping though. But i guess it works for them since they keep doing it.

I had a Wii U at launch, and I never bought any 1st party games for it.

I kept waiting for 3D World to get cheaper, by the time it did I didn't have the Wii U anymore.

For some reason I just don't wanna pay full price for Nintendo games, but I had no problem doing that for GTA V, God of War, Detroit...

Tarot Deck said:

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What is there to be bitter about? I'm a grown adult, I can easily afford Nintendo's games and consoles, I chose not to pay those prices.


I'm not even against paying launch prices...at launch. I refuse to do so 2 to 3 years later.

at the end of the day, Nintendo has it's business model, I have my priorties. They don't align. I don't complain, I just take my custom elsewhere. What works for them doesn't work for me. It's really that simple.

No, because im not 15 years old, have my own income, and realise things cost money.

Absolutely. It's becoming harder and harder to accept Nintendo's pricing when you have Sony (and other publishers to a lesser extent) putting out actual remasters and remakes for ~$40USD.

I generally dont enjoy 2D platformers these days, but was interested in giving Tropical Freeze a try until I found out it's somehow more expensive now that it was 4 years ago. Nintendo have the right to set whatever price they want, but that's straight up ridiculous. Ports should never be full price imo, and most of the ones coming to Switch arent even optimised as well as they could be.

But it's not iust the ports! Games like ARMS and Kirby Star Allies just don't have enough content to justify their price tag (at launch anyway, unsure of how much meaningful content was added to ARMS).

I had no issue paying full price for meaty games like Breath of the Wild, Odyssey, Mario+Rabbids and Splatoon 2, but the 'forever full-price' philosophy totally stops me from taking a chance on games that I'm unsure if I'll like.

RedMercury said:

As a consumer it is in your best interest to advocate for lower prices or affordability for more people.

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For an entertainment product this is far from an absolute truth. There are costs to lower prices.

I've never skipped out on a Nintendo game specifically because of the price. I have, however, been pushed over the edge due to sales on games I wasn't sure I would like.

Mocha said:

yea, I haven't gotten xenoblade 2, donkey kong country tropical freeze, and arms.

I'm not paying full price for those games when I'm not sure if I'll enjoy them or not.

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i hear you brother. I only pay full price after I've pirated a game and completed and ranked it in the top twenty of my all time favourites.

I don't see a problem with paying full price for games I really want to play, be it on day one or years after launch.

No, but I get it.

PCPace said:

I saw Horizon was like $9.99 now and I think that's really weird. Did that game lose $50 of value in a year? Good if you have a PS4 and haven't played it, but if I bought it last year I'd be a little miffed.

Nintendo games basically stay the same price forever, even used are like only $5 cheaper. So I don't feel bad about buying when they come out because I'm not going to see it for %50 or less in a couple months in most cases.

So they might feel overpriced to other people but to me I feel like I'm not getting ripped off. I think all these games are worth it. If they got drastic price cuts all the time I would probably stop buying them until later.

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That's my thing as well.

A full price Nintendo game I'll buy at launch just because I know it's worth $60 and will stay that price in a year. A Playstation game I now wait no matter how good it is, fully knowing the price will drop in a few months. It's not Nintendo's fault that Sony devalues it's software constantly.

big sales work on this market (not big impact); its kinda hermetical
its different

also its not like they dont have stats of everything there to see it

Ehoavash said:

I usually do buy some of nintendos published games mostly the series I'm into a lot

I buy and keep - ( Smash, zelda, kart, 3d Mario, splatoon, Xenoblade games, mainline pokemon games, donkey Kong country )

I love these game series and have a hard time letting go lol.


But other series like metroid, animal crossing, NSMB, star fox, captain toad, arms etc or other series I'm not too interested in I don't buy full price on. I usually rent these games for $5/$6 a week and return them when my rent is due from my local Video store that rents all the new releases.

As a kid I hated Nintendo's prices cause my parents wouldn't let me buy games and I didn't have a rental store near me. But now it doesn't really matter

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Captain toad is $40.

Honestly it surprises me that anybody would say anything other than yes but I guess some people don't have families or apparently have unlimited money and time.

I'm fine with the super evergreens that are amazing like Zelda, Mario, mario kart but when it comes to games like arms, sushi striker, 1-2 switch I'm not going to pay more than 20 dollars. Honesty it boggles my mind how some Nintendo games effectively stop selling yet Nintendo still refuses to drop the price. Nintendo just doesn't get my money.

Sniffynose said:

I skipped DK over the price so yeah they could use some discounts especially on remastered games most of us already played.

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I think the problem with the WiiU is that most us didn't play the great games because we were put off by the system. So you could argue that their age might warrant a discount but the whole "but most of us played it" is not a great premise.

ASaiyan said:

Nintendo games don't lose value because they don't have to. They are [almost] always quality, and, more than that, always in high demand. They're one of the few publishers that can succeed with that kind of strategy, and it's made them a helluva lot of extra cash over the years compared to the likes of Bethesda or Ubi who have to deep discount six months after release.

Having said all that, I can obviously see how that hurts people who are gaming on a budget. I guess my only advice there is to try eBay or Glyde, or pick a game you know will last you a long time (like BOTW, or Splatoon).

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Theres also walmart and amazon. They both have pretty good discounts.

InfiniteCombo said:

What is this post even saying?

No offense or disrespect meant, but this post sounds like borderline Nintendo marketing/PR.

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Don't worry, that's not really the intention. I am however clarifying what Nintendo's actual pricing practices entail. Somewhere along the line, Nintendo fans have been conditioned to think that Nintendo must or used to offer cheap products, and when Nintendo releases a product priced higher than those warped expectations, the response is almost always backlash.

My point was that Nintendo has never tried to make cheap products, they always try to make affordable products. Expensive enough to be seen as a premium product to profit off of, but still accessible enough for even the most middle-class of consumers. Remember the initial backlash to the Switch's $300 price and accessories? With the exception of perhaps the dock, the Switch and its accessories are actually very affordable given the concept and tech. The Switch is more powerful and versatile hardware wise, than most tablets retailing for a similar price, and while $80 a Joy-Con pair is expensive, you're getting 2 controllers that can be used for Multiplayer, in addition to the pair that comes with the Switch, meaning the Switch is actually the most affordable 4-player system on the market at the moment.

Same with their games. Nintendo always makes sure to keep nearly all of their games at $40-60, because more often than not, they're worth the premium asking price. And they stay those prices for a long time because they don't believe in devaluing their software like that, especially not when they continue to sell well at those prices.

Soap said:

Yes. I can buy like 3 or 4 PS4 games (maybe even more if there is a sale) for the price of 1 Switch game. I understand why physical is more expensive, but their digital pricing is just crazy.

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Digital is an agreement with store to not undercut em in sales potential

Phendrana said:

Absolutely. It's becoming harder and harder to accept Nintendo's pricing when you have Sony (and other publishers to a lesser extent) putting out actual remasters and remakes for ~$40USD.

I generally dont enjoy 2D platformers these days, but was interested in giving Tropical Freeze a try until I found out it's somehow more expensive now that it was 4 years ago. Nintendo have the right to set whatever price they want, but that's straight up ridiculous. Ports should never be full price imo, and most of the ones coming to Switch arent even optimised as well as they could be.

But it's not iust the ports! Games like ARMS and Kirby Star Allies just don't have enough content to justify their price tag (at launch anyway, unsure of how much meaningful content was added to ARMS).

I had no issue paying full price for meaty games like Breath of the Wild, Odyssey, Mario+Rabbids and Splatoon 2, but the 'forever full-price' philosophy totally stops me from taking a chance on games that I'm unsure if I'll like.

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Careful, homie. The NDF will come down on you hard if you so much as suggest that Tropical Freeze is a lazy, overpriced port.

Macleoid said:

i hear you brother. I only pay full price after I've pirated a game and completed and ranked it in the top twenty of my all time favourites.

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Hesitant to buy remasters a bit sure. But Nintendo games always hold their price honestly.

Luckily Nintendo has been doing demos/tests/trials with their first party games. So I'll try their games then decide if I'll buy.

RedMercury said:

As a consumer it is in your best interest to advocate for lower prices or affordability for more people.

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Poppycock. As a consumer it is my choice to spend my money however I want to. If I find the price requested to be fair, why should I not pay it because of some imaginary egalitarian dream of "advocating for lower prices for more people"? How many people shopping for million-dollar mansions go and tell their realtors, "It's a great house, but I don't want to buy it because it's priced too high for RedMercury"?

It's not a difficult concept to grasp: you buy what you want, and you let other people buy what they want. But saying "Stop paying full price and having fun, you babies!" just makes you look silly.

No

so many crazy people in here.
The prices are why i can jump in and try out everything, sometimes for ages and then sell it on for almost the same as i paid for it months or even a year later.
I sold about 20 wii u games for roughly the same price i paid for them, some only a few pounds cheaper, shortly before the switch launched and it was great.
Long live nintendo first party titles keeping their value.

Yes, massively so. There's a wealth of games being released that I want to play in general, and the ones that are on sale and getting discounts are the ones far more likely to get bought by me. I don't have qualms with buying a game at launch if I'm fairly certain I'll enjoy it, but given my chequered history with Nintendo products, I'm not exactly eager to take the plunge and buy one of their games for £40+ knowing there's a good chance I won't like it. I'm all too happy to take a risk on something I'm not sure about when it hits sub £20 prices, but with Nintendo in the UK, you're waiting god knows how long for that to happen, and in the end I rarely buy anything they publish.

Yes. I would be lying if I said it didn't. If it's not one of the big releases I usually just skip it unless I can find it on sale. I like Nintendo games but their prices are out of whack a lot of the times. But I guess it doesn't really matter because there is plenty of other stuff to play.

A little bit if I'm being honest. It's absolutely worth the price of admission that I've come to expect from their games but I find I can't buy some of their stuff right away.
I tend to spread it out and get things down the line when I can.

No, I am willing to pay for quality.

Slam Tilt said:

Poppycock. As a consumer it is my choice to spend my money however I want to. If I find the price requested to be fair, why should I not pay it because of some imaginary egalitarian dream of "advocating for lower prices for more people"? How many people shopping for million-dollar mansions go and tell their realtors, "It's a great house, but I don't want to buy it because it's priced too high for RedMercury"?

It's not a difficult concept to grasp: you buy what you want, and you let other people buy what they want. But saying "Stop paying full price and having fun, you babies!" just makes you look silly.

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Did you just say poppycock? XD

For me it's a no, but I know damn well people itt are skipping out on Sushi Striker for being a near full priced game even though it's really good :P

That's why I held off on getting a Switch, games are way top expensive for my wallet.

If that's how Nintendo does it, it's alright. But if Nintebros call me "poor" or whatever, I really don't give a fuck either.

Nah their games are more often than not worth the money that they're priced at, and I can afford the luxury of buying their 7/8/9 big games every year ATM so even if I get 'burned' on a couple it doesn't mean I lose much.

And FWIW their games that are basically not Mario Kart and BotW do go on sale, it's not like it's a company wide policy with no exceptions. I got ARMS which has been brought up ITT a lot for £35 in September last year and it has been on sale for less than that since. There's Nintendo Selects, their gold coins in MyNintendo (I personally got £10 knocked off Mario Tennis Aces due to this) and just general price cuts at retail that do happen- for games like Fire Emblem Warriors and Pokken Tournament Deluxe at least.

So yeah can't say I agree at all.

Yes, of course. When I could get other games (like indies or AAA games on the PC, or retro games for nintendo's old systems they refuse to make readily available on the Switch) for cheaper, it doesn't make sense to spend sixty dollars on a Nintendo game. I'm on a limited income. I'd rather buy 3 or 4 games with that money to spread the risk around than go all in on one Nintendo game.

moeman said:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Mario-Odyssey-Nintendo-Nintendo-Switch-045496590741/56011600

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Fire-Emblem-Warriors-Nintendo-Nintendo-Switch-045496591632/56011605

They aren't the greatest discounts but if you look hard enough you can get some good deals on nintendo games. Plus, Nintendo games usually retain their value throughout the generation so you can sell back games for a good price.

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This is also a really good point. More than any game last gen, a lot of even big Switch games have had several discounts. I've seen BotW for $40/$45 more than I can count, and I don't think there's a single first party game for Switch on Amazon NA that's the full $60 price tag (several if not most are $50 or less). And ARMS and 1,2 Switch have gone on sale for nearly half off several times even from Nintendo directly.

So if you want a game at a slightly decreased value and don't have GCU or Prime, there's generally options to save 10 or 20 bucks at least.

the pricing I`m more gripey about are for the small downloadable games that way priced higher than similar downloadable games for other pltatform