First-party Switch 2 games—including re-releases—all run either $70 or $80
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I am not in the market for a conope (my last one was the Sega Mega Drive which was abandoned after we got a Pentium 1 PC and dialup), but I "love" Nintendo's pricing policy.
It's almost as if they are taking the piss and want to what extent their fans are gluttons for punishment.
One possible complicating factor for those games? While they're physical releases, they use Nintendo's new Game-Key Card format, which attempts to split the difference between true physical copies of a game and download codes. Each cartridge includes a key for the game, but no actual game content—the game itself is downloaded to your system at first launch. But despite holding no game content, the key card must be inserted each time you launch the game, just like any other physical cartridge.
This is full on corporate regressiveness.
Nintendo will also use some Switch 2 Edition upgrades as a carrot to entice people to the more expensive $50-per-year tier of the Nintendo Switch Online service. The company has already announced that the upgrade packs for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will be offered for free to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers. The list of extra benefits for that service now includes additional emulated consoles (Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and now Gamecube) and paid DLC for both Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8.
Wait so you have to subscribe to get access to emulators (which are all open source Inak assuming)?
The key card thing is seriously infuriating, both from a consumer standpoint and from an archivists standpoint.
Basically you own a game cartridge, but as soon as Nintendo shuts down their servers for whatever reason it becomes a useless piece of plastic. They really don't want us to own anything anymore.
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Nope. That'll be a pass from me Nintendo.
Oh you’re going to subscribe to Nintendo Pass for $12.99 a month?
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I am not in the market for a conope (my last one was the Sega Mega Drive which was abandoned after we got a Pentium 1 PC and dialup), but I "love" Nintendo's pricing policy.
It's almost as if they are taking the piss and want to what extent their fans are gluttons for punishment.
One possible complicating factor for those games? While they're physical releases, they use Nintendo's new Game-Key Card format, which attempts to split the difference between true physical copies of a game and download codes. Each cartridge includes a key for the game, but no actual game content—the game itself is downloaded to your system at first launch. But despite holding no game content, the key card must be inserted each time you launch the game, just like any other physical cartridge.
This is full on corporate regressiveness.
Nintendo will also use some Switch 2 Edition upgrades as a carrot to entice people to the more expensive $50-per-year tier of the Nintendo Switch Online service. The company has already announced that the upgrade packs for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will be offered for free to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers. The list of extra benefits for that service now includes additional emulated consoles (Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and now Gamecube) and paid DLC for both Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8.
Wait so you have to subscribe to get access to emulators (which are all open source Inak assuming)?
Oh wow, that cartridge thing is actually just the worst of both worlds. I'm similar to you, my last console was a Mega Drive but I did get a Switch for my wife and played a couple of games on it which was fun. Not really keen on giving Nintendo more money though.
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Their emulators have always been proprietary. The waters were a
little muddied by the NES/SNES Classic consoles using a Linux OS but the emulators were their own code.Their FOSS code is made available when required and is published here:
I see. I am surprised they didn't simply take existing open source code and go with that.
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Always loved Nintendo, but this will be a hard pass from me.
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I was REALLY looking forward to the 2 ... this leaves such a sour aftertaste, it's very unpleasant.
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Aren't consoles and their new game always ridiculously expensive on launch? I know Nintendo stuff often doesn't drop in price that much but I'd be surprised if they stay this expensive for long. Plenty of other games to play in the meantime!
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I am not in the market for a conope (my last one was the Sega Mega Drive which was abandoned after we got a Pentium 1 PC and dialup), but I "love" Nintendo's pricing policy.
It's almost as if they are taking the piss and want to what extent their fans are gluttons for punishment.
One possible complicating factor for those games? While they're physical releases, they use Nintendo's new Game-Key Card format, which attempts to split the difference between true physical copies of a game and download codes. Each cartridge includes a key for the game, but no actual game content—the game itself is downloaded to your system at first launch. But despite holding no game content, the key card must be inserted each time you launch the game, just like any other physical cartridge.
This is full on corporate regressiveness.
Nintendo will also use some Switch 2 Edition upgrades as a carrot to entice people to the more expensive $50-per-year tier of the Nintendo Switch Online service. The company has already announced that the upgrade packs for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will be offered for free to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers. The list of extra benefits for that service now includes additional emulated consoles (Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and now Gamecube) and paid DLC for both Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8.
Wait so you have to subscribe to get access to emulators (which are all open source Inak assuming)?
So when Nintendo servers shut down, that's it.
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Aren't consoles and their new game always ridiculously expensive on launch? I know Nintendo stuff often doesn't drop in price that much but I'd be surprised if they stay this expensive for long. Plenty of other games to play in the meantime!
These are the top 5 sellers on Switch:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Super Smash Bros Ultimate
- The legend of Zelda:Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
These links take you to a price tracker with a chart showing historical prices. The RRP of each of these has been static, and discounts are short and infrequent.
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These are the top 5 sellers on Switch:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Super Smash Bros Ultimate
- The legend of Zelda:Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
These links take you to a price tracker with a chart showing historical prices. The RRP of each of these has been static, and discounts are short and infrequent.
Fair point, but I still can't imagine they'll be double that price for long. The only GBP price I've seen for a Switch 2 game is the MKW bundle which is only £30 more than the console on its own.
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Ubisoft's The Crew 3: Super Mario Horizon
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The only game I want to play is that new Donkey Kong game. Paying €520 for playing just one game is ridiculous. I’m gonna wait till Nintendo releases more games. I’m not gonna spend €450 for it to collect dust like my PS5.
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Ah yes, let me pay $450 for a console that I have to pay an additional $80 for every game I want to play. What a sound financial decision.
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I pray it faces record-breaking piracy.
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Aren't consoles and their new game always ridiculously expensive on launch? I know Nintendo stuff often doesn't drop in price that much but I'd be surprised if they stay this expensive for long. Plenty of other games to play in the meantime!
It will only stay as high as the market and customers allow it
If it sells out, expect a price drop in a few years
If it fails to meet Nintendo's expectations (3DS at launch) expect a price drop a few weeks or months (3DS at launch)
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It will only stay as high as the market and customers allow it
If it sells out, expect a price drop in a few years
If it fails to meet Nintendo's expectations (3DS at launch) expect a price drop a few weeks or months (3DS at launch)
If it sells out, expect a price drop in a few years
Switch sold out in 2017, and now the same basic Neon model is selling for the same price in 2025.
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Nope. That'll be a pass from me Nintendo.
I’ll wait for an emulator
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If it sells out, expect a price drop in a few years
Switch sold out in 2017, and now the same basic Neon model is selling for the same price in 2025.
Maybe I should have been more specific...i meant mid to end of life
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I pray it faces record-breaking piracy.
It probably will. Given the modest spec bump and the high even for Nintendo hostility to switch emulation, it's probably trivial to support switch 2 as well.
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Ah yes, let me pay $450 for a console that I have to pay an additional $80 for every game I want to play. What a sound financial decision.
I wonder if there would be communities, focused on playing these xbox360 era games on pc - after this
Anyone got links further educational reading on this matter?
