Nintendo Has The Right To Charge $80 For Switch 2 Games Because of Its Exclusives, Ex-Sony Exec Says

The former SIE president, Shawn Layden, argues that Nintendo can charge $80 for Switch 2 titles because of its exclusives.

[-Foxtrot]

Yeah....no

Such a bad take from him.

Okay so if hypothetically Sony decides to do this then I don't want to see him defending them as some of their games come to PC.

[Michiel1989]

they already kind of did with hiking it up to 80.

[VenomUK]

@-Foxtrot 'Such a bad take from him.' Look, I get there is a lot of anger about the NS2 pricing but he's speaking facts. If a publisher has a game that is THAT desirable to the masses then it can charge a high price because there will be an audience who will buy it. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch continues to be one of its bestsellers eight years after release. I make an educated guess that it is the one game with the highest attach rate. So Mario Kart World will be the equivalent of the essential standard game, the killer app for every kid to get.

[nommers]

@VenomUK
MK8 Deluxe was marketed at the right time and place; with the Switch. The casual audience is extremely fickle and will likely not give the next MK game such sales. MK8 on the Wii U is almost the same exact game, but it sold much less.

[NotoriousWhiz]

@nommers, Mario Kart 8 sold 8 million. Thats more than half of the Wii U userbase.

[Redemption-64]

Take 2 was the 1st to do that and who knows, they might be up there with Nitendo leading to charge to $100

[Eonjay]

The do have the right. And you also have the right not to buy it. If it doesn't sell then that's on them.

[PRIMORDUS]

I just torrent and don't care anymore on the PC side. Piracy is a pricing problem, and companies are driving more people to it.

[Blad3runner00]

Agreed. I have noticed piracy as increased and to be honest, thats the Publishers fault. When the price you charge is greater then the value of the game, people will either not buy it, or pirate it and I don’t blame them.

These Switch 2 games are 9 years old as far as tech. No way the budget for these games match the budget for current gen AAA games.

Can’t wait for Switch 2 emulator

[P_Bomb]

The corpos are out to lunch.

[gold_drake]

i mean they can, if people are gonna buy them is a whole other thing.

its a big no for me tho.

not for a system that is a gen behind and will be 2 gens behind very soon

[Vits]

Yes, that's the core of the issue.

Nintendo is free to set whatever price they choose. These are non-essential products, so there's no clear moral dimension to the pricing itself, it's simply a business decision.

However, there's the other side of the transaction to consider. Consumers ultimately hold the power. They express their approval or disapproval not through words, but through their wallets. My hope is that, this time, people will take a moment to reflect on what’s being asked of them and respond accordingly by walking away from the console and its games.

But, in the end, it all comes down to consumer choice.

[gold_drake]

i wanna know how parents feel about that actually haha.

[jznrpg]

You have the right to charge any number but it doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t mean all of your customers are going to accept it

[Darkegg]

Good time to find other hobbies. Between GPU and AI and all these hypes, they are overflating themselves. Video Games have only so much cut in a person's life. People should do what they were doing twenty years ago, live life. That's when they will revise the pricing. I do remember when PC and computers were going down. Then they injected these ideas on clouds and connectionto bring new life, and hooked ppl onto online. It's time to put the digital age in line with it's true value. As an add-on, supplement to life not a replacement for the experience.

[badz149]

Nah...gaming on the PC and PS5 is still quite affordable. Unlike Nintendo, there are always sales on the PS Store and Steam that you can take advantage of. PS+ monthly games have been bangers too month after month thus no need for outright payment and these are recent games too unlike N64 and GC games by Nintendo on their service.

Personally, since the PS5 launched I have only paid day 1 price for 3 games, R&C and Spider-Man 2 and Astrobot. Other games will have their price dropped not too long after launch and that's how I have been getting my games. I have been waiting for Stellar Blade to be at the pricepoint I'm comfortable with for awhile now, hopefully there'll be a massive discount soon or fingers crossed, it might become a monthly game some time this year? Looking at you Robocop haha. You can this waiting game with Sony because you know it will happen sooner or later buy good luck with Nintendo. Seeing as how BoTW is still sold at full price since 2017, it's just not right and I'm happy I was never a Nintendo's fan.

Be smart with your purchases.

[anast]

Sadly, they will accept it. Today is different than 20 years ago. Today, people are addicted digital information and visuals.

[Good-Smurf]

Doesn't mean I'll buy it at such a high price, Shawn.
If games are $80 as standard, then I'd just never buy any game new again unless it got heavily discounted.

[1nsomniac]

My issue is that they are bundling MKWorld with Switch 2 for £40 but they're going to use those sales figures to suggest they made so many sales of this £80 game. Suggesting it's ok to sell at that price and that so many people are willing to buy at that price.. Trying to normalise the situation.

[badz149]

Nintendo never take a loss on any item. Seeing how MKW is bundled for $40 and sold separately for $80, you know full well they are just taking the piss on their gullible fanbase. And seeing as how they are selling the Switch 2 for so much cheaper in Japan and they are 100% not taking any losses, charging so much more outside Japan is another clear indicator that they are just doing it out of greed. I hope this decision will bite them hard!

[Michiel1989]

ofc a bundle is cheaper, why else would you buy a bundle if its the same price as them seperate? and how do you know that they didn't reduce the price of the switch 2 instead of mkw in that bundle? you don't so ....... is your argument really that they're too expensive because they're cheaper in a bundle?

[VariantAEC]

That isn't how metrics work. If only one game does well and that one game was one which sold bundled with the system for a nominal discount. No one outside of Nintendo and the press will be able to take those metrics seriously in a business sense. I really do mean no one. If ANYONE uses MKW as strong evidence that $80 games are acceptable I recommend you investigate their intentions and connections with Nintendo.

[CrimsonWing69]

When a corporate guy chimes in on corporate greed.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. They can charge $500 for a standard edition game, what’s worse is some Nintendo fans would still buy at that price, but the point is they don’t need to. The market is dictated by the consumer. These ass-hats are pushing it and if people used their brains and held the line, I promise you they’d reverse the pricing right away.

The issue is enough will support this and now the market will shift to a new MSRP. .

[badz149]

Maybe Shawn here is playing chess here. Praising Nintendo despite all the backlashes towards their pricing to get Nintendo to be cocky and keep their high prices so the PS5 will look like a bargain.

I know it's a reach but would be hillarious

[Profchaos]

Layden is far from a corporate guy and has stood against Sony going the Live service route during his tenure. It was about the games not the greed

[VariantAEC]

If players would buy $500 for games, Nintendo would already be trying to charge them $599. Nintendo knows this is a risk. I hope gamers don't cave on this, if they do this will become normal and that includes prices for PC games at launch, which have always followed the pricing schemes of major console publishers. It's why PC games cost $70 now at launch, too.

[Jin_Sakai]

Sony exclusives will be $80 soon just watch.

[badz149]

And will drop in price not long after launch. Can't say the same thing about Nintendo. I was never a fan of Sony's $70 day 1 price. The only game I have bought at that price was Spider-Man 2. I bought R&C at a slightly lowered price day 1 and Astrobot was cheaper to begin with. Other games, I just waited until they come down to the price I can justify.

Don't like the prices, don't buy is my motto. That's why I never buy any game full price on PC. Always on sales and unlike duting the PS3 and PS4 time, I almost don't buy day 1 anymore on PS5 thus not really feeling the $70 bite.

Can't sat the same for Nintendo though. Someone showed that Nintendo is still selling BoTW (2017) at full price on their online store. SCUM!

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

"And will drop in price not long after launch." That hasn't been true for Sony for a long time now. Astro Bot is still full price. Spider-Man 2 is still $70. God of War Ragnarok is still $70. Demon's Souls and Spider-Man: Miles Morales are still the same price as they were when released in 2020.

Waiting for a sale? PSN Store is having its big Spring sale now and the only Sony published game I could find on sale was Astro Bot Digital Deluxe ($10 off).

You seem quite upset that Nintendo is selling their older games for full price in their online store even though Sony is doing the exact same thing. Neither company is consumer friendly so lets stop pretending one is better than the other in how they extract money from gamers.

[VariantAEC]

[Edit: @Gameseeker_Frampt]
You can get your arse off the couch and buy the game at a store, new for less than you would pay on the PS Store. Additionally, I'm sure that every 1st party game was already discounted more than once on the PS Store. I pre-ordered MSM:MM/2 and R&C as well as HFW, but I didn't pick up GT7 day one due to always online requirements. I did eventually cave-in and buy GT7, but only at $30 or so off about 6 months after launch... on the PS Store. So, I know for a fact that PS 1st party games go on sale, even digitally, not too long after launch.

[goken]

Actually exclusive or not, everyone has a right to charge whatever they want. Only thing is gamers also has a right to buy ot or not

[jreeves82]

Nintendo has the right to charge as much or as little as they want to. And consumers also have the right to buy or not buy at that price.

[PapaBop]

By that logic, Take Two can charge $200 for GTA 6 because it'll likely feature more content than three AAA titles combined. Doesn't mean we'll pay it though,

[VariantAEC]

"By that logic, Take Two can charge $200 for GTA 6..."
And we can do a fullstop right there and say that logic holds. Take Two can charge whatever they want for what they made.
I also agree with you that it doesn't mean they will make their money back. If the barrier to entry is too high people won't care and they will also be more critical of their purchase. It's why many are disgruntled about expensive AAA games today. They cost more than they have in the past 20+ years, but run worse, they're often packed with annoying modern messaging, worse or simpler gameplay mechanics, much dumber sometimes downright broken AI, and graphics that wouldn't look too out-of-place on PS4 or even the PS3 at least in some rarer cases.

Switch 2 will likely be most of that except now using Nintendo IP. Mario Kart in an open world, sounds fun, really, but what was shown looks really basic. What is even the point? Why didn't this game exist on Switch 1? Most of the Switch 2 upgrades don't promise 60FPS they promise "improved framerates." What does that even mean? All for an unknown upgrade fee for most titles at present.

Nintendo has lost the plot for sure. I don't get their greed this gen and their demolition of physical games using game keys is disturbingly being overlooked by the media as well. Players who weren't swayed by GamerGate are finally seeing that the gaming press isn't their friend.

[Inverno]

Again movie tickets are 10-15 dollars and Blu-rays are 20-30 and movies have comparable budgets to games. Games shouldn't be 90 or 80 or 70 or even 60, there are movies that cost more and are known to end up being massive flops beforehand and ticket prices are the same, Blu-rays prices the same. There are games for 20 bucks with far more content than most AAA releases, so clearly content doesn't seem to be a factor when pricing. Hell there are games at10 dollars with insanely photorealistic graphics (look at most Found Footage games) so I guess graphics aren't factored in either. Those assets in the new MK are straight from MK8 so most of the work is done which should lead to a lower costs of developing. They did the same with ToTK, 90% of that game is literally copy/paste and yet they thought it appropriate to charge 70 bucks for less effort?? Keep your games, I'll read a book.

[VariantAEC]

There's are strong arguments for increasing ticket prices at theaters around the world, especially in the West, mostly caused by rising minimum wages. As for movies they cost more than $40 sometimes. There seems to really be no standardized movie pricing though, I'll give you that.

[senorfartcushion]

Idiotic.

[neutralgamer1992]

My backlog is too big I will not buy any game at 80. I will wait for sales when price is 30-40. Waiting has 2 maybe 3 benefits

Lower price
After all the patches/updates game will be in a much better state

3rd being there maybe a complete edition with all the dlc

[Cockney]

I keep hearing "just wait till the price drops"
This is Nintendo, they don't do sales

[neutralgamer1992]

I was just speaking in general regarding game prices rising. I haven't bought a Nintendo console since SNES. They were greedy back than too. IMO the most anti consumer company taking advantage of parents selling really under powered consoles for premium prices

Yes might not be a popular opinion

[Hedstrom]

Every corporation can do whatever they want. But its the customer who decides if its good or bad. If enough people buy Nintendos game at 80$, then their strategy and vision is right. If they dont they are wrong.

[glenn1979]

Yea ? Good luck with that

[GamingSinceForever]

Can’t argue that point.

Isn’t this why everyone says that competition is needed? If the PlayStation doesn’t have XBOX to compete with they are free to do whatever they please.

I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but I agree with his point.

[PRIMORDUS]

Not feeling the Switch 2 now at all, I might just stay with my Switch and my gaming PC. This is the reason people pirate more and spend less. "Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, famously stated that piracy is primarily a service problem, not a pricing problem, advocating for better service and accessibility from legitimate providers to combat it" He was wrong it most certainly is a pricing problem. As the old saying goes if buying isn't owning piracy isn't stealing, at least on PC. You all know it's coming, everything will be digital games on all consoles, when that actually happens and you can't buy physical games anymore is the day I stop buying and just take all I can on PC.

[VariantAEC]

Piracy is never the answer for new content and if you do pirate, you wanted the software to begin with [Edit: by pirating you also help to lessen chances of future game software you like coming into existence, especially content made by small publishers, but only sold on any service or device you'd rather not buy, piracy is just often bad and wrong. Almost all of us do it anyway, but people should be smart about what they steal - that's what piracy is in the end no matter how anyone tries to justify it]. Nintendo turned me off during the 3DS era, which I bought into and I predicted this of Nintendo's future
Though, I honestly thought they'd be more humble about it instead of going full Xbox One.

[Profchaos]

Of course they have the right to charge whatever they want for the product they make just as the consumer has the right to choose if they want to buy it or not.

I'm good with it I'll be there day one with a mkw bundle same at when GTA vi is 80 I'll be there day 1 but I won't be there for a more expensive cod

[Eltorrero]

FUCK YOU NINTENDO 🖕🖕🖕

[repsahj]

They are driving us away from purchasing games. Because of that, many will turn to subscription services.

[Cellblock11]

Pricing people out of a hobby is how you kill the industry.

[PRIMORDUS]

If they want to push more people to piracy they will be doing a good job of it lol. Imagine if you can pirate physical items, I hope that day will come in the future :D

[VariantAEC]

Piracy only lasts as long as stuff exists to pirate. Marinate on that for a while.

[b00mFargl3]

Nah, Shawn. The consumer deserves better than that.

[hiawa23]

Well, they have a right to but that doesn't mean they should and gamers have a right not to buy. They are not getting my money, so sticking with the Switch1.

[Miacosa]

Nintendo has the right to charge $80 but it doesn't mean the good people need to pay it. Vote with your wallet.

[DarXyde]

Nintendo has a right to do that. If they decide to exercise that right, fair enough.

It also holds true that Nintendo, nor any other company, is entitled to your money.

So I say go for it, Nintendo. I love your games, but in this economy, you are begging for the community to make an example out of you.

[jambola]

did I miss something?
was anyone out there arguing that they don't have the right to do it?
people are critiscising, people are upset
but who the hell said anything about their right to do it?

[Michiel1989]

if by people complaining about price you're implying that we say they don't have the right, then I can imply by saying this that you think we don't have the right to complain or criticize.

[jambola]

what?

[RhinoGamer88]

MIYAMOTO!

[__y2jb]

I have the right to not purchase them.

[joab777]

They have the right to do anything they want. BUT it may have its consequences. Like Apple they have more cash on hand than most companies, BUt they also believe that their product is good enough to charge premium prices.

They complain about Tariffs but there’s ways around it, there’s working with the White House, there’s a lot of options. We used to send products to a country with lower taxes and send from there. Hell, there’s the option to make the ones we buy here HERE!

[gerbintosh]

Nintendo can charge anything they want for their games but consumers don't have to buy them. Nintendo about to lose the most expensive game of chicken

[XBManiac]

That's correct. Exclusivity should be paid. But... Does this mean that multiplatform shoud be cheaper too?

[Rols]

Nitendo has the right to charge what it wants but the consumer has the right to not buy the product as well.

[anast]

They have the position to sell high. Let's not act like they have some divine gamer right to be greedy.

[Notellin]

More Japanese business arrogance. There's a reason Nintendo and Sony have generations/platforms that fail.

[Redemption-64]

I personally have 0 interest in the Switch 2 or any of their games, but I am worried all other companies will follow what Nintendo is doing. I bet you, all the people defending Nintendo would be out in full force if this was either Ubisoft, Sony, EA or even MS.

At the end of the day people should speak with their wallets, it is their money to do with as they fit

[strayanalog]

Whether you're okay with it or not, just vote with your wallet. That's one of the biggest things you can do to voice your opinion.

Some are fine with paying 80 bucks for an 8 year or more experience since Nintendo makes one a generation, while others just don't care for the number because of its possible affects on the market.

If Grand Theft Auto 6 goes down the same road, I look forward to seeing if the defenders of $70 or less have principles.

[VariantAEC]

🤣
I only agree that Nintendo has a right to charge whatever they wish for their games but actually even hinting at the notion that Nintendo's exclusives are actually worth $80 in any way is utterly ridiculous.