Nintendo of America President responds to Mario Kart World $80 price: “What you see right there is variable pricing”

The good thing is that nobody needs to buy these games, or pay an increased price on PS5s instead of price going down on 5 year old hardware, or paying raised prices on (shit *PS*) Controllers or other (shit *PS*) accessories.

Vote with your wallet.
 
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Nintendo sold Mario kart 8 deluxe for the last eight years at $60 and it cost nothing, because it was just a Wii U game that had already sold 8 million copies the previous generation. So the amount of money that Mario kart 8 deluxe printed for Nintendo over the last eight years is astronomical. So from their point of view, they're probably like well, how are we gonna make an astronomical amount of money from a brand new Mario kart that was more expensive than any other Mario kart we've ever made in the past? Well the obvious answer is just to charge more for a game than they've ever charged ever before. 🤷‍♂️

And I guarantee that Nintendo is just gonna look at sales this summer and see how it goes at $80. They can withstand the backlash if the game sells well enough.

They're gonna try to make $80 a thing, for sure. Personally, I think it's highway robbery that these other switch 2 edition games are gonna be $80. I think that's where the real justifiable backlash is coming from and I wholeheartedly agree it's ridiculous. $80 for a minor upgrade to a four year-old Kirby game? Come the fuck on. It's not gonna happen.

The best thing to do is just buy a game voucher for switch, and buy these games that you know are getting switch 2 editions, and just wait to play them until the switch 2 edition launches, and you're getting an $80 game for at most $60 including that $10 upgrade fee. Until Nintendo relents and realizes it's probably not gonna happen unless it's $69.99. That's all you can do

Just out of curiosity, I'll be very interested to see how Mario party jamboree + jamboree TV and Kirby forgotten world + star-crossed world do at $79.99. Because if they all of a sudden start announcing games for $69.99 at the September direct, we'll all know why.
 
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Nintendo can charge $100 if this is an unlockable costume in the game

MKT_Artwork_DaisyFairy.png
 
Dr. Wilkinson said:
Nintendo sold Mario kart 8 deluxe for the last eight years at $60 and it cost nothing, because it was just a Wii U game that had already sold 8 million copies the previous generation. So the amount of money that Mario kart 8 deluxe printed for Nintendo over the last eight years is astronomical. So from their point of view, they're probably like well, how are we gonna make an astronomical amount of money from a brand new Mario kart that was more expensive than any other Mario kart we've ever made in the past? Well the obvious answer is just to charge more for a game than they've ever charged ever before. 🤷‍♂️

And I guarantee that Nintendo is just gonna look at sales this summer and see how it goes at $80. They can withstand the backlash if the game sells well enough.

They're gonna try to make $80 a thing, for sure. Personally, I think it's highway robbery that these other switch 2 edition games are gonna be $80. I think that's where the real justifiable backlash is coming from and I wholeheartedly agree it's ridiculous. $80 for a minor upgrade to a four year-old Kirby game? Come the fuck on. It's not gonna happen.

The best thing to do is just buy a game voucher for switch, and buy these games that you know are getting switch 2 editions, and just wait to play them until the switch 2 edition launches, and you're getting an $80 game for at most $60 including that $10 upgrade fee. Until Nintendo relents and realizes it's probably not gonna happen unless it's $69.99. That's all you can do
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That still doesn't explain $80.

They still could have achieved that @ $70. $80 is what you charge when you want to cover the future costs of added content while ensuring every single player will have access to said content.

People are whining and complaining now, but when Nintendo announces they will be adding more maps/characters/ etc for no extra charge everyone will be more than satisfied.
 
Shifty1897 said:
I talked to my 14 year old niece who is into Nintendo and asked her what she thought about $80 games. She didn't give a single fuck, she was day one on everything Nintendo. I guess it really only matters for those of us who are financially strict about stuff like this.
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I think you're the 14-year old here. In fact, I think your niece didn't get the chance to explain it to you.
 
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"As long as we make money, it's okay and we won't change".

This is how market and entrepreneurship works nowadays. Unless there's a financial reasoning behind whatever valid criticism in the table, it will be automatically shot down. They act like profits at all costs is some kind of biblical commandment.
 
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Going open-world with a Mario Kart game doesn't suddenly mean charging more than anyone else's standard edition in the last decade.

The budgets for Nintendo games don't match the production values of other titles, which was always smart because they still sell and make more profit. Pushing it up another $10 is just trying to milk people more, and they were already planning this before tariffs.
 
If modern games with questionable quality can go for $70 (like Atelier Yumia) then it makes sense for the best Nintendo games to be $10 more. Face it, a LOT of games with less polish are being sold for $70 these days, and people buy them, so here we are.
 
I don't understand why people are trying to justify this. The Nintendo dick riding is getting out of control. Cult behaviour.

I love Nintendo games, but fuck paying these prices for their games.
 
Not a single person should buy MK at 80 bucks. There's absolutely nothing that justifies this price. What was the development cost? Very small I bet.
I hope the Switch 2 bombs really hard.
I'm not convinced this will be a success. This is not a family console anymore.
 
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Really hope this console falls on its face. Glad I moved on from Nintendo eons ago. The next steam deck will provide so much better value. Even the current one would.
 
I want an explanation as to why MK World cost $30 more if you buy it unbundled. It's the same game and download that's in the bundle.
 
This is some crazy ass pricing and you're telling me it could go up. Good luck with that, they need a quick ass dose of reality. I suggest a flashback to the 3DS.
 
I'm not gonna purchase games at those prices and nothing is gonna change my mind. Even if that means that I'm never gonna play a game that released post 2024.
 
Remember last year when Wendy's (fast food joint) got absolutely raked over the coals for suggesting they'd do "variable pricing"? And they backpedaled immediately? I mean, I get that purchasing a game is different from purchasing a burger, but damn.
 
I'll defend the price of the switch 2 itself since thats actually a fair price for what youre getting

But not mario kart. $80 for any game is too damn high, hell the bundle shaves off $30. Since when did that become a thing? Bundles usually shave $10-20, this game should be $70 at most
 
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Sony does it. just at the lower scale 70/60/40.
Nintendo is upping the whole model $10

But those fuckers never go on sale.
 
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"We see Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour as a game that only the stupidest of people would buy. So of course, we offer it at such a bargain price."
 
Seems like a mistake to put "variable pricing" out there. I think I would have just played up the extra development time and content of MKW.
 
Variable pricing based on development and what the game offers is fine. But when there's a $10 difference, it's going to insult either the developers or the consumers lol.

"If only you had put it a little bit more effort, could have made an extra $10"
"Aww, you wanted $80 worth of games? Too bad Here's $70 worth"

This works - from a marketing standpoint - when there's a bigger delta between the prices. Nintendo chose the wrong economic climate to lose their minds lol.
 
Cimarron said:
She's 14. I doubt she has a job and pays for her own games at that age. The real question is will her PARENTS give some fucks.
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I'm guessing the parents must not care, because at this age she would know if her parents would complain about how much something costs, unless they don't complain about it. Which is fine, once my kid starts getting old enough to play games, if he asks for an $80 game for Christmas I would probably just explain that means he's getting less for Christmas because there's a budget.
QLQ said:
I think you're the 14-year old here. In fact, I think your niece didn't get the chance to explain it to you.
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I don't think anything I said warranted an insult. Can you explain?
 
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Elginer said:
This is some crazy ass pricing and you're telling me it could go up. Good luck with that, they need a quick ass dose of reality. I suggest a flashback to the 3DS.
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In regards to UK prices, Mario Kart World will retail for £75 physical edition (a little over 95 US $)

I could absolutely see the next 3D Mario, mainline Zelda and Pokemon Gen 10 physical editions being sold in the UK for £80 - £85.
 
Luckily I'm not a super huge Nintendo fan and ain't in no hurry to buy it either since I'll only consider buying it once the next AAA Zelda comes with a new Mario Party a few years later. The only games I'll want to eventually get are Metroid games, Zelda games, and Mario Kart World, and the next Mario Party.

I have already spend thousands of hours on my modded Bethesda games and I am still playing them and won't be bored of it ever so they'll easily keep me entertained while I wait a few extra years. And they'll still keep me entertained all the way past the Switch 2 years later.
 
It sounds like he's setting himself up to walk back the policy if the backlash gets too harsh for them.
 
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Gambit2483 said:
That still doesn't explain $80.

They still could have achieved that @ $70. $80 is what you charge when you want to cover the future costs of added content while ensuring every single player will have access to said content.

People are whining and complaining now, but when Nintendo announces they will be adding more maps/characters/ etc for no extra charge everyone will be more than satisfied.
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Yeah, that remains to be seen. I think they're trying make $80 a thing and see how it goes, and what better way to try and do that then with their flagship/ most popular series, Mario Kart, coming off 67+ million copies sold during just the Switch generation. I do imagine this game being something of a live-service, but note that none of the press or interviews even after the pricing backlash contained any comments or indication from anyone at Nintendo about this game getting future content down the road. I feel like if that was a key selling point they would've certainly been prepared to talk about it. 🤷‍♂️
 
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Shifty1897 said:
I'm guessing the parents must not care, because at this age she would know if her parents would complain about how much something costs, unless they don't complain about it. Which is fine, once my kid starts getting old enough to play games, if he asks for an $80 game for Christmas I would probably just explain that means he's getting less for Christmas because there's a budget.

I don't think anything I said warranted an insult. Can you explain?
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I took a guess at your age. Are you offended?
 
It's worth noting that this interview was taken before the pre-order delay announcement.

That being said, I feel like they're being coy here. "Variable pricing" doesn't give anybody reassurance, and the fact that there's no pricing for any other titles already has people worried.
 
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