Dear Nintendo, Please Don't Do This (Not Now Least)
Ah yes, some people are really defending this. The whole "they were pricey before during the SNES era" retort is honestly something that's for people in full denial of the current conditions of the gaming industry.
To be honest, I did complain about the 70 USD price tag for the PS5, XBS, but in time I did accept that it has to be the exceptions carrying over for the systems, long as they provide substantial features that other platforms don't have like 3D Audio, Xbox Series X's SSD capabilities, PS5 Dualsense, etc.
Then PC games started being priced at 70 USD, and it just dawns on us that the bad part has finally come. But where does Nintendo get off pricing their games like this for a 6-year system now? Maybe you could have just waited a little bit to adjust price when you release your new system instead of charging more for technically outdated games.
The argument about 70 USD high budget game is very mixed. It makes sense on one side that game development has gotten expensive, and so in order to make sure everybody's happy, that also includes company profit margins and shareholders, most latest-gen AAA console games were priced 70 USD. It kind of also makes sense that some of these games will come with features that aren't present in last-gen systems and PCs in general.
And just a little while ago, Nintendo announced that they are increasing pay for their entire employees by 10%. While Nintendo treats their consumer base kind of terrible, they know how to look after their employees. That still doesn't become a right justification for the price here.
The latest model released is the one with the OLED screen, stand changes, and shortened bezels, along some other improvements too. But inside, it is still dated tech. This system can't have a browser or any other multimedia app installed. Strange considering that it has a touchscreen, which I've never used on a single game I've played.
What justification does the extra 10 USD bring? The system I am playing these games in look visually dated, and technically inferior compared to the other systems. It's not a 1-1 comparison because Nintendo isn't competing against the high-end gaming market, yet this system plays about over 80% of games available in every system.
There's already another example outside the upcoming Zelda game, and that is the Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Anniversary Edition. Compared to the normal one, just extra 10 from its 60 USD price adds all the features present in any recent Skyrim version. With Nintendo's blessing, any news games releasing will be following this. Tragedy ensues.
Having a market edge over newly released systems is like bragging that the PS4 outsold the Xbox 360. The Switch has already surpassed the 100 million unit sales, which is a great feat, but for a 6-year system. In case they haven't noticed, the Steam Deck just came out not long ago, and it's selling pretty fast.
Even a 400 USD base model, at 64GB offers way more performance, and you can do just about anything with it. Even use it as a PC at times. The only big difference that exists, is the ecosystem, and that can of worms is a whole other ordeal.
Here's the other conundrum with buying Switch games, they rarely go down in prices later on. The only time you get significant cuts are from game sales that are on limited time. I have to use a third-party price tracker to know when particular game prices have gone down. They even sell older games at the 60 USD mark up.
Understandably, this does sound like a nitpick, but here's why it is a problem and the last 2 years of economic struggles have taught us one thing; which is that it's not something we can throw at money anymore. Mostly people in Third World countries. I always felt like these systems could have sold a lot more in that market if Nintendo was more lax into selling their games for lower prices.
You can't just pretend that your ecosystem is exceptional, warranting such higher prices, especially for the exclusive games. You're now in that same market as the other systems, you have a lot of third-party selection of titles. It's just backwards to price games like this, and expect game makers to benefit from it.
All of this now has to do with the 70 USD pricing, which elicits other devs to follow. The prices are already high enough and being stretched this much, all leads to it becoming a bad sign. Nintendo, for all the trouble it gives to people streaming their games to unabashedly throwing copyright strikes just to make sure their interests are protected, needs to realize they can't hold the monopoly for long.
People now have jobs to do, very busy lives where they spend 30 minutes to several hours of time on transportation. The handheld was a way to bridge the gap of missing time not being spent on playing games. That's one of the key factors as to why the Switch is selling so well. Though not for long, as mentioned the Steam Deck is doing well, and other handhelds coming up like the AYANEO.
And now their bigger problem is finally arriving. The golden age of game emulation. I mean it that way, because games being emulated from the Switch, are now running near perfectly just a few days after being released.
In fact, the chatter from the handheld community is justifying pirating the games on their PCs. Modded Switches still go strong, even if most of the units sold worldwide are V2s now, post-patched. Of course, everyone knows that Nintendo has no incentive, like a score system or some perks, for buying their games. The only thing that comes in the way is not being able to play online.
A 6-year-old dated console, which is sort of semi-responsible for games having some downgrades in order to make it playable there. They are now getting a price hike. Not just for exclusives, but it seems AAA from major companies are too. And their new system is far away from being released. Some indicating a 2024 release, probably in the holidays. That's nearly 8 years lifespan. So, maybe you could have waited a bit, decided instead to sell 70 USD games on newer hardware instead. Don't get me wrong in assuming the new Zelda game won't be amazing, but it's not at the AAA or AAAA standard from a technical level. Nintendo fans can justify the price, but I just don't see the actual market value.
Recent content:
That's crazy expensive . 70 bucks now for a game 👀. I never bought a game for that much when I was younger and definitely wouldn't pay for that now😵
I just have one thing to say, Nintendo
Bintendo