There’s no denying the thrill of a brand new console reveal, and Nintendo definitely delivered when it got here to the brand new graphical capabilities of the Switch 2. Despite nonetheless no signal of a brand new 3D Mario recreation (it’s been nearly eight years since Super Mario Odyssey, why should my ache proceed?), we bought the open-world Mario Kart World, the return of Donkey Kong to the limelight, and a pseudo-successor to Bloodborne within the form of The Duskbloods. But one side of the reveal has overshadowed the whole lot – the worth. Not essentially simply the console itself – $449.99 isn’t an outrageous price for a bit of recent know-how in 2025 – however the sum of money it’s going to take to purchase the video games and equipment to get pleasure from Switch 2 to its fullest. So is the worth of admission to Nintendo’s new toys actually too excessive? Let’s have a look.
Many headlines have been written in regards to the $80 price ticket of Mario Kart World. It’s definitely an eye-opener in an age after we’re so used to $60 or $70 being the norm. The knee-jerk response is to say that it’s an excessive amount of and Nintendo is squeezing us for each penny because it is aware of it’s the one recreation everybody will need at launch. Throw in one other set of joy-con if you wish to play with family and friends and that’ll be one other $90. Want individuals from the world over to affix you? A non-inexpensive Nintendo Online membership is required. It all tots up and when the reveal trailer was so centered on 24-player co-op and the flexibility to roam round its world with mates, profiting from the brand new GameChat and photograph mode options, it’s exhausting to not suppose it is all a bit cynical.
Of course, the counterargument is that it presents good worth for cash by way of {dollars} to hours of enjoyment. World will possible be the one Mario Kart recreation to be launched on the Nintendo Switch 2 if Mario Kart 8’s decade-long lifetime is something to go by. Is $80 an affordable quantity to cost for a recreation that can possible present a few years of enjoyment? In an age the place free-to-play video games resembling Fortnite at the moment are the norm, have our views of worth for cash been skewed? I think about somebody who places as many hours into Fortnite over a five-year interval as a Mario Kart participant will possible spend $80 on battle passes and skins. Yes, these examples are apples and oranges, however in a time when a cinema journey for the entire household can simply price $80 for 2 hours of animated slop, a decade of Mario Kart doesn’t appear too dangerous.
Granted, Donkey Kong Bananza is listed at a less expensive $69.99 value, so possibly it is a case of Nintendo understanding they will ask what they need for Mario Kart, one of many planet’s hottest recreation sequence. But it does set a worrying precedent, and with the Switch 2 variations of Kirby and the Forgotten Land and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom each additionally costing $80, the technique is somewhat baffling. For an organization like Nintendo, which has additionally appeared player-first and beneficiant in its choices, it raises the query of whether or not different recreation publishers will observe within the footsteps of those inflated recreation costs. GTA 6, we’re all you. It additionally turns the eye to how generational leaps between consoles will go sooner or later with regards to the price of upgrading older video games.
PlayStation has been doing this for years, persistently providing $10 upgrades to a few of its PS4 video games making the leap to PS5, with Days Gone doing precisely that later this month. The value for enhanced variations of Switch video games on the Switch 2 is but to be revealed although; if it’s the identical as Sony fees then I doubt there’ll be a lot of an outcry – $10 for a superior body price, better decision in 4K, and even further gameplay additions isn’t a nasty deal. But if it’s $20 or $30, I’m undecided I’ll be investing in lots of of those upgrades.
For instance, you possibly can presently purchase Tears of the Kingdom on Amazon for $52, an entire $28 lower than the Switch 2 version will price. Surely the improve received’t be fairly that a lot? The distinction is even starker within the UK, the place it’s presently £45 for the Switch model, however £75 for Switch 2. The MSRP for the unique Switch model of TOTK is $70, so does that imply the improve might be simply $10? If that’s the case, why not simply purchase a Switch copy from Amazon after which get the improve pack for one more $10, saving your self nearly $20 within the course of?
Of course, that is all hypothesis however the one indicator now we have to date is the improved variations of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom being out there as a part of a Nintendo Online + Expansion Pack membership, of which the fee is presently $49.99 a yr. Assuming that the worth doesn’t get raised within the subsequent two months (I wouldn’t be vastly stunned if it does in some unspecified time in the future although, Netflix presently fees me $4 million {dollars} and the soul of my firstborn simply to look at Love is Blind), an upgraded Zelda as a part of that isn’t the worst deal on this planet. But what occurs if I cancel my membership? Do I’ve to return to taking part in 1080p, barely framey Zelda till I resub? These are all questions that want answering.
Finally, now we have maybe probably the most baffling alternative of all: the choice to cost for Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. This digital exhibition suffering from minigames reeks of {hardware} pack-in vitality and is the type of factor you’d anticipate to be greeted with when loading a brand new console up for the primary time. Astro’s Playroom got here free with all PlayStation 5s and was an extremely beneficiant platformer that each evoked Nintendo’s model of invention and celebrated PlayStation historical past whereas welcoming the brand new addition to its console household. It felt like Sony realized the best classes from Nintendo and Wii Sports, whereas Switch 2 Welcome Tour looks like Nintendo taking pages out of the borderline conceitedness Sony displayed throughout its costly PS3 launch.
I don’t suppose the Switch 2 might be a step backward for Nintendo like Sony’s leap into the high-definition era was although. It has sufficient ahead momentum and goodwill from the unique Switch, to not point out its frankly absurd library of video games, to falter massively. The Switch 2 console itself seems like a powerful if not barely secure enchancment on what’s come earlier than. The video games we’ve seen to date largely look nice too, with many extra to return I’m certain (Mario, come on, mate). I simply hope Nintendo doesn’t get too grasping and learns from the moment backlash of the price of a few of its launch choices. No one needs $80 to be the brand new normal value of video video games, so let’s hope Nintendo doesn’t make {that a} actuality.
Does the price of the Switch 2 and its accompanying video games, upgrades, and peripherals utterly overshadow the reveal? Not fairly for me. But it definitely didn’t end in it being the common success that Nintendo hoped it might be.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can primarily be discovered skulking round open world video games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing on the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
