Many Nintendo fans, some even lifetime fans, sat at their computers, eagerly waiting for Nintendo to announce the price of their Switch 2. Hoping for it to be the same price as its predecessor, the original Switch, these fans were shocked to hear the announcement.

“The Switch 2 will cost £395! It’ll cost £429.99 when bought along with Mario Kart World!”

The original Switch only cost £279 back in 2017. Now it is nearly £400. How, and why, did this happen?

There was a huge backlash against Nintendo, a once cheap place to buy consoles, which now has an £80 game on sale. It is now its most expensive base game to date. For more than a decade, video game prices were usually priced at £60, which was the last Mario Kart’s pricing. People were telling Nintendo to drop prices as many families out there who want the game might not be able to afford it due to the cost of living crisis. 

So, why is it so expensive?

The first thing that comes to mind are the tariffs. Nintendo had to stop preorders in the US due to Liberation Day. And since many of the parts are from China, the price of the Switch 2 was bound to be higher than before. 

In other cases, it could be due to how long it took to be made. Take GTA VI for example. It has taken (as of now) 11 years of development and over $2 billion has been spent making it, which is already more than the cost to build the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. 

Another reason it might be expensive is because of how exclusive Nintendo games are. Mario Kart 8 was and still is only made for Nintendo’s consoles, showing how exclusive the game is. You can’t play the game unless you get the console first. 

Nintendo said that the price of their new games will vary, but other companies are now following their route. Only a few weeks after announcing Switch 2’s price, XBox announced pricing updates on some of their upcoming games. They also cost around £80. Some experts say that this should’ve happened years ago, saying that this is ‘long overdue’. 

However, some say that £80 is still worth the money for a game. They would argue £80 for an infinite amount of fun is great compared to 1 player games with only 60-80 hours of game time. It also is worth it since Nintendo makes many high quality games. This includes the exception of Pokemon scarlet and violet, which had lots of bugs and glitches. 

Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t seem to be dropping these prices anytime soon. £80 could become the normal price for games from now on. There are multiple theories as to why it is now so pricey, but Nintendo won’t confirm any of it, meaning we’ll never know why they hiked up the price.

By Kingsley.