Nintendo Switch 2 Game Prices Spark Outcry As ‘Mario Kart World’ Listed For $80, ‘Donkey Kong Bananza’ For $70: “DROP THE PRICE”
While the recent reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 was met with thunderous applause during its respective Nintendo Direct presentation, some details that weren’t mentioned therein, including the enormous price jump for first-party games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, have poured rain on the initial celebration.
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The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct on April 2nd was memorable for multiple reasons: Technical issues, FromSoftware’s The DuskBloods being announced as a console exclusive, the Moo Moo Meadows cow becoming a beloved Mario Kart character overnight, and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it confirmation of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date.
During the direct itself, Nintendo was suspiciously tight-lipped about the price of their upcoming hardware, but the veil on this topic would soon be lifted courtesy of the company’s official website, which confirmed that the Switch 2 would would cost $449.99, or $499.99 when bundled with Mario Kart World.
From there, a membership to Nintendo’s Switch Online service, as needed to play most of the console’s online multiplayer games, as well as its NES, Super NES, and Game Boy Virtual Console offerings, will run players a further $19.99 a year (or $49.99 for the Expansion Pack, which grants players additional access to the N64, GBA, and SEGA Genesis Virtual Consoles, and various DLC for the company’s first-party games).
For comparison, a Steam Deck with the same internal storage as the Switch 2 (256GB) costs just $399.00
A bit of a sting from the company that seemed to pride itself on being the cheapest console on the market, though still cheaper than the base Xbox Series X and disc-capable PlayStation 5 ($499.99 each, alternate models not withstanding), the price of the hardware itself would pale in comparison to what the company would ask for their games.
Across press releases, Nintendo’s official store, Walmart, and official webpages for the games, the two ‘Day One’ first-party titles available for the Switch 2 were revealed to be setting a new standard for modern era video game price tags, with Mario Kart World listed at $79.99 MSRP and Donkey Kong Bananza at $69.99 MSRP.
In addition, Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of previously-released Nintendo Switch games, including Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, were listed at $79.99.
The one exception was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which held a tag of $69.99.
What’s more, the box disclaims that the games are actually the original Nintendo Switch carts, with a digital “Switch 2 upgrade pack” bundled in, which itself can be bought separately by anyone who previously bought them.
The price to upgrade your Switch version to a Switch 2 version wasn’t specified, but those with a Nintendo Switch Online membership will be able to get the upgrades for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom for free.
By comparison, third-party releases were shown to be asking for far less, with Capcom’s Street Fighter VI going for $59.99, and Square Enix’s Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster for a merciful $39.99
To rub yet-more salt in the wound, Nintendo declared in the fine print that some physical Nintendo Switch 2 games, such as the aforementioned Street Fighter VI and Bravely Default (which may explain their cheaper prices), would be on a proprietary “Game-Key Card.”
As explained by the system’s support page, “Game-key cards are different from regular game cards, because they don’t contain the full game data. Instead, the game-key card is your ‘key’ to downloading the full game to your system via the internet. After it’s downloaded, you can play the game by inserting the game-key card into your system and starting it up like a standard physical game card.”
Nintendo emphasize “The game itself isn’t included on the game-key card, so you’ll have to download it before you can play.” – but also, the game isn’t downloaded onto the card either, as “to download the game, you must have enough free space in your Nintendo Switch 2 system memory or microSD Express card.”
Notably, Regular microSD cards don’t work on Nintendo Switch, so players may need to buy the $200 Express cards.
As an aside, Cyberpunk 2077 takes up a quarter of the Nintendo Switch 2’s internal memory. During the Nintendo Direct, the 256gb storage size was illustrated with a tray being filled with 26 game cards, all of varying thickness, with plenty of room to spare. Curiously though, they were all titles made for the first Switch, not the Switch 2 .
Even so, IGN reports that Mario Kart World will be just over 23GB, while other announced titles will be 10GB or less.
The Switch 2’s battery life is also just two- to six-and-a-half-hours depending on conditions, around half that of its predecessor and a shrinking violet next to the Steam Deck’s three to twelve hour stamina.
To recap, the Nintendo Switch 2 costs $449.99, with an additional $19.99 for the first year of online; a total of $469.98.
Meanwhile, the Mario Kart World bundle will run $499.99, bringing that total to $519.98 in total (the same price as if you bought the stand-alone console and Donkey Kong Bananza).
If one of the The Legend of Zelda games or another Switch 2 Edition games takes your fancy, that’s $529.98 in total, and those who own the Switch original can only pray the upgrade pack DLC isn’t exorbitant.
Maybe you’ll throw in the towel and buy the launch game with the lowest confirmed price tag Bravely Default. That’ll be $489.98 for a ‘physical game’ that’s effectively worse than an empty box with a download code inside it.
The above all averages out to just over $515 for a Nintendo Switch 2 with one game.
In a follow-up Q&A with VGC, the responses of a Nintendo spokesperson bordered on useless, effectively offering little more than insistence that they would meet demands for console supplies and that the new Joy-Con 2s were more durable.
For example, when asked how much Switch 2 edition upgrades would cost in Europe, they curtly stated “We are not announcing that info at the moment.”
Further pressed by VGC’s Chris Scullion, “Why are some games priced more than others (such as Mario Kart World)?” Nintendo would only state “The final price is determined by retailers. For My Nintendo Store prices, we determine on a case-by-case basis.”
Nintendo also refused to provide details on if there were considering region-locking outside of Japan, if third parties could make Switch 2 Editions of their games, if publishers can release free Switch 2 Edition upgrades, or if there will be customization options or achievements on the new console.
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Unsurprisingly, especially at a time when economies worldwide are struggling, players were more than unhappy with Nintendo’s price hike, with many taking to social media to share their frustrations.
“It’s absolutely awe inspiring how greedy Nintendo is, @MASSGRAVE_ART bemoaned. “After they regained their lost territory following the Wii U ear [sic], they went on to conquer all the land so they may now extort every single subject of their grain and coin. They truly embody the spirit of the daimyō.”
“I’m going to say this with no malice… I genuinely think the Switch 2 is going to be a generational FLOP for Nintendo,” streamer @SendoDX proposed. “These price tags have created such negativity around its release that I’m actually flabbergasted. They f—-d this up BAD.”
Referring to the fact that the Joy-Con 2’s new ‘C’ button, which provides quick access to Game Chat functions for players with a Nintendo Online subscription, @GamingAndPandas questioned, “How does it feel knowing that Nintendo paywalled a physical button on your controller?”
Offering a bit of a silver lining, @DynamoSuperX recalled, “YEAH UM, remember when the nintendo 3DS got backlash and flopped at launch cause parents and casuals boycotted it? This will (and probably should) happen again.”
It should be noted that the fog of war resulting from said social media discourse seems to have caused some confusion.
While many have suggested that digital versions of games will be $10 cheaper on average and that Mario Kart World‘s physical version will actually retail for $89.99, these claims currently remain unverified. Further, both seem to stem from European listings showing the game at €89.00 for physical and €79.99 for digital in Europe.
Fans are certainly making their voices heard. During the two days that the Nintendo Treehouse livestreamed a selection of Switch 2 games, the chat was nigh-filled with one message: “DROP THE PRICE“.
Unfortunately, it seems that despite their protests, US players in particular will soon see the opposite effect applied to the Switch 2.
Thanks to the new tariffs enacted by President Donald Trump, Nintendo has chosen to delay their previously-planned US pre-order window for the new console “in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” with the specific tariffs placed on China and Vietnam, where the company typically manufactures their consoles, set to see both hardware and games receiving a local price bump.
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