Current Events > Guys, if Switch 2 doesn't fail then we are permanently and irrevocably screwed.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Games being $100 with no price drops, more nickel and diming, redoing the whole dripfeeding thing, just to name a few favorite tactics used. Who knows what else they can do to consumers. And it sets a precedent for the rest of the industry to follow suit.

Games going $100 is going to happen regardless of the success or failure of the Switch 2.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Not even that overpriced when you consider games have largely ignored price increases for decades. I was getting PS1 games for $50, the fact that PS5 games are only $1 more per year is not how any other industry works.

So happy I dumped gaming for the most part back in 2012. Fuck this hobby.

Almost everything has been getting more expensive over time; it's pretty naive for Gamers to think this is something that's only happening to them.

This is probably the first time I'd actually want chinese to make a console and introduce it to mainstream market just to give competition to the 2 companies and have them go back to being competitive with great games at great prices, because this current situation reeks of collusion.

Solar_Crimson posted...

Games going $100 is going to happen regardless of the success or failure of the Switch 2.

This. It was never realistic to think that $60 was going to remain the "standard" price for AAA games forever.

saspa posted...

This is probably the first time I'd actually want chinese to make a console and introduce it to mainstream market just to give competition to the 2 companies and have them go back to being competitive with great games at great prices, because this current situation reeks of collusion.

pffttt hahahah you think a new console will drop the price in this era of tariff war from cheeto throwing it at china ever week
games prices will stick to 100 even if nintendo new console bombs cuz it's adjusting to inflation

saspa posted...

This is probably the first time I'd actually want chinese to make a console and introduce it to mainstream market just to give competition to the 2 companies and have them go back to being competitive with great games at great prices, because this current situation reeks of collusion.

How do you expect a Chinese console to be competitive on pricing in this moment

Im still perfectly happy with my steam deck

I am more annoyed at that game key card crap nintendo is pushing.

But wait, I thought we were all supposed to ignore inflation, global tariffs, video game prices through history, and industry-wide standards just so we can say "damn Nintendo" instead?

Saspa flopic

This has been a Nintendo problem for decades. I don't get why anyone puts up with them.

Fortunately, you do have other options. You'll have to give up New Super Zelda Bros and the Temple of Time but frankly I dunno how you would have been able to justify keeping up with those this long when I haven't spent over $15 on a game once this decade.

Edit: Well, actually, I forgot about EDF6. I bought that one for $40 so I could play it with a friend of mine, lol.

i don't think the console is overpriced, really, i just think nintendo doesn't do enough to do right by their customers. what the fuck do you have to look forward to if you're an early switch 2 owner? mario kart if you got the bundle, although you'll still need an NSO sub. like, you have the expensive cost of entry, then what? pay to upgrade your games, pay to play online, pay pay pay more more more

when i got my series X, i had a library of free game upgrades and improved performance on my back-compat library, like the 60fps New Vegas update with 4K upscaling across the board, right off the bat. apparently some games on switch 2 will still not be 4K, like mario party which will only be improved to 1440

at least pokemon scar/vi are supposed to get free updates. there's that... they might keep at around 30fps...

Hinakuluiau posted...

Not even that overpriced when you consider games have largely ignored price increases for decades. I was getting PS1 games for $50, the fact that PS5 games are only $1 more per year is not how any other industry works.

Manufacturing costs have plummeted since the cartridge days, which is partially why game prices have fallen (especially in regards to inflation). It's not an apples to apples comparison. Moving from cartridges to discs lowered costs. Moving from discs to increasingly digital lowered costs. There's more competition AND more sales AND the rental/resale market is all but gone.
There have been many forces driving prices downwards over time. And, on the other side of costs, development costs are almost entirely a self-made issue. I think most gamers can list more over-produced games than AAA games that felt like they made efficient use of their resources. It's reasonable that gamers aren't sympathetic to rising production costs.

viewmaster_pi posted...

when i got my series X, i had a library of free game upgrades and improved performance on my back-compat library, like the 60fps New Vegas update with 4K upscaling across the board, right off the bat.

I also got a Series X at launch and mostly I recall people upset that there were no new games for it. Its lack of exclusives was a real problem.

Antifar posted...

I also got a Series X at launch and mostly I recall people upset that there were no new games for it. Its lack of exclusives was a real problem.

same thing with Switch 2, difference is you at least had improvements to everything else you already owned. I still had Elden Ring and Like a Dragon to look forward to

Switch 2? well... Mario Kart, yay, I do love it, but... that's gonna be it for a long time, until Air Riders, the next Smash Bros, Splatoon, etc

Hinakuluiau posted...

Not even that overpriced when you consider games have largely ignored price increases for decades. I was getting PS1 games for $50, the fact that PS5 games are only $1 more per year is not how any other industry works.

I mean, shoot, the NES had 2000 bytes of memory and the S2 has 12G bytes. Logically, it should cost 2 million times as much as an NES!!!

Unless it doesn't work that way.

you know what, the 360 game performance updates did come later, I think, but still- they were free. Nintendo would charge you $20 dollars, please understand, very small indie company, we need all the help we can get

viewmaster_pi posted...

same thing with Switch 2, difference is you at least had improvements to everything else you already owned. I still had Elden Ring and Like a Dragon to look forward to

Switch 2? well... Mario Kart, yay, I do love it, but... that's gonna be it for a long time, until Air Riders, the next Smash Bros, Splatoon, etc

Nintendo just announced a bunch of free HDR, performance and res improvements for Switch games on the Switch 2.

viewmaster_pi posted...

you know what, the 360 game performance updates did come later, I think, but still- they were free. Nintendo would charge you $20 dollars, please understand, very small indie company, we need all the help we can get

Those $20 upgrades generally include a sizable portion of additional content, so it'd essentially be like paying for DLC. Yes, even BotW/TotK, even though the "content" is not inherently in-game. (Though because of that I do wish it was free without already having NSO Expansion subscription...)

Other games that are merely performance upgrades will be free, though. That's already been confirmed.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

yea :(

gaming is literally my favorite thing in life lol. it aint a zero sum game but reading that i was like wow, why...

the only game getting meaningful content included in its upgrade is Kirby, and even then, it could just be a two hour romp through a few new levels

the app that tracks your stats in BotW/TotK is a joke, and only even useful if you're starting over- that's not content, not an addition to the game, and not worth the price, even at just $10 or whatever.

none of this deserves a defense

nintendo has been behind the curve for the past 20 years and are too stubborn and greedy to take meaningful steps forward, meanwhile their fans who are just as stubborn defend them with every breath

Did the failure of other Nintendo consoles lead to industry-wide price drops and more consumer-friendly practices?

viewmaster_pi posted...

don't think the console is overpriced, really, i just think nintendo doesn't do enough to do right by their customers. what the fuck do you have to look forward to if you're an early switch 2 owner? mario kart if you got the bundle, although you'll still need an NSO sub. like, you have the expensive cost of entry, then what? pay to upgrade your games, pay to play online, pay pay pay more more more

I just don't get how there isn't a bigger fuss about this whole game key card thing. Ok, the switch 2 comes with 256 GB of storage. One of the original switch's major advantages is that it's physical games did not need to be installed to the system, and so you can stretch the switch 1's space for a long time if you reserved a lot of digital purchases to smaller indie games or just smaller games n' general, and get physicals to play everything else. (and I should know.....I only ever owned the one 128 GB microSD card and I made this card last for years).

Game key cards throws all that out the window, and so now you have do download the game off nintendo's servers like you would a digital game with these types of games. At least cyberpunk is on a actual cart. I believe marvelous' games are also on carts. Every other 3rd party game is on game key cards.

https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/every-nintendo-switch-2-game-key-card-release

Some games like split fiction is freaking big at 73 GBs.

You need to buy microSD express cards to get a little bit more space. They are like how the M.2 drives were for the PS5 with being new and so its probably, hopefully, going to take a few years to start dropping in price. Until they do though, as of right now you are looking at about 49.99 for the 128 GB card, or around 68 for the 256 GB card.

Yeah, I already know some is going to be like "well, creating those bigger size switch 2 cards is so expensive for the publishers and so we need game key cards" but yeah they can fuck right on off with that......publishers should be taking one for the team and actually pay the money for those bigger switch 2 game carts. Everyone is trying to get one over on the consumer and its shit. Ain't no actual good excuse on why a smaller game like bravely default remaster should be a game key card game.

The switch 2 console itself is fine and reasonable. Everything else they are taking people for a ride with things like the vast majority of these upgrades being paid for compared to microsoft and sony giving a lot of them out for free (and microsoft did make a way where devs could easily enhance older games without their input so playing something like sonic generations at 60fps was a nice surprise) and not even having the one game that shows you the switch 2's features as a pre-installed game.

UnsteadyOwl posted...

This. It was never realistic to think that $60 was going to remain the "standard" price for AAA games forever.

They shouldn't cost more than $50 considering the digital revolution and DLC. A team of 30 French people has recently proven studios don't need a blockbuster movie budget and the staff of a military base to produce a quality AAA experience.

viewmaster_pi posted...

the only game getting meaningful content included in its upgrade is Kirby, and even then, it could just be a two hour romp through a few new levels

the app that tracks your stats in BotW/TotK is a joke, and only even useful if you're starting over- that's not content, not an addition to the game, and not worth the price, even at just $10 or whatever.

none of this deserves a defense

Mario Party Jamboree also gets a significant chunk of new content as well. Those are the only ones with paid upgrades that I'm aware of, outside of third-parties charging for theirs (which I'm already used to from PS5/Xbox anyway). I think it's up to third-parties if they want to charge for their upgrades or not.

And on a technicality that app is more than a progress tracker. It also lets you transfer/send items and Ultrahand blueprints, and also has "Voice Memories" that play a little bit of lore from a character's perspective when visiting certain places. And judging from a map I've seen there's like 100+ of these things in each game. I still wish all of this was in-game which would make the price a little more understandable, but I guess it's either that or make the Nintendo app paid which is a bad idea.

I don't know if it was said yet but the only item I can think of that got cheaper over the course of my life is television. TVs were expensive in the 1980s and 90s like 800 to 1500 for a heavy ass lets say 32 inch but good TV , now a 75 inch is 500 bucks and you most likely won't tear your pelvic floor picking up it plus it has more features

Mad-Dogg posted...

You need to buy microSD express cards to get a little bit more space.

this almost seems like a third party tax on the player. like, sure, you can finally play more third party games without having to stream them, or however the hell it worked on switch 1, BUT, you'll have to buy these new SD cards. are they in bed with sandisk, or what? like how Xbox controllers still have no built in rechargeable battery to facilitate AA battery sales...

even besides all this, 70 fucking dollars for the Donkey Kong game...? I mean, come on! elden ring was 60, clair obscur was 50, oblivion remaster is 50, remnant 2 was 40 ffs, nintendo's bing bing wahoo platformers are simply not worth the modern price hike when they still treat their playerbase like we're all babies who just want keys jingled in front of us

and you fucking know metroid prime 4 is gonna be $80

all i can say is it better have multiplayer or something like Hunters to at least offer some replayability for the price

Are you implying Nintendo came up with the price hike for games? It was inevitable; Nintendo were just the first ones it's happening with.

Hayame_Zero posted...

Are you implying Nintendo came up with the price hike for games? It was inevitable; Nintendo were just the first ones it's happening with.

nothing i said alluded to this. i'm saying games need to be worth their price if they're going for the AAA premium. i don't buy the focus group slop from Ubisoft and EA either

saspa posted...

Games being $100 with no price drops, more nickel and diming, redoing the whole dripfeeding thing, just to name a few favorite tactics used.

This is all going to happen independently of the switch 2's potential success because GTA VI will have all of this and that game will both sell gangbusters and make shitloads of money via shark cards 2.0

don't even get me started on GTA, literally every single problem with the AAA industry is exemplified in this shit, from predatory microtransactions, insane budget bloat, muh HyPeReALiSm graffix, celebrity voices and likenesses, expensive music licensing, cost after cost to be proudly passed on to the consumer, who naturally can't say no, because it's GTA! you gotta get it, no questions asked! why? well... because it's GTA bro!! you gotta get it bro!

viewmaster_pi posted...

don't even get me started on GTA, literally every single problem with the AAA industry is exemplified in this shit, from predatory microtransactions, insane budget bloat, muh HyPeReALiSm graffix, celebrity voices and likenesses, expensive music licensing, cost after cost to be proudly passed on to the consumer, who naturally can't say no, because it's GTA! you gotta get it, no questions asked! why? well... because it's GTA bro!! you gotta get it bro!

chad post

i dont fault ppl for liking it but it is a little wth how its an automatic buy for most ppl

ya but my marios!

This was already happening before Nintendo upped their prices... GTA6 has been rumored to be $100 for awhile now, the only way this doesn't happen is if we protest all platforms(which isn't happening so glhf).

Hinakuluiau posted...

Not even that overpriced when you consider games have largely ignored price increases for decades. I was getting PS1 games for $50, the fact that PS5 games are only $1 more per year is not how any other industry works.

... you guys all bought horse armor back in 2007 didn't you. You're one of "those"

Gta VI was already announced to be higher priced before the switch. This was going to happen regardless.

But seriously, not being on the same page of this is wild. There is no other way to look at it objectively, arguing otherwise is crazy. Arguing for it is on another level entirely...

ai123 posted...

Did the failure of other Nintendo consoles lead to industry-wide price drops and more consumer-friendly practices?

nope and it won't lead to it again even if happens again or nintendo goes out of the console business like sega
and beside the people whining games costing over 50 never bought it at that price like me so i don't get why they are whining now wait for a sale like me who always does cuz i never bought a game day one outside of few rare ones

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I don't have any subscriptions to services and without buying games, I don't have to buy a system, buy games, buy service for the system's online, buy game passes, buy DLC or anything else.

When I was using my PS3, I saw it getting out of hand and jumped ship very, very quickly. The more I see these days, the happier I am that I never bought into a PS4 or any other post-PS3/Xbox 360 systems.

The issue is, there's penny pinching in literally every aspect of the games and consoles. Once DLC came about, I got really, really pessimistic.

Dungeater posted...

yea :(

gaming is literally my favorite thing in life lol. it aint a zero sum game but reading that i was like wow, why...

I will tell you this. I grew up with games. My mother and grandmother would even play games for me when I was a baby. Like, I really grew up with them. Do I play things? Sure. If there's no need for DLC or a console or a service fee? Fine. Hell, I play gachas. But I never pay on them. Honestly, if I ever go back to consoles, it will be NES/SNES/PS1/PS2 games I never played. I have zero desire of anything modern. This industry sadly died to me.

ai123 posted...

Did the failure of other Nintendo consoles lead to industry-wide price drops and more consumer-friendly practices?

They literally gave us Bayonetta 2 with a free copy of Bayonetta 1 inside back when they were desperate and trying to appease gamers. Do you think current Nintendo would do anything even resembling that? Look at DKC Returns series, they're literally charging full price for 2 separate ports.

Also the virtual console, overpriced as it was, at least allowed you to buy the games and play them. I can still go and play super mario 64 right now, no subscription needed. Switching to a drip feeding subscription service model on the other hand? Trashy as fuck.

Again, being on the other side of this is beyond ridiculous.

Why weren't we permanently and irrevocably screwed when Playstation and Xbox did this earlier?

StopBeinMad posted...

Why weren't we permanently and irrevocably screwed when Playstation and Xbox did this earlier?

wellthatwasdifferent.gif

I have mine pre-ordered with the Mario Kart bundle. Now that seemed fair. $50 extra for Mario Kart.

Sayoria posted...

So happy I dumped gaming for the most part back in 2012. Fuck this hobby.

Why then are you still posting on a gaming website 13 years later?