Current Events > Why do people rabidly defend Nintendo from pricing criticism?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I get thinking the prices are fine, that's your opinion, but when people start mockery circlejerks against critics or personally attacking them over it that doesn't seem very justified.

For example people were quite rude to me for saying the Switch 2 pricing was probably why the console didn't sell out. I didn't say the sales were bad, just that obviously more people would've bought the thing if it was cheaper like previous handhelds. Maybe I'm wrong and the supply was somehow so large it could've never sold out, but you don't have to be insulting about it.

Nintendo does not need some corporate defense force, shit's annoying.

it's a cult

i cautiously agree with you on this one particular point

It's still cheaper than the PS5 and Series X tho

Will_VIIII posted...

It's still cheaper than the PS5 and Series X tho

The device itself is fine, the software is where their pricing is completely out of wack.

I wouldn't give a shit about the price of games if they actually went down with time, used to be you just had to wait a few months to a year to get a game on decent discount. Nintendo will still charge 80 bucks for Mario Kart in 5 years.

Assuming no supply issues, a good capitalist wouldn't want to price something so low that it sells out. That's just leaving money on the table.

(As well as encouraging scalpers and making customers who couldn't get one angry).

MC_BatCommander posted...

The device itself is fine, the software is where their pricing is completely out of wack.

I wouldn't give a shit about the price of games if they actually went down with time, used to be you just had to wait a few months to a year to get a game on decent discount. Nintendo will still charge 80 bucks for Mario Kart in 5 years.

I don't even think the pricing is a problem TBH (as someone turning 40 next month and recalls the $80 price tag for SNES titles), but I will say that Rockstar not dispelling rumors of GTA VI having a $99 price tag is the catalyst for this.

"Player's Choice" discounted rereleases no longer being a thing does suck though.

Because so many Nintendo criticisms are either overblown or just plain stupid. I totally agree with the issue of Mario Kart World being $80, but the Switch 2 itself is perfectly reasonable. The Switch 1 was $350 in 2017 (the US price hike is an issue I'm not getting into). The current cheapest Steam deck model is $400 (which almost no one seriously wants), the cheapest PS5 model has no disc drive (which given most buy an external drive, proves no one with an option, truly wants it either), & most other handheld PC brands range from approximately $550-$700 (both of the Steam Deck's higher end models are also in this range), based on system specs.

Even if we ignore the economic chaos of Trump's BS, anyone who was seriously expecting the S2 to launch for less than $400, was fucking delusional. I've been hearing talks of a PS6, coming soon, & given that the PS5 Pro launched for $700, I'd be shocked if the PS6 can seriously launch for less than $600.

Increasing the price on Canadians because of the US is not justified. I will buy it when it is on sale or as I did the switch. Second hand from someone who doesn't want them anymore.

They really aren't any more aggressively defended than any other company, IMO. You see it in every fanbase.

If you've ever taken a behavioural marketing course you'll learn that it's all psychology and brain washing. Nintendo is very good at brain washing their fans.

Nintendo just does this. So does Apple. *Shrug*

I'm not gonna defend it from criticism, but the Switch absolutely destroyed it. So they are valuing everything assuming that trend will continue.

I gotta disagree the price for the switch was expected and iirc has outsold several console within 2 months?

the reason it didnt sell out was because Nintendo was prepared for tariffs (in the USA), scalpers and high demand

the games being high priced and the physical games just being virtual keys is BS though and should be criticized

I dont like a lot of Nintendos practices but they did the release of the console right

I think it's because Nintendo imprint upon people in their childhoods and so Nintendo is a symbol of goodness and happiness. Attacks on the symbol are conflated with attacks on a rational universe.

So do people not know console launches and think it is a bad thing Nintendo who stockpiled a shit ton of consoles so scalpers would get fucked?

the console price is about what was expected. $80 for MK is a scam though and their other practices (like straight up saying you don't actually own the console) is................yeah

Biofighter55 posted...

the physical games just being virtual keys is BS though and should be criticized

That's on a per dev basis and so far no first party titles use em.

I may also be an outlier in that I'm not bothered by these either because there's the option to resell it for one, but also a lot easier to share in the same household than it is to share digital purchases.

Only have the one NS2 for now but if a new Animal Crossing comes out my wife will want one, and/or if an OLED comes out I'll probably get it and the OG model will be used by my wife.

No big brand is completely free from a defense force.

Nintendo fanboys are often on a different level though, especially in the modern day. These kinds of people remind me a LOT of Disney adults. There are a lot of people completely convinced that Nintendo games cannot be competed with and refuse to look outside of it

I like Nintendo games. I dont make that my entire life and feel an urge to defend them from all things though. I will not be paying $80 for Mario kart

I am just numb to price increases

post covid unchecked price gouging was never curtailed and no one tried to hold companies accountable. The price laws on the books were just ignored so why bother to complain.

Media companies will just raise the price any way. Borderlands is just one of them 'real fans will find a way'

Will_VIIII posted...

That's on a per dev basis and so far no first party titles use em.

I may also be an outlier in that I'm not bothered by these either because there's the option to resell it for one, but also a lot easier to share in the same household than it is to share digital purchases.

Only have the one NS2 for now but if a new Animal Crossing comes out my wife will want one, and/or if an OLED comes out I'll probably get it and the OG model will be used by my wife.

it's kinda on nintendo for not making smaller file size cards, forcing devs to either pay up for expensive 64GB cards or go key card if they want a physical release

mehmeh1 posted...

it's kinda on nintendo for not making smaller file size cards, forcing devs to either pay up for expensive 64GB cards or go key card if they want a physical release

IMO AAA devs should be able to eat the cost of this too

they sell 64 gig flash drives at gas stations for 5 bucks the developers can eat the costs. where are the cheaper digital games since the cost of the box was soooo expensive

mehmeh1 posted...

the console price is about what was expected. $80 for MK is a scam though and their other practices (like straight up saying you don't actually own the console) is................yeah

It's almost no different from what's in most any other To-U/S. The only thing Nintendo truly did here, is prove why those term agreements shouldn't have any legal weight (most can't hold up against serious legal scrutiny anyway, but that's beside the point) because almost no one has seriously read any of them, & no idea what's actually written in them, when clicking "I Agree/Accept/etc.". I assure you, Sony & Microsoft have similar language in their agreements, Nintendo just decided to be more transparent about it.

darkbuster posted...

The current cheapest Steam deck model is $400 (which almost no one seriously wants), the cheapest PS5 model has no disc drive (which given most buy an external drive, proves no one with an option, truly wants it either)

The 256 GB Steam Deck is literally the model I have, back when the lowest model was 64 GB you'd have had a point but 256 is perfectly severiceble. Anyone who PC games would also be fine with a discless PS5.

That aside games frequently go on sale on Steam and the PS Store, and Steam doesn't charge a fee for online play, so their console costs are a lot more justfitable compared to Nintendo doing the same thing. Back in the day Nintendo had the cheap hardware while the others had the cheap software, now Nintendo has cheap nothing lol.

SecretBase posted...

For example people were quite rude to me for saying the Switch 2 pricing was probably why the console didn't sell out. I didn't say the sales were bad, just that obviously more people would've bought the thing if it was cheaper like previous handhelds. Maybe I'm wrong and the supply was somehow so large it could've never sold out, but you don't have to be insulting about it.

Why would selling out be a goal? Console launches are often derided on accusations of artificial scarcity. This managed to break records and can still be found for sale, but that's for some reason still a bad thing according to some. What outcome is favorable to you?

If you don't like $80 games and wish Nintendo 1st party games went on sale more often that's another thing entirely and more would be likely to agree with you.

The S2 has had an insane amount of misinformation and grifter ragebait videos so it's hard to know when people are being good faith or not.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/circana-nintendo-switch-2-debuted-as-the-fastest-selling-video-
game-hardware-device-in-us-history-selling-1-6m-in-june.1250871/page-5

For some reason, you arent allowed to criticize Nintendo.

The dock not having an nvme slot is also a pretty big miss IMO

It's fine to say you think Nintendo's stuff is overpriced. Only you know how much a game/console is worth to you and if they're charging more than you're willing to pay it's fine not to buy it and to say the price is why you're not buying it.

It is kind of weird/funny though when people try to frame their criticism as business advice, as if what you really care about is Nintendo's stock price. No you don't. You want cheaper games. So just say that.

edit: I have my own complaints about Nintendo. Like the selection of classic games on NSO is okay but after 6 years they really could have a lot more on there, even if they're carefully play testing each one to make sure the emulation is right. I wish they'd put classic games on there at a faster pace rather than the drip feed they like to do.

SecretBase posted...

The 256 GB Steam Deck is literally the model I have, back when the lowest model was 64 GB you'd have had a point but 256 is perfectly severiceble. Anyone who PC games would also be fine with a discless PS5.

That aside games frequently go on sale on Steam and the PS Store, and Steam doesn't charge a fee for online play, so their console costs are a lot more justfitable compared to Nintendo doing the same thing. Back in the day Nintendo had the cheap hardware while the others had the cheap software, now Nintendo has cheap nothing lol.

You're an outlier on the Steam Deck issue, given that even ignoring the number of people I've seen claiming anything less than 1TB is unacceptable, the biggest divide between the cheap Deck & the other two, for a lot of people, seems to be the lack of OLED, which was a notable criticism for why the S2 didn't retain it.

Anyone who PC games, has little reason to even own a PS5, given most of the notable titles have PC releases.

As far as sales go, it really annoys me this myth still exists. For third party games, the same sales you see on Steam, PSN, & Xbox, are also on the eShop, often at the same time. Now, Nintendo's first party games, which are the main draw for Nintendo consoles, are rarely on sale & not nearly by as much when they do, but they do exist.

UnsteadyOwl posted...

the selection of classic games on NSO is okay but after 6 years they really could have a lot more on there

I'm actually having a hard time thinking of any prolific first party titles missing from NSO at this point

SecretBase posted...

I get thinking the prices are fine, that's your opinion, but when people start mockery circlejerks against critics or personally attacking them over it that doesn't seem very justified.

For example people were quite rude to me for saying the Switch 2 pricing was probably why the console didn't sell out. I didn't say the sales were bad, just that obviously more people would've bought the thing if it was cheaper like previous handhelds. Maybe I'm wrong and the supply was somehow so large it could've never sold out, but you don't have to be insulting about it.

Nintendo does not need some corporate defense force, shit's annoying.

People got on your case because you were attempting to lazily troll with the "It didn't sell out" bit.

Are you picking up where SketchDog left off with trolling, then acting like you don't understand why people react negatively to you?

Robot2600 posted...

they sell 64 gig flash drives at gas stations for 5 bucks the developers can eat the costs. where are the cheaper digital games since the cost of the box was soooo expensive

ask that to nintendo themselves, they're the ones overcharging the devs for it and forcing them to either tank that cost if they want an actual physical release

SecretBase posted...

For example people were quite rude to me for saying the Switch 2 pricing was probably why the console didn't sell out. I didn't say the sales were bad, just that obviously more people would've bought the thing if it was cheaper like previous handhelds. Maybe I'm wrong and the supply was somehow so large it could've never sold out, but you don't have to be insulting about it.

I think it's a bit incorrect to call it a handheld, but you can be free to think the price is too high. It seems about the same as the other consoles though iirc. Heck, the series X seems more expensive.

mehmeh1 posted...

ask that to nintendo themselves, they're the ones overcharging the devs for it and forcing them to either tank that cost if they want an actual physical release

The issue is that Nintendo is using newer tech for the cards, faster read/write speeds than the previous cards. Since the tech is newer, not as many are made, limited factories and what not, so smaller size may not lower the costs by much if at all.

Nintendo is a scam like MLM

Will_VIIII posted...

I'm actually having a hard time thinking of any prolific first party titles missing from NSO at this point

They're good on first party titles but with third party it's pretty spotty. I get some of it is what third parties will agree to, like probably why there's so little Mega Man / Castlevania / Contra is Capcom & Konami want you buying the collections. And Square Enix maybe just doesn't want to play ball in general. But there's also weird things like there's one Adventures of Lolo game and one Ninja Gaiden game but not the others. Capcom maybe won't allow the main series Mega Man games but also no Final Fight?

Like I said, I don't think their selection is bad, it just seems like they could have had a lot more third party stuff on the service by now if it was a priority for them, but it doesn't seem like it is.

Are they not sold out? I looked for one for my nephew for his birthday and had to put in for a request.

SecretBase posted...

For example people were quite rude to me for saying the Switch 2 pricing was probably why the console didn't sell out. I didn't say the sales were bad, just that obviously more people would've bought the thing if it was cheaper like previous handhelds. Maybe I'm wrong and the supply was somehow so large it could've never sold out, but you don't have to be insulting about it.

The Switch 2 didn't sell out because Nintendo produced enough to actually meet launch demand. Even at $450 (which, as mentioned, is still cheaper than the competing consoles), it still became the fastest-selling console in history, so there was never an issue of finding enough people willing to buy one at that price.

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-nintendo-switch-2-is-the-fastest-selling-gaming-hardware-in-us-history

SecretBase posted...

I get thinking the prices are fine, that's your opinion, but when people start mockery circlejerks against critics or personally attacking them over it that doesn't seem very justified.

For example people were quite rude to me for saying the Switch 2 pricing was probably why the console didn't sell out. I didn't say the sales were bad, just that obviously more people would've bought the thing if it was cheaper like previous handhelds. Maybe I'm wrong and the supply was somehow so large it could've never sold out, but you don't have to be insulting about it.

Nintendo does not need some corporate defense force, shit's annoying.

The console sold really well. 6 million in its first month. Nintendo just had a ton in stock, and you were guaranteed at least to get one on day 1 without a preorder. I didn't find any in store after that.

Because Diehard Nintendo fans are the gaming equivalent of Disney Adults

They don't drop the price of their 1st party games because they know there's no real substitute until the next version of that game comes out.

Because video games in general are severely underpriced. If retail costs went up at the same rate as development costs over the past 30 years then you would be paying thousands of dollars for one video game. So given that I don't know how some people can get angry over a 10 or 20 dollar price hike.

MC_BatCommander posted...

The device itself is fine, the software is where their pricing is completely out of wack.

I wouldn't give a shit about the price of games if they actually went down with time, used to be you just had to wait a few months to a year to get a game on decent discount. Nintendo will still charge 80 bucks for Mario Kart in 5 years.

Hell, they increased the price of Breath of the Wild to match inflation. In Canada its 79.99 after nearly 10 years. After taxes are taken into consideration, which my province has a 15% increase, that's nearly 100 dollars.

There's a lot of unmoderated cultish fanboyism around Nintendo. The Switch 2 board in particular is littered with sycophants rn. It's kind of disgusting.

People defending $70/$80 games need to take a long hard look at their life.

doshindude posted...

There's a lot of unmoderated cultish fanboyism around Nintendo. The Switch 2 board in particular is littered with sycophants rn. It's kind of disgusting.

People defending $70/$80 games need to take a long hard look at their life.

pretty much all of gamefaqs has always been like that

back when they did character battles it was basically nintendo vs everyone else

thronedfire2 posted...

They don't drop the price of their 1st party games because they know there's no real substitute until the next version of that game comes out.

you'd guess they'd reduce the price of their older games then
doshindude posted...

There's a lot of unmoderated cultish fanboyism around Nintendo. The Switch 2 board in particular is littered with sycophants rn. It's kind of disgusting.

People defending $70/$80 games need to take a long hard look at their life.

$70 for new games i can understand considering inflation and rising dev costs. $80 is ridiculous and old games never dropping price is just stupid considering nintendo games rarely don't make profit, so slashing prices once they're no longer the hot new thing would just be making them extra money

MKW isn't really fine, but I just hope nintendo understands that it selling as well as it did was mostly from the bundle rather than people being willing to fork over $80

Scardude posted...

Increasing the price on Canadians because of the US is not justified. I will buy it when it is on sale or as I did the switch. Second hand from someone who doesn't want them anymore.

That's not how things work anymore. Console prices go UP mid/post generation now instead of down, to serve as an anchor price for the inevitable newer version that's barely an upgrade but costs 50% more!

LightHawKnight posted...

The issue is that Nintendo is using newer tech for the cards, faster read/write speeds than the previous cards. Since the tech is newer, not as many are made, limited factories and what not, so smaller size may not lower the costs by much if at all.

Not sure how relevant this is to Switch 2 but NAND prices, particularly when in amounts lower than 512 GBs, are projected to increase
https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/07/17/news-nand-flash-price-hikes-reportedly-set-for-q3-with-supply-shortage-likely-stretching-into-2026/

DAE think Nintendo bad