One of the more controversial parts of Nintendo’s recent announcement about the Switch 2 is the fact that the game will be quite expensive. The company has announced the launch title for its first party Mario Kart World The digital version costs $79.99, while the physical copy is even more expensive at a price tag of $89.99.
Circana analyst Matt Piscaterra believes the new pricing is an attempt to “future prevention” itself “in the future” from the effects of tariffs being introduced by the US. This was done to make it much more difficult for companies to raise prices for already released products. Rather, Nintendo is preemptively releasing products at a higher price tag.
“Product pricing can always decline over time, but increasing the pricing for an announced or released product can be extremely difficult and painful,” Piscatella said in a conversation with IGN. “This is purely my own guess, but this pricing is most easily explained by trying to be conservative given the current chaotic market situation.”
At Bluesky, Piscatella has expressed the idea that this new $80 price tag for video games could become “new normal.” He compares this price hike with the costs of food due to inflation. Only, the price does not gradually rise, but its effects are arriving at the same time.
“Welcome to our people’s new normal people” posted Piscatella on social media platforms. “But instead of slowly increasing over time, as we’ve seen with groceries over the past few years, we start to see things happen at once.”
Piscaterra also believes that even with price increases, Nintendo’s games and console sales will not be affected in practice. He owe this to high-income households as well as “price-insensitive super enthusiasts” who purchased the product regardless. He believes that as Switch 2 enters its second year, the impact on sales will begin to become more obvious.
“Based on what we see across the market, sales to high-income and wealthier households will not be affected by this pricing,” Piscaterra told IGN. “And of course there are super enthusiasts who do whatever it takes to get the Switch 2 at launch and pay for them. So, I don’t think this pricing will hinder the sales volume for a year, as there are limited quantities available for release year.”
“The true testing will be in year 2, as supply is likely to be more readily available and the addressable market is likely to expand. So we need to see what will happen in the next 9-12 months.”
The Nintendo Switch 2 will hit store shelves on June 5th at a price tag of $449.99. Mario Kart World It will be available as a bundle using Switch 2, bringing the price up to $499.99. This basically makes the bundle the cheapest way to get a copy of the game.
Welcome to our people’s new normal people with new pricing. But instead of slowly increasing over time as we have seen with groceries over the past few years, we start to see things happen at once.
– Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) April 2, 2025 at 9:10pm
