Comments 1,073

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@Haruki_NLI you’re getting confused about not reaching sales expectations rather than selling at a loss. Selling at a loss would be selling Bayonetta 3 at $20 at launch… and not reaching sales expectations and not making a profit would be selling at $80 (at a profit per unit) but only selling 2,000 units.

And the WiiU and 3DS never sold at a loss. 3DS is even more proof of that, that they were able to do a price cut.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@KociolekDoSyta exactly. They are still making a profit at $50…(because, repeat after me people, Nintendo never sells at a loss) that’s why they are able to bundle it. Now, increasing that to $80-$90 is pure greediness. It’s almost 75%-80% in profit.

Also, let’s be honest… in 2024 alone , Nintendo’s net profit was $3.2 billion dollars.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@LUIGITORNADO Im not villainizing anything. I’m giving proof.
You proved my point. Does Nintendo sell at a loss? No. That’s what I said and it’s a simple fact.

And it supports the argument that if they are bundling the game, then their profit starts at a $30-$40 price tag for the game. It’s not like they are taking a hit because the game is actually $60 and just making a 30% profit. The bundle is proof of that.

Can they still sell MKW at $70 and make a 80-90% profit? Yes they can. Just like they have been doing for decades.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@LUIGITORNADO Microsoft and PlayStation sell their consoles at a loss initially for higher sales numbers. They take the hit to put more consoles and ecosystems for games out there.

Nintendo is well known to never sell anything at a loss or eating a cost for consumers.

MK being bundled with the Switch 2 means their profit line starts at $30 or $40 …. Which means that even at $60 their would be making quite a profit. $80 is just greediness.

In MK’s situation they could have eaten a $10 cost to motivate people to buy it and have higher sales… in this case they are upping the price which will be reflected in lower sales numbers. Just like @datamonkey puts it.

Nintendo is testing the consumer limits with its most popular game because they know we are all Mario Kart sheeps.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@hiptanaka I mean… one thing is to capitalize on success, which I can get behind that for Nintendo… but don’t tell me a 30%+ increase in less than two years is somewhat defendable. They are testing the waters again like with TotK. And if they don’t see people getting upset about it, they will not read the room and see this as the next standard, and then the next, and the next.

It’s a “Vote with your wallet” situation as always.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@hiptanaka I agree, maybe it’s the reason that, they are the ones pulling the trigger… without a good reason. There was only a year between their $60 games and now $80-$90 … that’s a 30%+ increase in two years… not even inflation is an excuse.

In my personal case it’s not about money, it’s about principle. There’s a reason why people always warn against Nintendo being on top… they tend to give in to greediness.

Also, yes, budget doesn’t mean quality in any way, I’m saying that through an economics lens. It’s like cinema, movies with higher budgets bet their returns on sales… not by raising the ticket prices because they feel the movie “is the best”.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@Olmectron man… I LOVE Mario Kart and have played them since the SNES. What I don’t love is defending something that shouldn’t be defended.
TotK certainly wasn’t a $70 game… and I love Zelda… but we all knew it was just an experiment to spearhead higher prices … and guess what… it worked for Nintendo.

Then they saw that success and used it as an excuse to raise prices again by 25%-30%. Guess what is gonna happen next when Mario Kart sells millions at $80-$90?

People are just enabling a greedy Nintendo.
That’s why I can’t defend this.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@Olmectron stay on topic… I never said their quality depends on budget. I said that games with higher budgets are usually more complex to develop… hence the higher budgets. And if a game has a higher budget, they tend to recover that with either raising the price or betting on the number of sales.

And since the high number of sales is 100% guaranteed for a Mario Kart game… there’s absolutely no reason for a price increase.
Nintendo is betting on both things.

Ugh… and it’s not because they look childish. DK also looks “childish” … why does that cost $70 then? It’s about content? Then why do other content heavy titles still cost $60?

Use RDR2 as an example then. The TLOU2 example is because of its budget.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

@sanderev easy… the budgets. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe estimated budget was $50 million. And let’s say, first example that comes to mind…. The Last of Us 2 budget was $220 million.

Mario Kart World won’t be a $200M+ budget game… that’s for sure. There are many things in development that MK doesn’t have that others do, like a script, story, voice acting, (form the top of my mind) etc etc.
Yet those games still cost $60-$70 vs $80-$90.

Now… what’s the excuse?

@olmectron what does that have to do with anything? DK is also “childish looking” as you put it… yet, that game is $70. Yes, some assets and textures from those “childish looking” games are cheaper to accomplish.
But if we are talking about content… why does a game like Xenoblade Chronicles with HUNDREDS of hours of content still cost $60-$70?
Again… what’s the excuse?

The only difference is that Nintendo knows they can get away with this game because MK8 is their best selling game.

But it’s curious that they can bundle it and sell it for $40 right? Mhhh almost sounds like their profit line starts around $30-$40 huh? Reaaally suspicious that suddenly they have the need to sell it for double?

Again… remember that Nintendo NEVER sells at a loss.

Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes

Yoshi3

He is right that people are just buying the brand and exclusivity, there’s absolutely no reason for a price hike that big.
He is an ex-boss but I just see Sony salivating at this opportunity and path that Nintendo cleared for everyone else to raise the prices.
And to be honest, there’s just no excuse for MKW to cost $80 when there are other games out there that are more… let’s say… development and content heavier and with higher budgets than MK.
If they are able to bundle it with the Switch2 it means that they are able to lower the price at least to $70 or $60 without a bundle.

Remember that Nintendo NEVER sells at a loss.

Re: Nintendo: Switch 2's Launch Titles Are "Sort Of" Genre- And Franchise-Defining

Yoshi3

@Beetlebum91 I mean... you gotta get to a middle ground... not too linear like Skyward Sword because you take away the freedom... but not too open world like TotK because you take away the structured design.
Ocarina of Time and classic Zeldas were the middle ground... it was a bit "do your own thing" but with a structured progression and design.

Aonuma is outdated to be honest. If he can't understand the reason why 20 previous Zelda games became popular in the first place ... then he isn't fit for the job anymore.

2 games in and many people are fed up of with this formula. Unlike 20 that came before.

Now imagine this situation with other franchises repeating ad nauseum. All looking and playing the same, like a gigantic mix of sand boxes, fetch quests and unstructured stories.

@PikaPhantom have we gotten confirmation about that? I didn't watch the Treehouse tbf. And if so... phew... a sigh of relief. Imagine stripping the Metroidvania progression in favor of an open world for the game that popularized the sub-genre... blech...

Re: Nintendo: Switch 2's Launch Titles Are "Sort Of" Genre- And Franchise-Defining

Yoshi3

So... turning every single game to open world now is "genre defining"?? Suuuuure

IMO it just converts creative formulas into big sand box fetch quests.
It's ok here and there... but not for everything! (There's rumors the new Resident Evil and the new Mario are open world too) .. sigh....

In a few years every game will be the same ... 100 hour fetch quests

Re: Switch 2 Game-Key Cards Aren't Tied To Nintendo Accounts

Yoshi3

@Daniel36 those SD cards cost way too much, and if you divide them by, maybe 10 games that fit on there then it’s like adding a $20 above the already $90 that the games cost.

Also, I still have my NES cartridges and my Zelda’s batteries still work perfectly. Tbh honest I don’t like double dipping unless they add content.

But I get what you mean. The thing is, it’s not the inconvenience, it’s the bawlls of Nintendo doing this and on top of that charging $10-$20 above industry standards. This is the cherry on top. I mean, if you’re gonna start doing these shenanigans, let it show on the price. I mean it’s obvious they are cutting corners on costs AND charging a really high premium for everything.

Re: Switch 2 Game Cart Max Capacity Is 64GB, Says CD Projekt Red

Yoshi3

@PushMyGran86 that’s not an argument for a high price. People still play Tetris 99 … does that mean it should’ve cost $80 or $90?

And in that case, why does DK still cost $70-$80 then? It’s not like it’s a game where it will be played to death 7 years later.
Sorry but that is not an argument for the price as it doesn’t cost Nintendo to add replayability anything more than any other game.

It’s because they know it’s their best selling game and they can get away with it… just like they did with TotK raising game prices to $70 even though it was mostly the same game as BotW, with the same map. It never justified its $70 price tag. It was just a little experiment to justify themselves. They thought that people would blindly buy their games for a higher price still. If it worked for them with TotK, they thought nothing would stop them with their next best seller IP, isn’t it?

Re: Switch 2 Game Cart Max Capacity Is 64GB, Says CD Projekt Red

Yoshi3

So… you’re telling me there’s no real reason for Nintendo to charge $80-$90 for games then 🤬🤬

Because, let’s be honest. There are far more games that cost $60 with heavier, more complex development times, with higher budgets, expenses, and better graphics and assets than Mario Kart.

It’s not the Switch cart tax because of the capacity… it’s 100% greed.

I never thought I’d be saying this about my favorite company but I hope the launch is a disaster ala 3DS so we can return to the humble and consumer friendly Nintendo.

Re: Select EU Retailers Are Abandoning Nintendo's Suggested Retail Price For Switch 2 Games

Yoshi3

@Folkloner its already chaos in there... people are already expressing their disgust and voting with their comments in the live channels.

Also:

https://www.ign.com/articles/former-nintendo-pr-managers-say-switch-2-and-mario-kart-world-price-backlash-a-true-crisis-moment-for-nintendo?

“So what went wrong? Ellis and Yang suggested Nintendo now lacks the consumer mindfulness it once had, following former NOA boss Reggie Fils-Aimé’s retirement and the tragic loss of former Nintendo head Satoru Iwata.”

Re: "Don't Let Nintendo Ruin The Entire Industry" - Is $80 For Mario Kart World A Bridge Too Far?

Yoshi3

I always knew TotK was bad news. It just enabled them.

This and Welcome Tour having a cost are just examples as to why Nintendo being at the top is always bad news, they lose touch and forget to read the room.

I’m up for hacking my S2 at this point when that becomes available.

The world is in a messed up situation right now to be spending amounts based on greediness. As time goes on rent, bills, food, insurance become a heavier burden in our lives, and I will not support Nintendo enabling another weight on my favorite hobby.

It’s not just the $80… for the full S2 experience you’ll have to buy:
-the console,
-the camera,
-the monthly sub,
-at least another set of joycons,
-a pro-controller,
-new MicroSd Express cards,
-generational upgrades,
-amiibos,
-stuff like a case, screen protectors, portable charger, etc
-DLCs
and now $80 games.

Now add the taxes and the rising prices in international markets because all the fear mongering caused by the US tariffs and then you start to understand why people are getting mad at Nintendo .

Re: Video: Metroid Prime 4 Looks Great, But Here's Why The Latest Trailer Isn't Switch 2 Footage

Yoshi3

@Dee123 while technically right, you’re not 100% right… Metroid has left its niche status a while ago.

Metroid Dead - 3.09 million
Pikmin 4 - 3.49 million

And the difference in sales could be argued that at least Pikmin had its first 3 games on the console before its release, so Pikmin was in the zeitgeist at the moment, while Metroid Dread came out of nowhere and still achieved almost the same numbers.