Cliff Notes – Nintendo Switch 2 is so expensive I’m giving up gaming Reader’s Feature
- The price of games on the Nintendo Switch 2, such as Mario Kart World at £75, raises concerns about affordability and accessibility in gaming.
- The reader fears that escalating game prices, potentially reaching £100 for titles like GTA 6, will push players towards free-to-play options and limit the diversity of new game releases.
- There is a growing sentiment that the gaming industry prioritises profit over creativity, leading to a decline in the production of innovative titles and a shift towards online multiplayer experiences.
Nintendo Switch 2 is so expensive I’m giving up gaming
A reader fears that the price of games on Nintendo Switch 2 will begin to seem cheap compared to GTA 6 and other next gen titles.
By now I assume everyone’s seen the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct and sadly the most memorable thing about it is the price. The console is okay, but the games are just unbelievably expensive. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is only £50 (still) but Mario Kart World is £75 for a physical copy, which is a ridiculously big jump, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.
I know you can get the console and game bundled together, which makes it half price, but that’s not really the point. If all the games are going to cost that much, or close to it, then I feel that I’ve just been priced out of the whole concept of gaming. Especially as this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Mario Kart World is not a cheap game
We’ve all seen the rumours of GTA 6 costing £100, and I think you’d have to be very optimistic to think that’s not true, or that every other publisher isn’t waiting to charge the same. In the end, by the start of the next gen, Nintendo may end up being cheaper than the average once again.
I assume this is a response to games costing more to make nowadays but to be honest I’m not really interested in the explanation or any excuses from publishers. We are not living in a world where the average person can afford to spend £75 to £100 on a video game, that they may or may not like, and companies are insane if they think they can jack the prices up by that much and just have people shrug their shoulders and pay up.
All it’s going to do is push even more people towards free-to-play games and make it so that only a tiny, elite circle of games can charge full price, because nobody is going to be crazy enough to spend £100 on something that’s a risk.
Sequels will become the only games that are ever made and most games that aren’t free-to-play will be indie – assuming they don’t raise their prices as well, which they probably will.
What’s especially upsetting about all this is that publishers probably don’t see it as a bad thing at all. As long as they make the same amount of money, or more, they don’t care if the number of triple-A games being made plumets. They don’t care about the health of the games industry, and they certainly don’t care about making art.
They’d be quite happy if all that gaming was, was a half dozen free online shooters and all their money came from pointless cosmetics. Nintendo aren’t that bad yet, but I’m already disturbed by the strange emphasis on online multiplayer in the Direct, which is absolutely not what I want from them as a company.
I feel like this is the end. I’ve been gaming for 30 years or more and always been excited about it, but this generation has really sapped my enthusiasm. I had hoped that the reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 would change all that but all it’s done is accelerate the rot.
I can guarantee you I’ll never buy a PlayStation 6 and while I may continue to play indie games on Switch 1, I really can’t see myself continuing on as I have. Maybe it’s not anyone’s fault in particular, maybe this was always going to be the way video games ended, once they got so expensive to make, but I find it all very depressing.
Nintendo may only be reacting to the reality of things today but because their games never reduce in price I can’t even hope to pick them up in a year or two when they’re cheaper. I think I’m done, retro games and indie titles will have to be the future of gaming for me.
By reader Goolash
GTA 6 is rumoured to be more than £70 too (Rockstar Games)