Because Nintendo knows their market will pay. That's simply how economics works. Nintendo ecosystems generally lack significant competition at the higher end, which puts the "supply and demand" equation firmly in Nintendo's favor. What are you going to do if you buy a Nintendo system and want to play top level games? Unless you give in to Nintendo, you're basically screwed.

There is also brand loyalty to consider. Nintendo has to be aware that their existing fans will defend this for them in their stead.

Quality for one. When they make a game they don't typically flood the console with similar titles. When they make a kart racer it's more than likely the best kart racer on any platform as an example.

I agree that games can't maintain initial pricing and consistently good sales without quality. I also agree that quality is the most determining factor. I just wanted to point out that quality isn't the only determining factor. In your post quality was the only reference point of Nintendo's maintained MSRP, but you clearly don't think it's the only factor at play, so we agree.

@ bolded sentence - Isn't Pokemon an exception to the rule?

Q: Why GTA V is taking so long to lower it's price?

A: because still sells well.

Q: Why it still sells so well?

A: Because there still a huge amount of people that buy a console to have a chance to play this game.



Now change "GTA V" with "Nintendo Games".

Wow.....

I'm literally in shock. Like how can you type all that and actually mean it?

The fans, they'll buy anything Nintendo at any time for any price, it's not just for games but also for peripherals and in game dlcs

High value is good for the consumer too. Higher trade in and resale value [even pawn]for those who sell their older games. Nintendo games are the BMW of the game market...

OMG..... are you serious?

So basically you mean nintendo has never done and could never do anything in light of whatever the competition is doing? You really believe that?

And sorry, so your sales data tells you that practically over 90% of games released on a nintendo platform keep their higher pricing months or even years after release all because they are of a higher quality to everything else on the market? So lets take Horizon for instance, you can get that game brand new for as low as $40 now.... so your reasoning is that everything on the switch that came out around the same time but still cost more are all better games than it?

This is deep bro.....

It's quite obvious Pokemon is very high quality. Maybe I wasn't clear but my comment did not pertain to the quality aspect. I meant Pokemon was the exception to the rule of Nintendo's release schedule. Examples could be put forth of course like two Mario Galaxy titles on the Wii but again, exception to the rule.

Ignoring the evangelical spin, the bolded part is partially right, though in a circumstantial way.  

Assuming that PC, Xbox, and Playstation still exist and are doing well, that's where most of the people who heavy supporters of third-party software are going to go.  In that case, most of the people buying Nintendo hardware would still being doing so mainly because of Nintendo software.  Even if that Nintendo hardware got full third party support, the top level Nintendo games would continue to be the draw.  However, mid and lower level Nintendo software would be cut off at the knees and there is a good chance of a pricing change in that range to offset the loss of a longer tail.  

The negative part of that for Nintendo would be that, over time, there would be a dilution of brand loyalty as people discover more options.  I think a fragmenting fanbase would have a substantial impact on the whole "Nintendo fans will buy anything we make" security blanket.

In short, a Nintendo with full third party support would see a gradual change rather than an abrupt change.