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The_Yoda on 01 November 2017
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couchmonkey said:
caffeinade said:
Nintendo does not want to reduce the value of their games; not just in terms of monetary value.
They don't want to taint the image of their IPs, by selling the games at a lower price.
Doing this they can train their consumers to perceive their games as higher value, because they paid more for them.

The rigid pricing structure and the way they space out the releases in a franchise; adds to the perception of quality that their titles excrete.
It does them no harm that their games are really well designed too.

This sums up my thoughts.  For once I slightly disagree with Rol.  While Nintendo does generally produce higher-than-average quality products, I think their pricing structure also trains customers that, regardless of perceived quality, you might as well pony up the cash right away if you're at all excited about the game.

Almost everyone else in the industry (probably there are exceptions, maybe Blizzard) follows the cycle below, which the observant cheapo can exploit, and which is designed for maximum milkage of hardcore gamers.

1. Release at full price (maybe with a premium package too)
2. Release DLC
3. Release a "Complete" retail version with DLC (hello Horizon Zero Dawn and Street Fighter V)
4. Dump the price

It tends to happen like clockwork, sometimes they might skip step 3 if the game sucks / sells bad, but the industry is so confident in this model that they just keep doing it even when a game is good enough to survive at full price for a while (I'd say HZD could have stayed at full price).  I'd argue it's a mistake, but to be honest, it seems to have worked for more than a decade so maybe it's a good business move?

For me personally, I will not buy most industry games at full price anymore because it's only 12-24 months until you reach step 4.  If the game is a real quality title, it will still be fun two years later, and it will cost you half of the original retail price and maybe even less than quarter of the cost including the price of DLC.

These two posters get it.
The price in the "sold new" market is pretty much all Nintendo's doing because they want to protect the perceived value of their software.
I would guess this also has an effect in the secondary market as new copies are still near full MSRP and a second hand retailer can get away with charging more. 
This is not to take away from the quality of the titles, if they were not well designed (for the most part) then this strategy of Nintendo would fail miserably.  It sometimes leaves me shaking my head though, six months ago i saw a copy of Metroid Other M still selling for $50 at Wal Mart.