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Forums - Nintendo - Nintendo and its prices

Pemalite said:
Bristow9091 said:
Yeah that's always been a Nintendo thing, they hardly, if ever, drop the prices of their games, although I guess it's also up to retailers too... I'll admit it's stopped be buying more than a few games in the past because I've thought "I'll wait until it drops, not in a rush to play it", but then a year or so later I take a look and it's STILL full price... then all of a sudden my interest dwindles, in some cases it goes away completely. Although Nintendo aren't the only publisher guilty of this, although I'd definitely say the most notable, for me at least anyway.

Some games on other platforms are the same. Overwatch for instance is -still- $100 AUD despite launching a couple years ago.

Sorry to pile on Pemalite, but it's currently available for $9.97 at Best Buy Canada. Sold out online, but it's in store in my city. It's an odd thing there's such a discrepancy in price. Australian prices are terrible, but Canada has had it's prices increase substantially since late 2013/early 2014. In the decade+ that preceded this increase, we were at parity with the U.S.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/overwatch-origins-edition-ps4-bilingual/10400501.aspx

As for non-Nintendo games that have maintained a Nintendo-esque price throughout their life, I can't think of a better example from this gen than GTA V. It stayed at its launch price for approximately 3 years, which is even more remarkable considering it's status as a last-gen port. It's currently $29.99 at most retail outlets here.

 

-edit. What's with the font getting smaller as I typed? I have noticed this phenomenon in a fair amount of posts made by others recently as well.

-edit. Now it all uniform again.



- "If you have the heart of a true winner, you can always get more pissed off than some other asshole."

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KLXVER said:
Their prices so far on Switch has been insane. 60 bucks for years old ports. 50 bucks for games like 1 2 Switch and that IOS looking sushi game. 70 bucks for Labo. Combine that with their refusal to discount them and its just terrible. Soon we have to pay to play them online as well. Their greed is in high gear this gen.

Yes and lately I have seen many people sell their Nintendo Switch because they can not keep buying the games with those prices. And in this type of products, what you should do as a company is to build loyalty, not motivate them to sell the console. It is clear that Nintendo as a company has to earn money but also have to give a little and make it more accessible to more people.



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alejollorente10 said:
Ljink96 said:

Well, that sounds great in theory but in practice it's trickier than you think. For myself, if something is cheaper than the competition or is cheaper than I would think, I don't buy it. It is like some sort of reverse psychology. I like to pay well for something I feel is quality. But yeah, that's just me.

I find that Nintendo's goal for appealing to a larger crowd isn't by artificially lowering prices, and again, that's the manufacturer's choice. But they rather make gameplay choices (like Pokemon Lets Go) to try and bring in new audiences. Similar to what they've done with Splatoon. When you've got for example, a banker like Kimishima running your company, slashing prices is a last resort, especially if your game is still selling. And Nintendo games are selling better than ever this generation. Zelda has become the best selling entry in the franchise, without a price drop but rather behind a philosophy of high quality games selling hardware.

I hear what you're saying, a Zelda GOTY edition would be great but Zelda is still selling very well. To cut the price so early is literally burning money. I feel that customers who know when they see a good game, will buy if. If it needs to be cheaper for you to buy it, you already probably aren't the most loyal Nintendo customer to begin with or not willing to be a longtime Nintendo consumer.

I do not need the games to have discounts to buy them, at least in the case of Nintendo. I bought Bayonetta 2 in Switch on day 1 despite not having the console and having it and having played it on Wii U. I set an example with Sony as an example of how you could convince someone who has never been a fan. If you sell more consoles, you will sell more games. And if someone bought, 3 or 4 games a year, with discounts maybe you can buy 10 or 12. And probably those 7 or 9 additional games would not have bought them if they were not discounted. But again, if your games are cheaper, you are going to sell more consoles. If you sell more consoles, you sell more games.

Currently, what people think of Nintendo products is that they are very expensive and that should change.

Again, this sounds great in theory but is not always the case. If it were indeed that Simple and beneficial, Nintendo would have dropped the price of Zelda to $5. I also explained how Nintendo is enticing people who never bought Nintendo games before. Nintendo, rather than artificially cut prices, would rather entice players with the game itself. And whoever they can get on board from seeing game play alone, that's more money for them.

Many people wonder why Nintendo's profits are usually so high without the need of an online service fee to bolster profits, and it's how they approach game sales. Like I said earlier, I think Nintendo would rather sell 10 $60 games than 20 $20 games, it makes them more of a profit and more than likely will make new fans of their games if they're willing to buy them at that price point, rather than quickly appealing to gamers who want cheaper games who more than likely aren't going to stay with them for the long haul, a.k.a "Casual gamers".

Nintendo gave away Mario Sunshine as a pack in when I bought it, didn't change the situation that the GameCube had. Slashing prices is an art, you have to have an internal reason to do so on the digital front. But again, as it has been mentioned, Nintendo only gives a Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price for a game like Zelda BOTW to be $60. The retailer, if they wanted could make Zelda cost $1 the day of launch. Nintendo at that point has made their money back. If a retailer is trying to make their money back, they're not going to drop the price unless the game just really isn't selling so that they can recoup their losses to an extent.

Now, Nintendo could release a BOTW GOTY edition, or a Nintendo Selects version of the game down the line in the future, sure. We don't know that they aren't doing that yet. I just think the overarching thing that we don't understand is that Nintendo is once Nintendo sells their shipments, they made their money. It's up to retailers to change the prices. There's not much we can do about that.

HOWEVER

I do feel that at the end of the day, Nintendo should discount a game like Zelda or Odyssey on the digital eshop because they are not manufacturing anything for that cost to remain high, year after year. I do want them to rethink how they treat their digital software prices. And like I said, maybe that changes with the online service coming in September.



KLXVER said:
Their prices so far on Switch has been insane. 60 bucks for years old ports. 50 bucks for games like 1 2 Switch and that IOS looking sushi game. 70 bucks for Labo. Combine that with their refusal to discount them and its just terrible. Soon we have to pay to play them online as well. Their greed is in high gear this gen.

Yes, it sucks to pay 60 bucks for Donkey Kong, and 1-2 Switch, and Labo...but people are still buying them! That's literally the only reason they don't drop in price. Blame Nintendo...eh. I'd be blaming the users for actually buying the games at those price points. Nintendo has just in general never received that memo from the audience. I think if those games were selling like crap, the manufacturers would have to drop the price but since they're selling at 60 bucks, it's like why cut the price.

People say, vote with your wallet...and they are, they're buying it, lol

Last edited by Ljink96 - on 08 June 2018

They have no need to drop their prices when they're selling millions of copies at full price even years later, that'd be foolish from a business standpoint. I mean Nintendo didn't get that reputation for having a huge "war chest" during the Wii era for nothing. But I do think they should lower the prices of their more mid-tier games like 1 2 Switch, ARMS, Pokken Tournament, Fire Emblem Warriors, etc to increase the userbase a bit and keep us Switch owners more satisfied.



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Ljink96 said:
KLXVER said:
Their prices so far on Switch has been insane. 60 bucks for years old ports. 50 bucks for games like 1 2 Switch and that IOS looking sushi game. 70 bucks for Labo. Combine that with their refusal to discount them and its just terrible. Soon we have to pay to play them online as well. Their greed is in high gear this gen.

Yes, it sucks to pay 60 bucks for Donkey Kong, and 1-2 Switch, and Labo...but people are still buying them! That's literally the only reason they don't drop in price. Blame Nintendo...eh. I'd be blaming the users for actually buying the games at those price points. Nintendo has just in general never received that memo from the audience. I think if those games were selling like crap, the manufacturers would have to drop the price but since they're selling at 60 bucks, it's like why cut the price.

People say, vote with your wallet...and they are, they're buying it, lol

Usually, when a game does not sell well, the message interpreted by publishers is that people are not interested in the game, not that the game is very expensive. For my DKC TF and Bayonetta (1 + 2) are games that are worth 60 dollars for their quality, but man, these are ports of Wii U, take them out to 40 dollars. And more a game like Bayonetta 2 that does not have the popularity of Donkey Kong.



Switch Friend Code = 5965 - 4586 - 6484

PSN: alejollorente10

Thechalkblock said:
i agree that lower game costs would probably boost console sales a bit. but, like you stated before, nintendo’s games seem to sell well regardless (at least this generation). even when they haven’t sold well, nintendo seems to be reluctant to lower their prices. i think nintendo has a lot of pride for their flagship games, believing that they are still worth full price sometimes 3-4 years after they’ve been released.

Exactly. I think that Nintendo views its games like flagship titles of the industry, almost like luxury itens, and so refuses to cut the prices. The same happens with luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, and even on the technology field, with Apple.

They don't want to "devaluate" their products.



Bet with Teeqoz for 2 weeks of avatar and sig control that Super Mario Odyssey would ship more than 7m on its first 2 months. The game shipped 9.07m, so I won

alejollorente10 said:
Ljink96 said:

Yes, it sucks to pay 60 bucks for Donkey Kong, and 1-2 Switch, and Labo...but people are still buying them! That's literally the only reason they don't drop in price. Blame Nintendo...eh. I'd be blaming the users for actually buying the games at those price points. Nintendo has just in general never received that memo from the audience. I think if those games were selling like crap, the manufacturers would have to drop the price but since they're selling at 60 bucks, it's like why cut the price.

People say, vote with your wallet...and they are, they're buying it, lol

Usually, when a game does not sell well, the message interpreted by publishers is that people are not interested in the game, not that the game is very expensive. For my DKC TF and Bayonetta (1 + 2) are games that are worth 60 dollars for their quality, but man, these are ports of Wii U, take them out to 40 dollars. And more a game like Bayonetta 2 that does not have the popularity of Donkey Kong.

Also since Nintendo games rarely goes on sale, people wait for third party games to go on sale instead. So its just "Ill get DKC:TF now and just get DOOM when its like 20-30 bucks". It can explain some of the lower profits of third party publishers. Like ZombiU sold like 1 million, but many sold at the 20-30 dollar price.



Well you could argue that really everything about Nintendo is overpriced. Their consoles are overpriced for the power so i guess it isnt surprising their games tend to stay pricier for longer. They are really a bit unique in that people buy their hardware solely for their own software so it clearly works for them. Also, I think it is completely fine for a game such as BOTW to not drop in price. It is critically acclaimed and selling well so not surprising that it is still full price. I have seen the same with higher rated games on PS4. But I do agree that sales and price drops (even temporarily) help rejuvenate sales and this is a tool Nintendo is reluctant to use.

Personally as someone who typically looks for a deal or sale before buying a game, it makes me glad that I dont have a Nintendo console (and have no plans whatsoever to ever purchase one).



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KLXVER said:
Their prices so far on Switch has been insane. 60 bucks for years old ports. 50 bucks for games like 1 2 Switch and that IOS looking sushi game. 70 bucks for Labo. Combine that with their refusal to discount them and its just terrible. Soon we have to pay to play them online as well. Their greed is in high gear this gen.

Wait, so you think other publishers lower their prices because they are generous?