That was because the Wii U was doing poorly.

Labo sold over 2 million copies so that isn't the greatest example.

$60 for a AAA game remaster is the industry standard. Not saying it's acceptable, but why would Nintendo make it cheaper than other companies are? Also, it doesn't seem Nintendo is doing anything less than most companies when they Remaster a game.

Not to mention that porting a game with a resolution bump, updated controls, and some other tweaks to the UI and game mechanics, then pricing the result at $60, was exactly what Nintendo already did with both Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD.

I guess people didn't make as much of a fuss over them doing it with those two games because Wind Waker's visual style happened to translate insanely well to HD, and Twilight Princess HD was released when the Wii U was basically dead and Nintendo were clearly focusing on what would become the Switch, but this is really just them repeating what already worked twice, rather than them somehow getting drunk off the Switch's success.

They did release WW HD and TP HD on their own pretty much full price too...  when the Wii U was failing.

But the thing i dislike is they are starting to take fans for granted. Like that direct had nothing much for the audience that has the Switch since launch. 

But yea, TP and WW are coming to Switch, let's hope it will be a collection of some sort. I don't know if SS will do that well on it's own at 60$ tbh.

I think Windwaker HD had a LOT more work involved than Skyward Sword. The leap in visuals is stunning for WW to WWHD. Skyward Sword barely looks better. I'm sure they spent a lot more money on WWHD port.

I mean, yes we hear this criticism all the time and I would respect those who felt this way if they don't buy the software at full price. Tons of businesses get away with charging high prices for their goods and services because their customer base refuses to tell them no. This is the same thing that happens to the Pokémon fanbase. They lose their minds over something...and proceed to buy it anyways. Like, how does that send your message to anyone? The same with Link's Awakening, Mario 3D All-Stars, etc. The market believes that the software is worth the price and they're buying it.

I understand people who have this argument mean well and I understand their sentiments, but often times they are the same people who buy said overpriced software, play it to death, and still complain about the price. In terms of being "Lazy"...that's not something any of us can really claim as we don't work on any of their titles or know how much time they've allotted for certain titles to be brought to market.

Overall, it's impossible to figure out Nintendo. Sometimes they do perfectly sensible things, other times they don't. I just find it's not worth beating this dead horse anymore.
If they releases something I feel is overpriced, I will wait for a price drop, sale, Black Friday, etc. And yes, I think Skyward Sword HD as it is presented now is not worth $60.

Looking at footage of the GameCube version of Wind Waker upscaled to HD resolution via emulation, it looks like most of the assets in the HD version are pretty much the same as the original; they just redid the game's lighting and added in a few new effects. Granted, that probably is more effort than they put into Twilight Princess HD or Skyward Sword HD, but I think Wind Waker HD's upgrades are more along the lines of a small number of changes that combine with the game's existing art style to produce really nice results in HD.

I mean, they're greedy regardless. But yes, they tend to get worse when they're doing particularly well.

I can't imagine them charging for online during the Wii U and 3DS days. And I do think we'd get slightly better value in ports and remakes.

Rather than greed, I'd say it's a project with effort proportional to the amount of sales they expect from it because if they were anticipating big things, they would have done more to increase its perceived value.