Nintendo Rules and Cart Prices Making Switch Games More Expensive [Report]
Third-party developers are trapped, having to make physical Switch games more expensive.
News by Mike Williams, 03/13/2017.
If you've noticed, there are a few Nintendo Switch games that are more expensive than their platform counterparts. The game with the highest visibility has been Rime from Tequila Works, a game coming to PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch. The Switch version costs $39.99, while the others cost $29.99. So what's the deal?
Rime publisher Grey Box pointed to the proprietary cost of the Nintendo Switch cartridges as the reason.
"We set prices for our products based on the costs of development and publishing for each specific platform," said a Grey Box spokesperson when asked about the additional price hike. The company has declined to say more.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime demurred on the issue, when asked about the difference in price between some Switch games and their counterparts on other platforms. He said pricing is up to the developer and publisher.
"We don't make that pricing decision," he said on a Facebook stream. "When you see those differences in prices, call up that third-party publisher and ask them."
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Eurogamer is reporting that both statements are true. The cost of making a physical Nintendo Switch game is higher than that of a Blu-Ray for an Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or PC game. That costs goes even higher as you move up the list in cart sizes - 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB - with the latter costing way more. You can bring those costs down with a higher print run, but indies don't really have that option.
Developers and publishers do determine the prices of their games, but it seems that Nintendo's rules are getting in the way. Eurogamer reports that Nintendo policy is that physical and digital versions have to cost the same. This is apparently to appease brick-and-mortar retailers and it's why many indie developers are Nintendo eShop only.
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Currently, Rime is one of the few games where we can see the effects of these problems in action. Has-Been Heroes, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Binding of Issac: Afterbirth+ are Switch physical releases as well. With Has-Been Heroes, the physical and retail prices are the same. With Puyo Puyo Tetris, the physical release is more expensive, but the reason for that could be the inclusion of the physical keychains coming with every copy.
Binding of Issac: Afterbirth+ is available on other platforms, but requires buying Rebirth, Afterbirth, and Afterbirth+ in a bundle. The Steam bundle costs $5 cheaper than the $39.99 asking price of the Switch version, with no discounts.
As the Switch continues on, we'll see how Nintendo and its indies handle the situation moving forward.
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Comments 11
That's one of the main reasons you see very few games for PC on sale in stores.Edited 2 times. Last edited 15 hours ago by nimzy
That said, Nintendo really ought to make things easier for indie-devs. If Nintendo really wants to change how people play games, they need to change how games are made. Part of that would ideally include a few production facilitations for smaller devs that can't afford larger print runs. What better way to invite new indies, show your support for the industry, and show consumers you're not buffing around when you trot out your alleged support of indies?
Second, Nintendo has every ability to control the cart prices because they act as a middleman to manufacture the carts. The Game Cards are likely pretty inexpensive to make, due to Nintendo's philosophy of using established tech rather than the bleeding edge, and that they're non-writable is likely to make them cheaper, not more expensive, to manufacture.
Third, the parity rule is stupid, but it also reflects a broader problem of Nintendo expecting to command premium prices for its content when every other platform treats physical releases as a premium ceiling for pricing and digital as the floor. Nintendo refuses to understand that physical products have a higher value because of the secondhand market, and Nintendo further complicates things by making its digital products a pain and a gamble to own.
Fourth, and this is most important of all, Nintendo has proven with its actions time and time again it really doesn't care that much about indies, which is a mistake, since indies have proven to be a valuable source of content during the early adoption phase or lean release times of a console. Nintendo tried to court indie developers back at the Wii U launch and quickly found themselves getting the cold shoulder from most because of their low playerbase and their restrictive policies. Even those who believed in Nintendo enough to launch an exclusive title on the platform generally launched elsewhere eventually.
I have nothing against Nintendo. They're a tremendous company with a powerfully creative culture amidst all that stuffy traditionalism. I just recognize their bad business practices for being what they are and wish they'd stop trying to do things their own way and start listening to their developers and end users' concerns.
One thing Nintendo did right however was to use readily available mSD cards which makes it easy for me to go all digital.
I'll continue shopping digitally for most anything; I don't really know how else to respond to it.