This post was last modified: Yesterday at 5:54 PM by T-man.

game looks fucking sweet

Eighty dollarydoos...

Eighty dollarydoos...

mario kart 8 2 is definitely not worth $80

i'm glad it's available as a cheaper bundle but nintendo really got smug off of the OG switch and is about to undergo the same character arc sony had to with the PS3. parents who bought their kids games all the time are going to think about it a lot more when you crank the price up by $20+ all of a sudden

i might have to change my vote

Did they give his ass back though

stop bringing logic and numbers into this, i want to be upset about the price of toys

Wages have not increased proportionately with inflation, it's not a valid metric.

This post was last modified: Today at 2:40 AM by Spritanium.

People should get paid more, but it makes sense that video games are 30% more expensive when everything else is too. Not thrilled about it but an extra $20 isn't the end of the world for something replayable, that's like the cost of a fast food combo nowadays

People should get paid more, but it makes sense that video games are 30% more expensive when everything else is too. Not thrilled about it but an extra $20 isn't the end of the world for something replayable, that's like the cost of a fast food combo nowadays

A large fast food combo with no deals or discounts is about $10 at most unless you're DoorDashing or something. Most places have something to mitigate it down to $7 or less depending.

Covfefe stupidity hiked prices to fuck sure, but honestly I've been seeing stuff go down recently in price, not up. Nintendo definitely does not need to charge $80 for a single game to turn a profit on it, it's not like they ever run sales and are aiming for as many digital transactions as possible so the supply chain and tariffs are completely out the window on a majority of transactions too.

will i buy switch 2 games, including the new mario kart, at this new higher pric? probably! more than likely! i'm hungry for mario kart and they have all of us by the balls here since the rest of the game industry is evaporating into nothing

is nintendo being fucking greedy by doing this price hike? 100% yes that is not even remotely a question i can't believe this is a discussion

is spritey being a fucking bootlicker for saying this is okay? yes! absolutely! spritey you can still like things nintendo makes without justifying their shitty corporate decisions!

This post was last modified: 9 hours ago by Spritanium.

$80 is worth $60, inflation isn't something I made up to insult you, yes the corporation is mean, I wish you got the game for free.

$80 is worth $60, inflation isn't something I made up to insult you, yes the corporation is mean, I wish you got the game for free.

Purchasing power of the consumer does not scale with what money is "worth". Nintendo is selling the Switch 2 for a mere $340 value in Japan, with the Mario Kart World bundle being $370. Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World are both $60 standalone rather than $70 and $80 flat, with MKW's physical Japanese version being $67.

The Japanese economy is not doing particularly hot, nor is anywhere else in the world. Simply looking at an objective "monetary value" is ridiculous when Nintendo is blatantly showing that they are fully capable of selling their product for reasonable prices that one would normally expect, but thinks they can rip the entire rest of the world off even if consumers virtually everywhere do not have buying power equivalent to the value of their currency.

This post was last modified: 4 hours ago by Spritanium.

I don't know enough about digital distribution to make any claims about how tariffs impact it (if at all) but they definitely impact the price of the console itself.

A company has something called COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) which is a fancy way of saying the things they sell you require labor and resources to make. I have no idea what Nintendo's profit margin is, but I imagine they want to keep it the same or higher than it was before. Since money is worth less now, developers (and other workers too if we don't take physical goods out of the equation) need to be paid more for the same work, which makes the profit margin smaller. So the price goes up to compensate for the extra money spent during development, extra money required for distribution, licensing, royalties, and whatever else. It all costs more now.

Is raising prices to maintain a profit margin corporate greed? Yes, any profit margin is corporate greed. The entire existence of a corporation is corporate greed. But if games have gone up in price at the exact same rate as inflation (actually slightly less), that doesn't really suggest the introduction of additional greed, it suggests the maintenance of the same level of greed as before, the one we were all relatively fine with.

In contrast, your boss's failure to increase your compensation at the rate of inflation DOES suggest the introduction of additional greed, so you should probably punch that guy or something

This post was last modified: 4 hours ago by Draku.

Yes of course companies exist to make a profit. That doesn't give them a free pass to fleece consumers for way more than a product is worth, especially when they fully admit to the real value of a product in their home country which aligns with past trends rather than chasing bigger bucks. Normally, the price of goods does not randomly go up and up infinitely without greater reason because companies need to make more profits (Though of course sometimes this does happen, see Covfefe bullshit where everyone collectively reported massively recordbreaking profits as they tried to pass off sob stories about supply chains)

Tariffs impact the value of physical goods like the console and games themselves, sure. But prices are high as fuck for Switch 2 stuff EVERYWHERE else, not just America. (Yes, countries around the world have their own tariffs as well, but you get my point) And there is no discount for digital versions like they are doing in the Japanese market. If MKW and Donkey Kong were $60 download and $70 physical, I would honestly completely understand it. Similarly, I am actually not that bothered by the Switch 2's console price -- it's a one time big purchase and trade is volatile around the world right now. I do think it is very funny that they are also selling an "International version" at that hugely inflated price in Japan as well, but that can at least be justified as shutting out international scalpers.

Rolling over and going "Oh, the companies need to pay their workers I suppose, oh well!" when I can guarantee you that almost none of that extra profit is going to go into the devs' wages and instead into the pockets of bigwigs is absurd.

I agree with you in spirit, I wish it was cheaper, this is sort of just the labor theory of value vs. the subjective theory of value which people a lot smarter than me have already argued about