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[SmokedMeat]

Nothing to do with the Switch. Everything to do with the publishers rinsing early adopters. It happens every single time.

No it doesn't happen every single time. It hasn't happened at all this gen until Switch arrived.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Physical Media is definitely more expensive buy $10-20 more expensive? Nah. It's happening on a lot of medium tier game prices. But even then people will swallow $5. Are we suppose to believe it's more than that?

 

[Louis Cyphre]

Because they can't charge less than the retail release MSRP right away or it will piss retailers off. It's not a hard concept to grasp.

People are willing to pay extra for physical, so why punish digital buyers who want convenience but can't resell or trade their games? It's time we move on from the days of the dinosaur.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Premium price is justified for the best version since it's not the obsolete way to play amirite? Had do to a double take when I saw the binding of Isaac price in store, same game I got for 2$ on steam and free with Ps+

 

[Skittzo0413]

Premium price is justified for the best version since it's not the obsolete way to play amirite? Had do to a double take when I saw the binding of Isaac price in store, same game I got for 2$ on steam and free with Ps+

You have not gotten that particular version of Binding of Isaac for free or $2, Afterbirth+ is about the same cost on any platform.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

No it doesn't happen every single time. It hasn't happened at all this gen until Switch arrived.

At the beginning of the console gen a lot of cross-gen PS4/Xbox One games were a lot more expensive than their PS3/360 counterparts.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

No it doesn't happen every single time. It hasn't happened at all this gen until Switch arrived.

Nah

 

[Stealthcobra]

Glad I'm a multi console owner, I'm never paying more for the switch version

 

[dallow_bg]

At the beginning of the console gen a lot of cross-gen PS4/Xbox One games were a lot more expensive than their PS3/360 counterparts.

Those short memories.

 

[Klart]

At the beginning of the console gen a lot of cross-gen PS4/Xbox One games were a lot more expensive than their PS3/360 counterparts.

Yup

 

[Seik]

They don't cost anything like $20 per unit more though. It's more like 5 cents per blu-ray disc and 80 cents per card (completely pulled out of my ass). So the difference in price of the game does not exactly reflect the difference in price of the media.

I agree, absolutely, my point mainly was that carts costs more than blu-rays.

How they affect the retail price in the end is a whole other story though.

 

[notaskwid]

Companies are taking notes from Capcom.

 

[Fbh]

Be it cartridges or the fact it's a new system. At the end of the day they are charging more for the games because they can and people are willing to pay.
It's the same as why you have to pay to play online on consoles or how Sony can justify rising the cost of PS+. It's because they can and people are willing to pay.

If you are Capcom and you see lots of people are buying your $40 port of the HD version of a 20+ years old game. Why the hell would you charge less ?

 

[Skittzo0413]

I agree, absolutely, my point mainly was that carts costs more than blu-rays.

How they affect the retail price in the end is a whole other story though.

Well yeah, I don't think anyone is disputing your first point at all. Of course they cost more. But is that increased cost really reflective of these highly increased game prices?

Another thing to note is that Switch game cases are much smaller and thinner than typical disc game cases, which cuts down shipping costs. It could be the case that Nintendo intended that shipping cost reduction to offset the increased media production cost.

It really seems much more like early console life price gouging than anything else at this point. I guess we'll see how long it lasts.

 

[SmokedMeat]

At the beginning of the console gen a lot of cross-gen PS4/Xbox One games were a lot more expensive than their PS3/360 counterparts.

That's not because they raised the price of the PS4/Xbone versions, but rather lowered the prices on the last gen editions. PS4/Xbone games were the same $60 price we've had for some time now.

At least that's how it was in the US. I can't speak for other countries.

 

[UpUpDownDown]

I wanted to grab the namco classics for switch but after taxes it came out $40+

At this point I've bought a variation of this collection on about 12 different consoles so I'm gonna wait for a sale even though I'm dying for something to play and I love these classics.

 

[dallow_bg]

That's not because they raised the price of the PS4/Xbone versions, but rather lowered the prices on the last gen editions. PS4/Xbone games were the same $60 price we've had for some time now.

At least that's how it was in the US. I can't speak for other countries.

Ah, in that case all the non-Switch games in the OP were just lowered in price too.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Ah, in that case all the non-Switch games in the OP were just lowered in price too.

They're all part of the same current generation. PS4/Xbone prices weren't lowered. Switch owners are simply being charged more, hence the purpose of this thread.

 

[dallow_bg]

Switch owners are simply being charged more, hence the purpose of this thread.

Well I agree with that at least.
However please note that it wasn't just $60 PS4/Xbone to $50 PS3/360 but even with smaller price point titles like $40/$30 for games such as MGS Ground Zeroes.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Well I agree with that at least.
However please note that it wasn't just $60 PS4/Xbone to $50 PS3/360 but even with smaller price point titles like $40/$30 for games such as MGS Ground Zeroes.

Correct. Once the PS4/Xbone arrived, they lowered the prices on the previous generation PlayStation/360 versions by $10. I guess they felt it wouldn't look good expecting people to pay the same price for a PS3/360 version that was clearly inferior to the versions on the newer systems.

 

[killatopak]

what do you expect when people bought SF2 and Bomberman for $40/$50?

 

[Tonyx]

There's only a short period of time where pubs can get away with charging more on Switch and they're taking full advantage.

Absolutely this.

Millions of people are buying the Switch as it's the cool console to have now, and there are so few games out there that publishers can get away with crazy prices (it's not like customers will buy a similar cheaper game).

 

[Krappadizzle]

Multiplats I would have bought on Switch I've bought on other platforms because of the price differences. The convenience of a portable version is pretty mild for me as I primarily play docked. If publishers lowered prices to stay in line with other platforms I'd probably have more than 3 Switch games.

 

[Moze]

No it doesn't happen every single time. It hasn't happened at all this gen until Switch arrived.

That is incorrect. This absolutely did happen this gen. I remember PS4 games being £50 for months after release. Some places had them even higher.

It wasn't until about 2 years after release that prices started to stabilise.

 

[The Hermit]

Is that digital too? Because it's bulshit if it is

 

[Bluth54]

It probably comes down to a number of factors, the Switch game cards are likely quite a bit more expensive than a blue ray disk, it probably costs more to port at least some games to the Switch due to the fairly large power difference between it and the Xbox One/PS4/PC, the system has a fairly small userbase right now which means you can't necessarily count on sales to be as high as the other systems.

 

[*Splinter]

Nothing to do with the manufacturing costs, everything to do with how much people are willing to pay.

Less titles released = less competition for your game = the more people are willing to pay for it.

Things will even out as the Switch's library matures.

 

[calc84maniac]

Is that digital too? Because it's bulshit if it is

Depends on the game. Some charge more for physical but also include some kind of small physical bonus to make it more appealing.

 

[Type40]

I can't believe there's even a debate about this...

You think they're doing this one card at a time or something?

Actually, thats how its done, within an assembly line of multiple machines.

As a bonus here's some assembly line footage of Wiimotes and Zelda

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Goddammit I lost my reply and I'm not going to try and redo it because I'm on mobile and this shit is taking forever.

I thought we were over this nonsense excuse ages ago, it held up when flash memory was still relatively new but in 2017 the Price between BD and flash memory is relatively minor when everything is factored in. As already said this is an early adopter tax and probably Nintendo being Nintendo.

 

[Midas]

Might be an unpopular opinion, but even if we ignore the cartridge costs, I don't have a problem with it. We're talking about vastly different markets, and simple economics, here.

The PS4 has an install base of over 50 million. Xbox One is around 30 million. Switch is what? 2 million right now. That's a much smaller customer base to spread costs across. And there's also much less competition on the Switch, which means that publishers don't have the same pressure to price low for competitive reasons.

It's similar to how a store like Walmart can have razor thin margins and still be profitable on volume, while a neighborhood bodega in a rural area will need to charge more per unit to break even.

Ironically, gamers take advantage of the same principles when they sign to for Best Buy and Amazon's gamer clubs, but you don't hear any of them complaining about how the Mom and Pop shops charge $12 more a game.

If the market won't support the higher price tag for Switch consoles, publishers will have to adjust.

It's business, and I think people take it way too personally, and as way too much of an affront to Switch owners, when the eshop is still for all intents and purposes a boutique storefront relative the competition. As that changes, it will make more sense for publishers to charge less and sell more.

Stop making too much sense. People will implode.

 

[Stallion Dan]

PS4 software has lowered in price since launch.

It a mix of cartridge costs and new hardware tax. Switch prices will lower a bit over time.

 

[panda-zebra]

It literally takes a split second to stamp an optical disc, have you ever tried writing 20GB of data to a flash card?

time=money

joke post?

 

[BumRush]

I'm certainly lacking some knowledge on the subject, but do cartridges cost Nintendo more than $1 a piece?

 

[Blam]

What about digital tho. Doesn't need the extra price hike.

 

[Type40]

I'm certainly lacking some knowledge on the subject, but do cartridges cost Nintendo more than $1 a piece?

Overall we don't know. But based on past systems, Nintendo charges publishers for each cart.
It may cost nintendo $2-5 to make the cart, they then sell those carts to Square/Capcom/Nicalis/etc anywhere for 8-$15. Which then sell them to us for $30-60.
Fyi these are my estimates, they could be more or less depending on contracts, etc.

 

[Type40]

What about digital tho. Doesn't need the extra price hike.

It doesn't. But its kept equivalent because of retail stores like gamestop and best buy.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

A Switch cart costs more to make than a Blu-ray.

I feel like that's pretty much a one-and-done thread.

 

[Blam]

It doesn't. But its kept equivalent because of retail stores like gamestop and best buy.

Also why the fuck do canadians need to pay 100$ a game now?

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Also why the fuck do canadians need to pay 100$ a game now?

What games are you paying $100 for?

 

[Nightbird]

what do you expect when people bought SF2 and Bomberman for $40/$50?

Yeah, but if they didn't bought those publishers (and others) would say that it wouldn't be lucrative to make games for the Switch.

 

[Persona7]

At the beginning of the console gen a lot of cross-gen PS4/Xbox One games were a lot more expensive than their PS3/360 counterparts.

What games? Also, did they simply use variable pricing?

 

[SmokedMeat]

That is incorrect. This absolutely did happen this gen. I remember PS4 games being £50 for months after release. Some places had them even higher.

It wasn't until about 2 years after release that prices started to stabilise.

I can only speak for the US. AAA games were the same $60 they've always been. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

It's just nintendo bringing back the feel of your childhood, who doesn't want to remember the days where N64 cartridges cost 80 dollars? Nintendo bringing my childhood back to me

Hah, what a hit.

I bet there is a member of the defence force out there that would say this reasoning is justified ;-)

 

[dallow_bg]

Actually, thats how its done, within an assembly line of multiple machines.

As a bonus here's some assembly line footage of Wiimotes and Zelda

To flash the memory?
No, those things are done in multiples at a time after some read/write tests. If they're anything like SD cards, then large sets are flashed all at once in in a machine even before the games get split up into individual carts. (kinda like this: https://i.imgur.com/mPU82O2.png)

 

[Type40]

Also why the fuck do canadians need to pay 100$ a game now?

Economics, I'm from Buffalo and games were always more expensive in Canada, I remember seeing $120 Snes/N64 games at Zellers. During the Wii our currencies were super close and games were closely priced as well. Right now the Canadian Dollar is fluctuating to much, and has been super low the past few years. So rather than taking a hit financially companies charge more. For example few years ago the ps4 went up by $50 in Canada, when the CAN dollar tanked.

 

[Blam]

What games are you paying $100 for?

Anything Nintendo if you wanna buy on the eShop is around 95-98ish.

I know Kirby, Metroid Prime 4 are both 100$. If I were to buy super mario odyssey at EBGames it's priced at $100.

 

[JaseMath]

This is the only life digital-onlyers know so

Also stop tryin to make “NS” happen

NS sounds a lot better than Switch.

 

[Chris1]

While the cartridges cost more I don't think that's the reason

Look at 3ds and wiiu. 3ds uses cartridges and those games are cheaper

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Anything Nintendo if you wanna buy on the eShop is around 95-98ish.

I know Kirby, Metroid Prime 4 are both 100$. If I were to buy super mario odyssey at EBGames it's priced at $100.

Eh Odyssey is $80. Go check. I dunno where in Canada you live where sales tax is 19%.