Nintendo of America CEO Defends Breath of The Wild Sequel Price Hike

[SOAREVERSOR]

High initial prices would be fine, if Nintendo understood the concept of reductions once it's several years old...

This comment is made when Nintendo right now is selling switch Mario, Kong, and more games at 20 bucks off! They do sales. They just don't do price reductions. Their sale started on the 3/10 and runs through 3/23.

Though I certainly do not want to pay more for games, people need to think for a moment and understand how much goes into these creations. This is def a personal pet peeve. Seeing snowflakes bitch about $20-25 for a new release arcade type game like Streets of Rage 4....blows my mind. Seeing someone bitch about a AAA game in the Zelda series going for $70...equally blows my mind. Inflation has impacted practically everything in life, but not so much video games over my entire lifetime.

I was a child scribbling out "christmas lists" asking for Sega Genesis video games. Christmas was the only time I got a new one. With the one exception being I somehow convinced my parents to get me Sonic the Hedgehog 2 when it came out. We went to Toys R Us, and I'll never forget that it was $70 because it was a special treat for me.

Lets adjust for inflation, $70 dollars in 1992 money is $140 is today's money

How many games are being released for $140? None. How many people bitch about game prices? Too many. Is $70 reasonable for a AAA game from arguably one of the most popular and important franchises in video game history? Yes.

Gamers need to look at this stuff in a more global/high level picture. Video games have been an entertainment industry since the 70's and you cannot look at this like it's just a 2023 thing.

Again, I'd love to keep prices stagnant like they have been for practically THREE DECADES but for all the virtue signalers that pretend like they care about "crunch" in the game development world and they aren't paid a fair wage etc sorta stuff.....denying that they deserve to bump up the price just a hair (~16%) seems totally ridiculous. (but skizzo.....how do we know the money doesn't just end up in the CEO's pocket?....we don't know and that could happen) This price increase is totally reasonable from my logical thought process

I haven't bought a Nintendo console or game since the N64. I ain't no Nintendo fan.....in fact....I kinda hate the majority of their practices. But this isn't one of them.

I'm not implying any particular user on here has said anything negative either. But am generalizing the gaming public who apparently have tried to make their voice heard about such a price increase being something they would not tolerate. Games have become so large they rival or exceed budgets of Hollywood blockbuster films. There are X1000 more employees across multiple industries or companies. It takes a lot of work, lets be thankful we have reaped the benefits of reasonable game prices for so long, rather than throw a tantrum about a reasonable increase that is literally much, much, lower than inflation.

It takes vastly more effort to make a game now that it used to at the top level. The cost of all those graphics, sound, code, and more has gone through the roof as things got better and it's what people wanted. But you know, that has it's price. It's simply insane not to expect the price to go up with it.

Oh please. Games back in the 8bit/16bit would regularly top $80 at retail. I paid $75 for Final Fantasy 3(SNES), $80 for Chrono Trigger and so on. And that was in Early 1990's money. Let that sink in. It's not greed, it called development costs.

But hey, if an extra $20 is too much for a game that is likely going to exceptional, that's ok, don't buy it and go cry in your milk...

Yerp 80 for a game back then was often the norm. Put in todays terms thats about 180 for a game.

So has the cost of development.


With you on that one. But then, the power of the vote is still with us. If a game is crap, we don't buy it. If it's good or excellent, then we vote with our wallet.

Prediction, the game will sell like crazy and be rather good. It's not like Nintendo has a bad track record with their in house titles.

Your logic is flawed because Nintendo is notorious for not discounting Switch games after launch.

And yet they have a Mario and Kong sale right now....

 

[Pumper]

So has the cost of development.

That's the excuse that current gen game devs make, but Nintendo are still stuck in PS3 era visuals, so where does the cost of development increase is coming from exactly?

It takes vastly more effort to make a game now that it used to at the top level. The cost of all those graphics, sound, code, and more has gone through the roof as things got better and it's what people wanted. But you know, that has it's price. It's simply insane not to expect the price to go up with it.

How does any of that apply to Nintendo? Have you seen their games?

 

[KrazyT]

That's the excuse that current gen game devs make, but Nintendo are still stuck in PS3 era visuals, so where does the cost of development increase is coming from exactly?

Some people values fun and gameplay more than graphisms ...
And doing and good gameplay has aslo a cost ...

Back to the topic, if you spend a lot of hours in the game, it's ok if it's ( a little bit ) expensive ...
But if you're not sure, wait for discount

 

[NC37]

High initial prices would be fine, if Nintendo understood the concept of reductions once it's several years old...

Same can be said of Activision and Infinity Ward. Biggest reason I never really got into CoD titles was they'd never put them on decent sales. Even after a decade, they'd still insist on price gouging. The one positive of EA. They may nickle and dime you to death but they often nuke their prices very quickly except for certain games like the Sims.

 

[Chrispy_]

When I was a kid 30 years ago, many SNES cartridges cost $59.99-69.99.

Adjusted for inflation that's $130-150

 

[Pumper]

Some people values fun and gameplay more than graphisms ...
And doing and good gameplay has aslo a cost ...

So why don't indie titles cost that much? A lot of them have superior gameplay to the AAA trash. Plus, this new Zelda looks more like an expansion to BotW, so where do the costs come from exactly?

 

[KrazyT]

So why don't indie titles cost that much? A lot of them have superior gameplay to the AAA trash. Plus, this new Zelda looks more like an expansion to BotW, so where do the costs come from exactly?

You've got a point here

 

[RegaeRevaeb]

No comment about how the North American CEO's [literally] a Bowser? C'mon, folks, there's a joke in there somewhere... or at least some note about Nintendo corporate culture nepotism.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

When I was a kid 30 years ago, many SNES cartridges cost $59.99-69.99.

Adjusted for inflation that's $130-150

They varried in cost by the ROM chips needed, battery backup needed, and later actual computational chips added. The title mattered as well and games were about 60-90 bucks. SONY went with optical storage because they were pushing optical storage, they could have more storage, and they could undercut the cost of carts. The moment optical storage won the costs on games went up immediately.

 

[T0@st]

No comment about how the North American CEO's [literally] a Bowser? C'mon, folks, there's a joke in there somewhere... or at least some note about Nintendo corporate culture nepotism.

Not in written form, but I made sure to include a screenshot of him and the character in the same frame.

 

[sephiroth117]

if a forspoken or a TLOU PS5/PC remake of a PS4 remaster of a PS3 games can cost even more,..then a zelda that took 5 years of development can be more expensive, I don't care.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

if a forspoken or a TLOU PS5/PC remake of a PS4 remaster of a PS3 games can cost even more,..then a zelda that took 5 years of development can be more expensive, I don't care.

I'd also note that Nintendo tends to release less crap that needs constant patching.

That's the excuse that current gen game devs make, but Nintendo are still stuck in PS3 era visuals, so where does the cost of development increase is coming from exactly?


How does any of that apply to Nintendo? Have you seen their games?

We've got a couple PCs, macs, and a Switch and a Switch OLED at home. So yeah. The Switches also get more play. The SO will happily play Mario, Zelda, Kirby, or Metroid on the Switch for hours. We also have a SEGA mini, both Nintendo minis, and the TG-16 mini's.

Nintendo did not set the trend for high game prices and crap tons of DLC. The PC did that. But it's been set. Nintendo does have sales but does not lower base prices permanently. They don't screw up and constantly release stuff in beta stage and suffer idiotic day one issues with their games. The reality is that PC is the root cause of all these high game prices, DLC, dumbed down crap, idiotic stuff released when it should not be. So Nintendo is not the one who should have the finger pointed at them over it, you want to point the finger, it's PC gamers for all of it. Congrats take a bow master race, now get on the cloud.

For Zelda specifically you're talking about a series that routinely nails things and gets perfect awards or best in a generation. It's had it's share of flops, but for the most part they nail it. This game is a follow up to the current best game of all time per most reviewers and people. It's been in development for years with a massive team of people. It's also still nothing like their 8bit, 16bit, or N64 era games. It's not an unreasonable ask all in all.

 

[Pumper]

Nintendo did not set the trend for high game prices and crap tons of DLC. The PC did that. But it's been set. Nintendo does have sales but does not lower base prices permanently. They don't screw up and constantly release stuff in beta stage and suffer idiotic day one issues with their games. The reality is that PC is the root cause of all these high game prices, DLC, dumbed down crap, idiotic stuff released when it should not be. So Nintendo is not the one who should have the finger pointed at them over it, you want to point the finger, it's PC gamers for all of it. Congrats take a bow master race, now get on the cloud.

Are you from an alternative reality? PC usually gets the lowest multiplat game prices, exclusives are usually sold at 49 or lower and base price gets slashed in a year at most (but that depends on devs and applies to all platforms). Broken games are broken on all platforms. DLC is PC exclusive or something? What are you talking about.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The Dreamcast was killed off too soon :/

Yes it was. It was also mishandled like the Saturn.

Yerp 80 for a game back then was often the norm. Put in todays terms thats about 180 for a game.

Exactly! The current generation of players really have no idea what a great economy for games we really have now compared to back then. I watch people complain about the cost of games and just roll my eyes at the ignorance.

Prediction, the game will sell like crazy and be rather good. It's not like Nintendo has a bad track record with their in house titles.

Another excellent point. Nintendo has a long track record of excellent in-house games. Rarely have they released a game that failed outright.

That's the excuse that current gen game devs make, but Nintendo are still stuck in PS3 era visuals, so where does the cost of development increase is coming from exactly?

I'm not going to write a dissertation on the economics of making a game. If YOU don't get it, YOU have the problem.

 

[skizzo]

That's the excuse that current gen game devs make, but Nintendo are still stuck in PS3 era visuals, so where does the cost of development increase is coming from exactly?


How does any of that apply to Nintendo? Have you seen their games?

you're looking at this very subjectively. the resolution capability of a system or it's games textures, amount of code etc sort of shit is falling on deaf ears here.....it can take just as much time to make a pixel art game as it does something that looks ultra realistic. I know what you're trying to say, but it's not true or how things work. you are implying that if a game or system isn't using the most bleeding edge tech then they have no right to charge what others are who do offer more advanced tech with their systems/games. going off visual fidelity of a game is one of the worst cases of judging a book by it's cover which does not give an accurate picture of the whole situation

So why don't indie titles cost that much? A lot of them have superior gameplay to the AAA trash. Plus, this new Zelda looks more like an expansion to BotW, so where do the costs come from exactly?

it's branding and brand awareness. Nintendo is literally so synonymous with video games that just calling any video game system a "Nintendo" is a thing, much like Hoover or Kleenex are with vacuums and tissues respectively. these companies can charge a higher price because of this. a no name dev is not going to look as appetizing to potential customers as they would be thinking twice about gambling their money on a game from someone or company they do not know, because it might end up being total garbage. there is prestige that comes with a particular brand or individual who represents said brand, and lots of indie devs have not been able to achieve such prestige