Nintendo comments on Switch 2 game and console prices

In light of recent controversy surrounding Nintendo Switch 2 pricing – and the cost of games in particular – VP of product and player experience Bill Trinen has weighed in on the situation.

Arguably the biggest issue right now is Mario Kart World, which sots $80 on its own. Trinen indicated that the game has a lot of value with a lot of meat on its bones, believing many will “find this to be probably the richest Mario Kart experience they’ve ever had.”

Trinen said the following in an interview with IGN:

Well, I would say it’s less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it’s more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value? Mario Kart World, I think especially as you see from the Nintendo Direct, not to give you any hints or anything, but I did read your article this morning and I think you had mentioned that you didn’t find a lot to discover when roaming around. So I would say tune into our Mario Kart Direct to see what, maybe you’ll be able to find out about that.

But honestly, this is a game that is so big and so vast and you will find so many little things in it to discover. And there’s still some other secrets remaining that I think as people end up buying and playing the game, they’re going to find this to be probably the richest Mario Kart experience they’ve ever had.

Something else Trinen was asked to address is how older games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are $80 with Nintendo Switch 2 Editions. Regarding that, he explained:

“Well, again, what I would say is that we just look at each individual game and we look at the content and the value of that game, and then we say, ‘what is the right price for the value of this entertainment?’ What I would probably counter to some of that is that really what you’re looking at is for the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, that’s the physical price for somebody that has not bought the base game.

For somebody who has bought Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the Wild, the upgrade packs for those are $9.99. And if you happen to be a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack member, both of the Zelda upgrade packs are inclusive within that membership. So there’s no additional charge for those. But I think overall, our general approach is really just focus on what’s the content, what’s the value, and what’s an appropriate price based on that.”

Finally, we get to hear a bit about pricing for the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware as well. When asked about that including its $450 price tag, Trinen shared the following:

“Obviously the cost of everything goes up over time, and I personally would love if the cost of things didn’t go up over time. But I think any time you’re building a new system that’s got new features and new tech, there’s costs associated with that. So again, we look at what is the experience on Nintendo Switch? What’s the experience on Nintendo Switch 2? What are the new features that it offers? And certainly there’s the cost of goods and things that factor into that, but we try to find the right appropriate price for a product based on that.”

Nintendo has announced that Switch 2 will cost $450, but it’s unclear if that will change. The company was set to start pre-orders this Wednesday in the United States, but pushed back reservations as it evaluates the impact of tariffs.