The popular Japanese video game company, Nintendo, has caught controversy after the recent announcement of the Switch 2, a console which aims to improve itself from its predecessor, the Nintendo Switch, which was released in 2017. Nintendo has made the decision to delay the release of the console to June 5th, which Nintendo announced the decision was made based on the recent tariff situation in the United States. However, fans of Nintendo are angry at the decision and multiple other recent decisions of Nintendo, some even calling a boycott to Nintendo products over the issue.
The Switch 2 will be at $449.99 dollars in retail upon release, which is a notable $150 more than the original Switch release price at $299.99 dollars. An important factor to consider in fan outrage is that Nintendo Switches are not exactly known for their best performances in the modern market, which considering the price of a Switch 2, fans argue that purchasing a Steam Deck, a computer-based handheld console similar to that of the Switch 2 with increased performance created by VALVE can be bought for just $35 dollars more, their standard issue of Steam Decks being priced at $485 dollars. Along with the price of the console itself, fans have also been upset at the price of the on-release games, such as “Mario Kart World” and “Kirby and the Forgotten Land” being sold for $79.99 dollars, which continues the progressive upcharge of video games generally.
These game prices along with the cost of the initial console are the main reason of outrage among fans of Nintendo, along with the ongoing trend of porting games to new consoles instead of backwards compatibility. Nintendo owns games from the last 30 decades that have been loved and enjoyed by millions of their consumers, which Nintendo as a company acknowledges and takes advantage by selling old games ported to new consoles, usually at a similar upcharge to that of the Switch 2. This generates more money for Nintendo, rather than backwards compatibility, which allows players to play whatever games they owned from a prior console, making them not have to pay more money for the same game on a different console.
Nintendo’s argument towards these cries of outrage from their community is centered on inflation and the aforementioned tariff system imposed by President Trump, but this argument has been conflicted by Nintendo fans, mentioning all of Nintendo’s collective profits, such as the movie deal between Universal Pictures in the making of the “Super Mario Bros. Movie”, and the new creation of Nintendo World, a theme park centered around the IPs that Nintendo owns. Considering the maintenance and technological features of Nintendo World, and the business deal of $100 million dollars proposed for the budget of the “Super Mario Bros. Movie,” fans conclude that it is evident that Nintendo clearly has more than enough money to succeed as a business, leaving no reason for the upcharge of Nintendo products other than corporate greed.
These upcharges could also not just affect Nintendo, but encourage a trend in all of gaming. If Sony were to see consumers purchasing Nintendo products for an increased price with no problem, then they would soon follow pursuit of the same upcharge in order to reap more profit. Therefore, it has become imperative to Nintendo fans to show their discontent with recent upcharges, as if prices of games further become increasingly inflated well beyond the confines of the economy, then the gaming industry could suffer a lack of consumption in the near future.
