Fans are fed up after the Nintendo Direct and other announcements leading up to the Switch 2 release.
Nintendo, enough is enough. Many fans are raising their voices because of the company being increasingly consumer-unfriendly. And it's not just about the price of upcoming games.
You Can't Afford A Switch 2? Shame On You
Nintendo continues to defend pricing of the Nintendo Switch 2 and explains that it's so expensive because the successor also has considerably more power. New features of the revised Joy-Cons and inflation also play a crucial role here. Nevertheless, we are still left wondering why the international release is over $100 more expensive than the Japanese version. Bill Trinen, Vice President of Player & Product Experience at Nintendo, comments on the price of the games:
The price of video games has been very stable for a very long time. I actually have an ad on my phone that I found from 1993, when Donkey Kong Country released on the SNES at $59. That’s a very, very long time where pricing on games has been very stable. And so obviously, it would be great if we didn’t live in an era when everything is getting more expensive, so there’s that reality of it.
Nintendo considers the price of the new console to be absolutely reasonable. If you can't afford the Switch 2: No problem, you can just buy the predecessor!
Other Opinions
Others claim that gamers already made this choice with their wallets a long time ago. PlayStation and Xbox games have been very expensive for a long time and continue to sell well. So Nintendo is simply following suit. Adjusted for inflation, the SNES was even more expensive than the Nintendo Switch 2, although it didn't require additional controllers, Nintendo Switch Online and SD Cards, but it would still be a representation of the fact that it just seems more expensive to us.
You Don't Own Your Games... Literally
The next thing that has been addressed negatively (and is actually very important to me, personally) is the preservation of old video games. Nintendo has announced a new system for how you buy their games.
You still have the option to buy games digitally and physically. But here's the twist: the cartridges don't actually contain a game. All you get here is a virtual key that is required to download the game. What's more, the cartridge even has to be inserted into the console! This means you pay $10 more just for a painted case and a plastic cartridge. As soon as Nintendo switches off the Switch 2 servers at some point, the lights will also go out for your favorite games.
Just a fun example: You're at the airport and have just bought the new Donkey Kong game. Now you have to worry that the Wi-Fi is good enough to download the 70GB quickly, or you spend the whole flight looking out of the window and questioning your life choices. And once you've gone through all of this, you might have to uninstall the game again to make room for the next one.
Pirates Everywhere
Unfortunately, Nintendo continues to crack down on emulation of any kind. Thankfully, they've finally announced Gamecube games for the Nintendo Switch Online & Expansion Pack! A whole... three games. That wouldn't be so bad if we had other ways to play these games. While emulators are not illegal per se, the distribution of game files is still punishable by law. So if you want to play Animal Crossing: Wild World and relive your childhood, you can buy the game (from which Nintendo no longer earns a dime), download it to your PC in an often complicated way and play it on an emulator. Or you can buy a new Nintendo DS, which is no longer in production and from which Nintendo earns just as little. Together with the new cartridges being devoid of any content, Nintendo's approach ensures that dozens of games could get lost and will never be available again.
What's Next?
Fans firmly believe that, as consumers, we have the right to complain and draw attention to grievances. In a world where everything is constantly getting more expensive, we should start making decisions with our wallets again. And even if we now perhaps say: “Gaming is my hobby and I can afford this console, so why not?”, we are sending the message that even if prices are soaring, we will still buy their product.
What do you think of this call to action? Is the Switch too expensive for you as well? Or do you think that Nintendo doesn't deserve the hate it's getting?