Nintendo justifies the controversial prices of Mario Kart World and Switch 2 Welcome Tour

The price of Nintendo Switch 2 and its games has caused a big controversy among fans, particularly for two specific games: Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour. The first one will be the most expensive game of the generation: $80/€90/ £75 for a physical copy ($70/€80/£67 digital), more expensive than games from PS5 and Xbox Series X. Why is it so expensive?

Bill Trinen, Nintendo of America's Vice President of Product and Player Experience, interviewed by IGN, gave the classic "we look at each game individually and decide". And in the case of Mario Kart World, they feel that with the experience they offer and the value it has, that is the right price (it's ten dollars/euros cheaper than Donkey Kong Bananza, for example).

"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", suggesting that there will be more surprises for the Nintendo Direct about the game on April 17.

Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour will be $9.99

Regarding the controversial Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour, which seems like a glorified tutorial or website explaining the inners of the Switch, and many belive that it should be included with the console, but will be a paid game, Trinen confirmed that it will be priced $9.99 on the eShop (likely the same amount in euros and around £8).

Trinen said that they take each game and say "'what is the right price for the value of this entertainment?'". And described Welcome Tour as a "pretty robust piece of software with a lot of great detail in there", and suggests that is not for everyone, but rather a title for "people who are particularly interested in the tech and the specs of the system and things like that (...) that want more information about the system rather than necessarily a quick intro to everything it does.

"And for that reason and just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, 'Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you're getting out of the product.'"

"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", he added. Do you agree?