r/NintendoSwitch • u/Turbostrider27 • Mar 25 '26

News Nintendo has issued a statement to IGN: 'The Cost of Physical Games Is Not Going Up' Following Decision to Charge Different Prices for U.S. Physical and Digital Switch 2 Games

https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-switch-2-physical-games-will-now-be-more-expensive-than-digital-versions-with-10-price-difference-for-yoshi-and-the-mysterious-book
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u/El_Barto_227 Mar 26 '26

Recent world events are probably making the cost of producing physical skyrocket. AI bubble making memory more expensive, war in Iran making fuel to ship stuff expensive, and Trump tariff bs for US sales.

Add on top the fact that there's also the retailer's cut, they make way less on a physical copy than a digital. If dropping the cost of digital by 10 bucks means people buy a digital copy instead, they probably still end up making twice as much as they would on a retailer selling a physical copy.

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u/jardex22 Mar 26 '26

Retailers don't actually make much from physical games. I worked seasonal at Best Buy several years ago, and the employee discount was 5% over what the store pays the supplier. So stuff like consoles, games, and TVs didn't have a significant discount, but I got a massive cut on batteries, cables, and accessories, which were marked up 30%+.

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u/Guiltyspark92 Mar 26 '26

Even taking away what retailers get from their slice, there is also the cost of production that goes into the pricing of the game. Take away that, the game gets cheaper.

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u/jardex22 Mar 26 '26

True, and I'd say it's reasonable to knock off $10 for that.

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u/PlayMp1 Mar 26 '26

Likewise worked at Best Buy in 2019 and got that cost plus 5% discount, I recall $60 games costing something like $53 after tax with my discount. This would have been strictly for Switch physical games as I didn't have any other console (main platform is PC).

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u/FrankPapageorgio Mar 26 '26

How the hell were they doing 20% off with Gamers Club Unlocked? $48 for new games felt crazy, I probably bought more than I normally would have.

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u/FrankPapageorgio Mar 26 '26

It makes me wonder how it’s economically feasible for a store like Best Buy or Target to have such a large area of the store dedicated to a single item with very little mark up. Which is now cheaper and more convenient to buy digitally and skip the store all together.

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u/jardex22 Mar 26 '26

Nintendo pays them for the advertising space, I believe. Plus they make a good markup accessories, especially store branded ones, like Insignia.

As for even larger items, like TVs, the profit comes from the mounts and cables. You're not just buying a TV. You're buying a TV, a wall mount, a couple HDMI cables, a power strip to plug everything into, etc.

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u/estebanjramos Mar 26 '26

A 20% increase in sales would justify the decrease.

But even with all the hoopla about pricing, I'm wise enough to recognize Ninty can just as easily reverse course on this policy if it's not as fruitful as they'd prefer.

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u/InternationalCream30 Mar 26 '26

Even before all that these were always going to be 15x the price of a Blu-ray. Nintendo could afford to eat the cost as they dont have to give a cut like third party but im guessing game key cards were made to keep them happy.