One of the big surprises following this week's Switch 2 deep dive was the price tag for Mario Kart World, as the game has a "suggested" retail price of $80 ahead of its June 5 release. This is a major increase--especially at a time when consumers are still debating the value of high-profile games increasing from $60 to $70--and according to analysts, this could become the new standard for the industry.
In a breakdown of the Switch 2 and its pricing, analysts at Niko Partners discussed the impact of Mario Kart World and its price. "While there has been some sticker shock regarding the price of games increasing from $60 to $70 or $80, these price-points are set to become industry standard over the next two years, especially so for Nintendo first-party games," Niko Partners explained. "One reason for the higher price is the increased cost of the new and faster Game Cards themselves, with higher capacities being more expensive to manufacture than a PS5 Blu-ray disc."
It is worth noting that certain Switch 2 Game Cards will only contain keys on the cart that can be used to authenticate a purchase and then download a game directly to the console. Whether these games will cost $60 or $70 remains to be seen, but another Switch 2 game, Donkey Kong Bananza, does have an MSRP of $70. The other concern here is that Nintendo will likely set a new precedent for game prices with Mario Kart World, allowing other publishers to follow suit and also charge $80 for new games.
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