While Nintendo has been facing quite a bit of criticism over its pricing of the Switch 2 as well as its first-party games, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden believes that the company can ultimately get away with it. In an interview with PlayerDriven, Layden mentioned how the quality of Nintendo’s first-party titles allows the company to take bigger risks, like increased prices for its games.
In the interview, which you can check out below, Layden spoke about the pricing differences between the Switch and the Switch 2 not only for the consoles themselves, but also for their games. He also brought up the $80 price tag for launch title Mario Kart World.
“But right here you see, ‘wow, that’s kind of a hefty price hike from Switch 1 to Switch 2 and, wow, 80 bucks for a game?’” Layden said (transcription via IGN). “But if it’s the only place where you can play Mario, then you get your wallet out and you buy into it… and Donkey Kong and Zelda. That first-party exclusivity kind of mitigates the sticker shock, if you will, of these price hikes, because you want that content so bad.”
Layden also spoke about how inflation has generally not quite affected the price of games over time. For context, games have held on to their steady price tags for quite some time. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 back in 2009 was one of the first AAA releases to jump up in price from $50 to $60 at the time, for example.
Layden brings up how, in terms of inflation, $59.99 from 1999 would be the equivalent to $100 today. He also points out that, if games were to increase their price to keep pace with inflation trends, by getting $5 more expensive with each console generation, for example, they would be priced at $90 today.
“In 2025 dollars, $59.99 in 1999 is equivalent to $100,” he said. “Your purchasing power compared to your cost of living, it’s much smaller now than it was before, but still companies have been reluctant to push that price up.”
“I was in it at the time — probably every generation they should have baked in a $5 software price hike, and make that the typical, ‘well every generation it’s another five bucks.’ And you would have been up to $90 already by now.”
Nintendo of America vice president of Product and Player Experience Bill Trinen has also spoken about the company’s pricing strategy. In another interview, Trinen spoke about how the company believes that Mario Kart World‘s quality justifies its steep $80 price tag.
“I would say it’s less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it’s more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value?” said Trinen.
“Mario Kart World, I think especially as you see from the Nintendo Direct, not to give you any hints or anything, but I did read your article this morning and I think you had mentioned that you didn’t find a lot to discover when roaming around. So I would say tune into our Mario Kart Direct to see what, maybe you’ll be able to find out about that.”
“But honestly, 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.”
The Nintendo Switch 2 is slated to launch on June 5. While priced at $449.99, it is currently unknown if tariffs by the United States will cause its price tag to climb higher.
