Update, March 26, 2:45pm ET: Nintendo has released a clarifying statement on its announcement from yesterday, suggesting that it’s actually lowering prices of digital games rather than raising the prices of physical ones. The statement, as reported by IGN, is as follows:
"The cost of physical games is not going up. This means that when Nintendo sells digital versions of Nintendo published games exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 to consumers in the U.S., those prices will have an MSRP that is lower than their physical counterparts. Retail partners set their own prices for physical and digital games, and pricing for each title may vary."
Whether prices are being “raised” or “lowered” depends on your point of view; the upcoming Yoshi game will cost $60 for a digital copy, which up until last year was the price that Nintendo charged for most of its first-party Switch 1 titles. But it is true that $60 is $10 less than the digital versions of recent Switch 2 first-party releases like Donkey Kong Bananza or Kirby Air Riders (to date, Nintendo has charged $70 or $80 for new Switch 2 games, but hasn’t said what makes a $70 game a $70 game or an $80 game an $80 game).
