Find out why Nintendo games are always the most expensive

If you are a gamer, you will always have in mind a game that you want to have but that you are waiting for its price to go down to acquire it. Whether it is a Black Friday offer or simply because the time has passed since it came out, video games price is dropping to adjust to the demand of the players.

Leer en español: Descubre por qué los juegos de Nintendo son siempre los más caros

However, Nintendo refuses to do the same, as they maintain the launch price of their games even when they have been on the market for years. Take for example the game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, one of the star titles of the Nintendo Switch console.

At this time, a new copy of the game costs $ 59.99 dollars, exactly what it cost when the game was launched in March of last year. The same thing happens with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, it also costs the same $ 59.99 dollars that it cost when it hit the market in April 2017.

For comparison, take the game NieR: Automata, released on March 7, 2017, a few days after Zelda: Breath of the Wild, exclusively for PlayStation 4. The game was well received by critics and one and a half million units were sold during its first two months in the market.

Despite its success, today you can get a new copy of the game for $ 19.99 dollars, just one-third of the launch price. Why does not this happen with Nintendo games?

Because they can do it

According to an investigation of the Polygon video game media, up to 55% of the owners of the Nintendo Switch console also have Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This under any parameter is an impressive figure. People who buy the Nintendo consoles buy them with the intention of playing in it exclusive Nintendo games. To find perfect gifts for gamers, check out Instash.

That is why it does not matter when they came out to the market, because games like Zelda, Mario, Super Smash Bros, and Pokémon are desired by all who have a Nintendo console. Neither interest nor demand goes down over time. So why should prices go down? 

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Higher production costs

Unlike the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One that sell their games on Blu-ray discs with capacity for 25 or 50 gigabytes, the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS, the two current Nintendo consoles, sell their games on cards or cartridges of 1 up to 32 gigabytes. According to Polygon, it is known that Nintendo Switch cartridges can be up to 60% more expensive than the Blu-ray discs used by other consoles.

In addition, the price of the cartridge increases according to its capacity, which means that particularly heavy games will find higher production costs and, therefore, lower profit margins. Therefore, not reducing prices can simply be a strategy to mitigate the high production costs that come with included their games on the Nintendo Switch.

An important legacy

Unlike Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo has been in the gaming industry for more than 30 years, and in that time has created iconic and loyal characters to a whole generation of fans. Therefore, their games already have a seal of quality, which many of their historical fans value a lot because they grew up playing the games of the brand.

In addition, according to Metacritic, Nintendo is the second video game company according to critical reception. In the first place is the firm Bethesda, creator of games such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the Fallout saga, which has an average score of 79.9 out of 100 possible points.

Nintendo follows it closely, with an average score of 78 out of 100, taking IGNORE INTO account only the games launched during 2017. During this year it released 31 titles, the best received being Zelda: Breath of the Wild with 97 points.

LatinAmerican Post | Pedro Bernal

Translated from "Descubre por qué los juegos de Nintendo son los más caros"