“*Beginning in May 2026, and starting with preorders for Yoshi™ and the Mysterious Book, new Nintendo published digital titles exclusive to Nintendo Switch™ 2 will have an MSRP that is different from physical versions.*
*Nintendo games offer the same experiences whether in packaged or digital format, and this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format and offers players more choice in how they can buy and play Nintendo games.*
*As always, retail partners set their own prices for physical and digital games, and pricing for each title may vary.*”
Dubsbaduw on
I think they will be selling digital at full price and physical will be even more expensive, because there’s no way news regarding Nintendo and pricing will be good for anyone other than Nintendo
freshbeatsinc on
I’m guessing price of physical is going up? Annoying that they’re not saying what the difference will be.
JustinAndFeena on
Yeesh. 70 for a physical copy of yoshi is really pushing it.
[deleted] on
[deleted]
No_Construction2407 on
How very nintendo of them
npsage on
“this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format”
Unless it’s a Key Card game in which case you have the costs of both physical distribution and the bandwidth cost of having players downloading the full game upon first insertion of the game into their system. =|
Don’t get me wrong good for them for deciding to update a silly policy but like; you’ve still got this other silly policy right there.
PurpleHawkeye619 on
The real question is going to be:
Will digital cost more or less?
And given how hard the industry is trying to make physical copies hard to find so people are forced to buy digital, I expect digital to be more to maximize profits, then just not make many physical copies
Darragh_McG on
So digital now has a lower price than the current price and physical stays the same?
Can I get a store credit for Pokopia please? 😃
AMcMahon1 on
Allow me to offload the game onto a physical cartridge then
MichaelMJTH on
This was already true in some other regions like the UK. Nintendo published games were already cheaper digitally than they were physically.
Snowroark on
If it is the same as here in Europe then it’s probably 10 bucks more for physical. For example Mario Kart World digital costs 80€ and physical costs 90€
Dear Nintendo, just do the Game Key Card thing. It is the only physical way we can have the same price for digital and for physical. That is it. The $15 switch 2 game cards are just not worth it. It even limits the loading speeds. It is cheaper to buy and SD card for the console at this point.
Acceptable_Shine_738 on
Omg. Does that mean we could be seeing 90 dollar physical games?
100_xp on
They were doing this in Japan and Europe, I believe.
Yoshi digital preorder went live today priced at $60. Physical will be $70.
I thought they would choose to release some games digitally at $60 and some at $70, but the announcement reads like it will be standard for all Nintendo franchise games.
SuperSaiyanIR on
So I’m assuming we are gonna see 70 USD digital and 80 USD physical because let’s be realistic it’s Nintendo no way they are doing it the other way around
Cozy-Panda777 on
I’m confused, does this mean digital games are now cheaper than physical?
Or that digital games are the same price, but physical will be even more expensive (for example, Tears might be 60 in shop but 70 for physical?)
Because if it is the former, that’s fine by me. I’ve always thought digital games should be discounted since they keep the money directly for the company instead of splitting it with retailers. But if it is the latter, I might just sell my Nintendo switch 2. I can put up with a lot but if I’m paying 80$ for Fire Emblem physical, I don’t think I can stomach that.
poodle_moodle on
so glad i only buy games on sale.
HowlingHipster on
This has already been a thing for Switch games, just not ones Nintendo produces in-house. Indie games especially have been like this for years, for the ones lucky enough to get physical prints.
hlazlo on
The complaining in the comments here is just… well, typical for Reddit I guess.
Digital games will cost less than physical games.
But I guess we should preemptively get insufferable and start complaining about a hypothetical situation where the physical games increase in price even though there is zero evidence of that being the case at this point.
TedIsReal on
Well this is officially the beginning of the death of physical copies.
luisrey6 on
I’m happy for this change, I buy digitally for games I really enjoy. Usually discounted eshop during the holidays @ 20% off. Lets just see which games go this route, with the lower digital price
ImmaculateWeiss on
Rare Nintendo pricing W
thetiredjuan on
Sucks for Physical people. At least they still go on sale.
Not for me though. Been all digital for awhile.
Radium on
RIP in store games
CryZe92 on
This was already the case for the EU right? So as far as I understand, this is simply aligning the US pricing with that.
Fiti99 on
I wonder how much this will actually matter because while digital being cheaper is kinda cool I am yet to purchase a single Nintendo game that way because physical is just way cheaper if you buy them on discounts, which happens far more often than what people online seemingly think, I got the Galaxy Collection with 20% off the same weekend it came out
29 Comments
Wow, this is pretty big news
“*Beginning in May 2026, and starting with preorders for Yoshi™ and the Mysterious Book, new Nintendo published digital titles exclusive to Nintendo Switch™ 2 will have an MSRP that is different from physical versions.*
*Nintendo games offer the same experiences whether in packaged or digital format, and this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format and offers players more choice in how they can buy and play Nintendo games.*
*As always, retail partners set their own prices for physical and digital games, and pricing for each title may vary.*”
I think they will be selling digital at full price and physical will be even more expensive, because there’s no way news regarding Nintendo and pricing will be good for anyone other than Nintendo
I’m guessing price of physical is going up? Annoying that they’re not saying what the difference will be.
Yeesh. 70 for a physical copy of yoshi is really pushing it.
[deleted]
How very nintendo of them
“this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format”
Unless it’s a Key Card game in which case you have the costs of both physical distribution and the bandwidth cost of having players downloading the full game upon first insertion of the game into their system. =|
Don’t get me wrong good for them for deciding to update a silly policy but like; you’ve still got this other silly policy right there.
The real question is going to be:
Will digital cost more or less?
And given how hard the industry is trying to make physical copies hard to find so people are forced to buy digital, I expect digital to be more to maximize profits, then just not make many physical copies
So digital now has a lower price than the current price and physical stays the same?
Can I get a store credit for Pokopia please? 😃
Allow me to offload the game onto a physical cartridge then
This was already true in some other regions like the UK. Nintendo published games were already cheaper digitally than they were physically.
If it is the same as here in Europe then it’s probably 10 bucks more for physical. For example Mario Kart World digital costs 80€ and physical costs 90€
[“Price of the brick going up.”](https://youtu.be/xVFckYwEzzc?si=3mZX8HqnNkw9nA_K)
Dear Nintendo, just do the Game Key Card thing. It is the only physical way we can have the same price for digital and for physical. That is it. The $15 switch 2 game cards are just not worth it. It even limits the loading speeds. It is cheaper to buy and SD card for the console at this point.
Omg. Does that mean we could be seeing 90 dollar physical games?
They were doing this in Japan and Europe, I believe.
Yoshi digital preorder went live today priced at $60. Physical will be $70.
I thought they would choose to release some games digitally at $60 and some at $70, but the announcement reads like it will be standard for all Nintendo franchise games.
So I’m assuming we are gonna see 70 USD digital and 80 USD physical because let’s be realistic it’s Nintendo no way they are doing it the other way around
I’m confused, does this mean digital games are now cheaper than physical?
Or that digital games are the same price, but physical will be even more expensive (for example, Tears might be 60 in shop but 70 for physical?)
Because if it is the former, that’s fine by me. I’ve always thought digital games should be discounted since they keep the money directly for the company instead of splitting it with retailers. But if it is the latter, I might just sell my Nintendo switch 2. I can put up with a lot but if I’m paying 80$ for Fire Emblem physical, I don’t think I can stomach that.
so glad i only buy games on sale.
This has already been a thing for Switch games, just not ones Nintendo produces in-house. Indie games especially have been like this for years, for the ones lucky enough to get physical prints.
The complaining in the comments here is just… well, typical for Reddit I guess.
Digital games will cost less than physical games.
But I guess we should preemptively get insufferable and start complaining about a hypothetical situation where the physical games increase in price even though there is zero evidence of that being the case at this point.
Well this is officially the beginning of the death of physical copies.
I’m happy for this change, I buy digitally for games I really enjoy. Usually discounted eshop during the holidays @ 20% off. Lets just see which games go this route, with the lower digital price
Rare Nintendo pricing W
Sucks for Physical people. At least they still go on sale.
Not for me though. Been all digital for awhile.
RIP in store games
This was already the case for the EU right? So as far as I understand, this is simply aligning the US pricing with that.
I wonder how much this will actually matter because while digital being cheaper is kinda cool I am yet to purchase a single Nintendo game that way because physical is just way cheaper if you buy them on discounts, which happens far more often than what people online seemingly think, I got the Galaxy Collection with 20% off the same weekend it came out