Nintendo Has The Right To Charge $80 For Switch 2 Games Because of Its Exclusives, Ex-Sony Exec Says

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'That First-Party Exclusivity Mitigates that Sticker Shock.'

Story Highlight
  • The former Sony executive Shawn Layden claims that Nintendo can charge $80 for Switch 2 titles if they are exclusives.
  • He believes exclusivity justifies the new controversial price tag because you cannot play those games anywhere else.
  • The new $80 pricing has been met with a lot of criticism and controversy, showing that gamers disagree with this sentiment.

More details for Switch 2 were finally revealed in the recent Nintendo Direct. While gamers were impressed with the successor’s technical capabilities over the original, many were also upset with the exorbitant pricing for the handheld and the Mario Kart World exclusive. 

Amid the growing controversy against Nintendo, the former Sony executive has now stepped in to justify the new $80 price tag for Switch 2 games. He argues that Nintendo can set that price standard because those are its exclusives. 

Why it matters: The ex-Sony executive argues that the new $80 price tag is justified for Switch 2 games if they are exclusives because Switch consoles are the only official place where gamers can play them.

During a recent episode of the PlayerDriven podcast, Shawn Layden defends Nintendo and says gamers should not be upset with the price hike from Switch 1 to Switch 2 and the new $80 pricing standard for its games.

He believes that if you can only play Mario, Zelda, or Donkey Kong on Switch consoles because of exclusivity, then the $80 price is justified.

Wow, 80 bucks for a game? But if it’s the only place where you can play Mario, then you get your wallet out and you buy into it.

Shawn says that these exclusives being limited to Switch consoles should be enough to justify the $80 price. Nintendo recently offered a similar defense against the controversy by claiming it wants to respect the value of its releases.

Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo also believes Switch 2 games justify the massive $80 price tag. 

However, many gamers have disagreed with these justifications on social media and spoken against the $80 pricing for Switch 2 exclusives since it may compel other game developers to increase the price of their AAA games. 

Do you think the former Sony executive’s words justify Nintendo inflating the pricing of its games? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.

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