- Nintendo players have long paid premium prices, with digital games often costing the same as physical copies and rarely seeing deep discounts.
- Starting May 2026, Nintendo will price digital Switch 2 games $10 lower than physical versions in the U.S.
- It’s a small but meaningful shift that could finally make Nintendo’s pricing feel more in line with the rest of the industry.
For years, Console users had to buy games that were typically far more expensive than PC games, particularly in the case of Nintendo. They do not often provide sales and discounts on the same scale as Steam or console retailers such as the PlayStation Store.
However, we have some good news to share: Nintendo has revealed that new digital exclusive Switch 2 games would be less expensive than their physical versions beginning in May 2026. This seems reasonable; however, it hasn’t been applied till now.
To play the most recent video games, we’ll need either a current-generation console or a reasonably modern and powerful PC capable of running them smoothly. Given current prices, a PC would cost substantially more than an equivalent console.
On the plus side, game prices are often lower in the long term, and with Steam, Epic Games, and keys, we can save a lot of money on games. A PS5 is far less expensive than a PC, and its digital game shop frequently offers promotions. The same is true with Xbox. Nintendo was the outlier, with digital and traditional games costing nearly the same price.
If you’re a Nintendo user, you’re probably used to paying €40 or more for games that are very old. This Japanese company is well-known for not offering big discounts in its store, whereas Steam provides true bargains with discounts of 75-80% and even 90-95%, it’s disappointing to see Nintendo only offer a 20-30% discount on their titles, and that’s being nice.
This is mainly true for first-party games, but it also applies to multiplatform releases, which are typically more expensive on Nintendo than on Sony, Microsoft, or PC digital storefronts. What’s most astonishing is that physical games cost the same, if not less, than digital ones, when it should be the opposite.
In the United States, purchasing a Nintendo game digitally did not save you money; games cost $69.99 both physically and digitally. This will eventually change, and in stores like the one in the United States, purchasing the game digitally will save you $10, since it will cost $59.99, compared to $69.99 for the physical version.
This change will not be implemented immediately, but rather, it will take effect in May 2026, specifically when pre-orders for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book begin. It will be a nice move to push the handheld’s sales, since they are down in recent times.
If you live in Spain or another European nation, this will not affect you in the same way because the €10 price cut for digital copies compared to physical copies was introduced some time ago, at least in the official Nintendo store.
You may purchase titles like Pokémon Pokopia for €69.99 online and €79.99 physically, as well as others like Donkey Kong Bananza, which have a similar pricing structure. The first exclusive, Mario Kart World, is €10 cheaper yet more pricey than the previous two, costing €89.99 physically.
This decision by Nintendo, which appears to be limited to the American market, should have no impact on Europe, but other nations that did not previously differentiate between physical and digital versions may see a shift beginning in May.
While there has been some confusion on social media, it is crucial to note that Nintendo has not increased the price of physical copies, but instead, they have reduced the price of digital copies by $10 on their online shop. If you shop at other shops, such as Amazon, you may not see the price adjustment reflected, even if they often sell for cheaper than the official Nintendo store.
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[Editor-in-Chief]
Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.
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