Mario Kart World costs $80 at launch — is Nintendo finally pricing itself out of its own fanbase, or will we all just pay it anyway?

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  Leo1mo ago

  eighty dollars is eighty dollars. I have two kids. That's a week of groceries for us. I don't care how good the game is.

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  Elena1mo ago

  My daughter is seven and she has been asking for the new Switch 2 since we saw the trailer. I already told her we'd get it for her birthday. I did not tell her about the $80 game. I am not looking forward to that conversation.

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  Casey1mo ago

  I actually think $80 is fine and the game will be incredible but I refuse to say that publicly to anyone in my life because I don't want to hear it

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  Ravi1mo ago

  I've bought every mainline Mario Kart since the SNES. I bought it today. I have no regrets and I refuse to have regrets.

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  Zara1mo ago

  The real question isn't whether the game is worth $80. It's whether we want to live in a world where $80 is normal. Because once we accept it we never go back. That's the line. Not the game.

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• YK

  Yuki K.1mo ago

  Nintendo could release a blank disc called "Mario" and charge $120 and the subreddit would post 40 page essays about why it's actually a bargain

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  Riley1mo ago

  I work in games retail and I can already tell you preorders are strong. People complain online and buy in stores. They always have. The discourse is fake, the sales are real.

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  Theo1mo ago

  that inflation argument is technically true but also completely useless because wages haven't kept up with inflation either so it's not actually helpful to anyone buying the game lmao

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  Feli1mo ago

  what i find funny is gamers will spend $80 on cosmetics in a live service game without blinking but a fully featured complete experience at $80 is suddenly a crime against humanity. priorities are interesting

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• A_

  Avery _x1mo ago

  This is genuinely the hill I will die on: Nintendo has been getting away with charging full price for games that came out on worse hardware years earlier and people STILL defend them. $80 is just them seeing how far the rubber band stretches before it snaps. It WILL snap eventually.

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  Jordan1mo ago

  What gets me is that Nintendo is simultaneously the most beloved and most anti-consumer major games company and somehow those two things coexist peacefully in the fanbase. If Sony or Microsoft pulled this people would riot. Nintendo does it and everyone says "well the games are just THAT good." It's brand Stockholm syndrome.

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• E

  Elena1mo ago

  Nobody is talking about the fact that this sets a precedent for digital pricing too. Physical you can at least resell. If digital also goes to $80 with no resale value that's a genuinely different conversation about what we're actually buying.

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• C

  Casey1mo ago

  I think the more interesting story is what this signals for the rest of the industry. If Nintendo gets away with $80 and it charts for months, Activision and EA will have $80 games by Christmas. Nintendo isn't just setting their own price, they're setting an industry ceiling everyone else will race to touch.

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• K

  Kofi1mo ago

  ok but mario kart 8 deluxe was literally sold for like 6 years at full price and never dropped. nintendo games dont depreciate. you're basically buying an asset lol

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• O

  Omar1mo ago

  me and my four siblings grew up on one N64 cartridge we had for six years. the idea of any of us individually owning a new $80 game was science fiction. generationally this conversation is so wild to read. kids now are so used to having their own everything

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• Y

  Yuki1mo ago

  My partner and I have a rule: no game over $40 unless we both agree it passes the "will we still be playing this in 6 months" test. Mario Kart World passes. It will probably be in our rotation until the Switch 3 comes out. Worth it.

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• H

  Hana1mo ago

  The only correct take here is: wait six months, buy used for $45, everyone wins except Nintendo. Vote with your wallet or stop complaining.

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• L2

  Leo 211mo ago

  Genuine question: at what price would Nintendo fans actually stop buying? Like is there an actual number or is it just infinite elasticity? Asking as an economist, not sarcasting.

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  Feli1mo ago

  The game supports open world traversal between tracks which is genuinely new for the series. This isn't a port, it's not a remaster, it's a full new game with a new mechanic. $80 for genuine innovation is different from $70 for the same FIFA with updated rosters.

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  Morgan1mo ago

  The $80 price point is $80. Call of Duty is $70 and nobody clutches pearls. Mario Kart has more replay value in one cup than most shooters have in their entire campaign. Do the math.

  43Reply
• K

  Kofi1mo ago

  I waited three years for Mario Kart 8 to go on sale. It never did. I eventually paid full price anyway. I'm done waiting this time. Pre-ordered week one and I feel fine about it.

  38Reply
• TM

  Taylor M.1mo ago

  The $80 price actually makes total economic sense when you factor in inflation adjusted against the 1990 SNES launch price of $49.99. In real terms Nintendo games are cheaper now than they were 35 years ago. People just don't account for that.

  29Reply

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