We finally hear from Doug Bowser!
On the pricing:
“What you see right there is variable pricing,” Bowser told The Washington Post. “We’ll look at each game, really look at the development that’s gone into the game, the breadth and depth of the gameplay, if you will, the durability over time and the repeatability of gameplay experiences.
On Nintendo Switch:
Bowser said Nintendo remains committed to selling the first Switch console. Four years ago, in our first conversation, Bowser said the Switch is “redefining what a console cycle can look like.”
“Now I even wonder what is the definition of a console cycle,” Bowser said. “We’ll continue to keep Nintendo Switch as part of the family, giving consumers a number of different entry points that they can come into the gaming universe.”
(…)
“What I would say is that we’ll continue to observe consumers and how they engage and enter into the platform at various levels to try to really understand what the future may look like,” Bowser said. “Here’s the other point. We have an install base [for the Switch] of 150 million plus units. We’ll probably announce more on May 8 when we have our next earnings call. We want to keep those players engaged. Not all of them may be ready to jump to Switch 2.”
People are too worked up over the pricing, which is not a particularly big deal and was to be expected if you weren’t living under a rock for the last few years, and not worked up enough over the apparent shift away from physical game cards. As usual, gamers are spending all their time and energy chasing completely the wrong issues.
It’s just bold-faced BS. Variable pricing to match the experience would give us games like Princess Peach Showtime or Thousand Year Door for $20-$40. They’re just keeping the $60 baseline and charging $10-$20 more when they feel they can get away with it.