Nintendo announces that upcoming Switch 2 games could be priced as high as $80.

We knew there was a new Mario Kart coming to Switch 2, but we didn’t expect it to cost this much. After showing off the open-world racing game Mario Kart World on Wednesday during its Switch 2 Nintendo Direct showcase, Nintendo revealed that the game will have a $79.99 price tag. That’s new territory for Nintendo, which just two years ago made headlines by charging $69.99 for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

But Mario Kart World’s high asking price doesn’t appear to be the standard for Switch 2 software. Nintendo also confirmed Wednesday that Donkey Kong Bananza, coming to Switch 2 in July, will cost $69.99. Still, these are indicators that Nintendo is comfortable charging more not just for the Switch successor, but for its next-gen games too.

Those prices may only represent the digital versions of those Switch 2 games. Pricing announced in some territories shows that Nintendo plans to charge even more for the physical editions of games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.

Nintendo has not announced prices for other games or the Switch 2 upgrade packs that were revealed as part of Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct, though it did put a price on another Switch 2 launch game, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, if only in Japan. That virtual exploration of the Switch 2 hardware will cost 990 yen for a digital copy, which will probably translate to a sub-$10 price in the U.S.

Price increases on software aren’t uncommon during next-generation console transitions. When the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launched, standard game pricing jumped from $49.99 to $59.99, a price point that held steady for more than a decade. In 2020, alongside the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, prices crept up further, with some publishers charging $69.99 for certain games. Nintendo itself caught up with that trend with Tears of the Kingdom, following Microsoft’s lead, with its first $69.99 game.

Despite the reality of inflation, the increasing cost of game development, and the value often associated with live-service games like Mario Kart, reaction to pricing for Switch 2 games has been widely negative. Combined with the high price of the Switch 2 itself, Nintendo may have a harder time reaching the success of the original Switch than some expected.