• Kelly@programming.dev
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        20 hours ago

        In Australia we had an au$90 price tier with only 6 titles:

        • Breath of the Wild
        • Pokkén Tournament DX
        • Fire Emblem Warriors
        • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
        • Super Smash Bros Ultimate
        • Tears of the Kingdom

        All their other AAA titles were au$80, for example:

        • Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
        • Animal Crossing: New Horizons
        • Super Mario Odyssey
        • Pokémon Sword/Shield or Scarlet/Violet
        • Super Mario Party / Superstars / Jamboree
        • New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe / Super Mario Wonder

        Then smaller releases were placed at $70, for example:

        • 1-2-Switch
        • Go Vacation
        • Fitness Boxing 2/ 3
        • Miitopia
        • WarioWare: Get It Together / Move it

        You can see they used the $90 tier quite aggressively early in the piece and then scaled back significantly with almost 5 years between Smash Bros and Tears of the Kingdom.

        At the same time they made sure the Marios (Kart, 3d, 2d, Party, Sports), Pokemons and other franchises with broad all-ages appeal were priced in the middle at $80.

        To be honest I’m a bit worried about the pricing for Super Mario Kart World, the previous one was the beat selling Switch title and if they come out of the gate with high sales they may take the wrong lessons and try to lock in that au$120 price (a 50% increase!).

        On the other hand they may just be price anchoring with the bundle. Having the standalone console priced at au$700 and the bundle at au$770 will let the consumer find ways to justify the purchase, they might say the console is worth $700 so the game is only $70, or they might argue the game is $120 so the console is really only $650. Either way will make them feel better about giving Nintendo the money.

        I suppose the best outcome for the consumer would be for most people to get SMKW in the bundle and then hopefully the next title they release at that price point has lacklustre sales. If they see they sell more units at a lower price it can be a good outcome for everyone.