With an $80 “Mario Kart” title for Switch 2, Nintendo is ushering in a new gaming price ceiling

Along with its Switch 2 announcement on Wednesday, Nintendo subtly ushered in what could be a new price ceiling for AAA games. On the company’s website, “Mario Kart World” — a Switch 2 exclusive — is listed at $80.

That’s a big jump for Nintendo, which previously maintained a $60 price ceiling for its major games. The one exception: 2023’s “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” which retails at $70.

While the price could be a means for Nintendo to push sales of its pricier $500 Switch 2 “Mario Kart” bundle (which is a $50 jump from the console alone), it’s also likely a test of a new upper limit in gaming.

Currently, major new releases from Sony and Microsoft cost $70 for base versions, though preorder bonuses, deluxe editions, and future update passes can drive those costs up. With the Switch 2 being less powerful than rival consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X, which would theoretically mean games cost less to produce, the price has many gamers voicing affordability concerns online.

For Nintendo, “Mario Kart” is a solid piece of IP to test the price hike on. “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” is the original Switch’s top-selling title, with more than 67 million units sold since 2017. Nintendo, which rarely issues even temporary discounts for the game, sold about 5.4 million copies in the nine months through December — even with a new console on the horizon.

Notably, Nintendo is not attempting the same price point for another major Switch 2 IP release. “Donkey Kong Bonanza” is currently listed at $70 on the gaming giant’s website.

A software price hike was inevitable. Before jumping up to $70 with the latest generation of consoles around 2020, the $60 video game price point held strong for about 15 years. In the meantime, budgets skyrocketed: 2018’s “Spider-Man 2” cost $315 million, three times the budget of the first installment in the Sony franchise.

Still, many are surprised that “Mario Kart” is the game to break the barrier, rather than Take-Two’s “Grand Theft Auto 6,” which, with a rumored $2 billion budget, is expected by some analysts to retail for between $80 and $100.

Depending on Nintendo’s success with “Mario Kart,” the new price limit could start to eke its way throughout the industry, dragging up mid-price games with it. Though frustrating for players, it would likely be a welcome move for the games industry at large. US consumer spending on video games was $58.7 billion last year, a decrease from the year prior.