Nintendo defends $9.99 Switch 2 Welcome Tour price, stating it reflects the "amount of care and work" put into it
Nintendo has responded to fan complaints about charging for the Switch 2's exclusive tech demo, minigame, and console guide title, Welcome Tour, claiming that the price reflects the game's high quality and development effort.
The details:
During the recent Switch 2 Direct, Nintendo revealed Welcome Park, a game designed to teach players about the console's new features, such as mouse controls and an integrated microphone. Many fans were surprised to learn that it would be a paid release rather than bundled with the system, as was the case with the PS5's Astro's Playroom.
Bill Trinen, Nintendo of America's vice president of product and player experience, has since defended the $9.99 price tag. Speaking with IGN, Trinen said he believes that $9.99 is "not an exorbitant price" and that the game is a "pretty robust piece of software" that is more than just an introduction to the Switch 2. “For some people, I think there are people who are particularly interested in the tech and the specs of the system and things like that, for them I think it's going to be a great product,” the exec said. “It's really for people that want more information about the system rather than necessarily a quick intro to everything it does. And for that reason and just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, 'Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you're getting out of the product.'"
Pricing for the Switch 2 and its games has been an ongoing debate since its full reveal, with fans criticizing Nintendo for charging upwards of $80 for some first-party games and up to $20 for Switch 2 upgrades to original Switch titles. The company has also defended the console's $450 price tag in the US, claiming that the increased cost is due to improved hardware and features rather than tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, as previously claimed.
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