Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has said that the company never discounts its games are they are "the best" and akin to fine "Kyoto craftmanship" — something that results in a "fair price."
Speaking at the NYU Game Center, Fils-Aimé said that Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were never discounted by the company as they deserve to be sold at their initial launch pricing.
Breath of the Wild was the first Nintendo game priced at $70 — a trend the company continued for the game's sequel Tears of the Kingdom, and last year's Donkey Kong Bananza on Switch 2. With its newer console, however, Nintendo has said it is using variable pricing — meaning that while some games launch for less, Mario Kart World arrived at a new high of $80.
"The Nintendo mentality is, we're shipping a game complete," Fils-Aimé said. "It's ready to play. There's no day one update that's going to take three hours. And so part of it is, it's a different mentality. That is [Nintendo's] thinking.
"I liken this to this idea of Kyoto craftsmanship," he continued. "The company is headquartered in Kyoto. For those of you who are knowledgeable about Japanese history… [it's] a city known for its fine craftsmanship: linens, china, pottery, that is Kyoto. I'm convinced Nintendo, as a company, has that same type of mentality. We are going to build the best games, we are going to send them out feature complete, and as a result — this is where sometimes customers push back — we don't discount our games."
Is Mario Kart World worth $80? Many early Switch 2 fans got it for less in a bundle with their new console, but discussion since has centered on whether the game is actually worth the record pricetag, and what form of post-launch support Nintendo will provide to keep players engaged. (So far, there's been no sign of meaningful DLC.)
"Breath of the Wild never received a price discount from the day it was launched," Fils-Aimé continued. "It's part of this process. We're gonna make it the best we can, we're gonna send it feature complete, and we're gonna charge a fair price and that price is never gonna change."
Of course, Nintendo's position is far from the norm. With very few exceptions, nearly all games are reduced in price over time, or periodically get a decent discount during a sale. Does Fils-Aimé think Nintendo's strategy will hold? While not addressing this directly, the former president gave an intriguing response when discussing the need to be more reactive with pricing in future.
"I say this with a lot of passion. I do think, [in] modern times, you've got to start thinking about things differently. Not that I'm saying that Nintendo or any company should be discounting their games. But I do think there's a thoughtfulness that has to happen in the marketplace, where you need to think about what you're offering. Think about what that fair price is. And move on from there. Versus being beholden to a particular price point or some other type of… element of your business model."
While there's no sign of any price drop for Mario Kart World yet (or that there will ever be one), Nintendo has recently welcomed an era of even more complicated pricing — with discounts for digital versions of games versus their boxed, retail versions. The company has also not (yet) repeated its $80 asking price for any other Switch 2 game, with other recent blockbusters such as Donkey Kong Bananza and Pokémon Pokopia arriving at $70.
Image credit: Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
