Mario Kart World Pricing Controversy Continues To Rage
Nintendo announced that Mario Kart World would be priced at $80, which made many gamers unhappy and demanded a price reduction. They even expressed the same opinion during Mario Kart World Direct.
When Mario Kart World, which was included in Switch 2’s first lineup, was announced to be priced at $79.99, a wave of protests quickly broke out on social media. Even in direct presentation, many dissatisfied players flocked to it, unanimously demanding that Mario Kart World be reduced in price.
Prior to this, there were even reports that the physical version of the game would cost as much as $90. As a result, fans even launched a DROP THE PRICE trend on Twitter earlier, and the same message was still seen by many players in Mario Kart World Direct. Although the official price was later announced as $79.99, the price still caused players to complain.
Faced with such a surging public opinion, the developer insisted that the price of Mario Kart World was completely in line with its own value, and the price of $80 was completely reasonable. They said that whether from a technical level or a content level, Mario Kart World is definitely worth the extra $10 for players to experience.
In this regard, the players’ attitude is half-believing and half-doubting. Whether Mario Kart World is worth paying $10 more to play, only time will tell. After all, the series is irreplaceable in the minds of players. If the quality of the game is really good, I think even if it is priced at $80, there should be no problem with the sales of Mario Kart World.
It is worth pondering. The focus of this controversy is not only the pricing strategy of Mario Kart World breaking the current industry benchmark price of $70, but also the deep anxiety of players about the collective price increase of subsequent games. When the game industry benchmark such as Mario Kart World developer makes this change, it is difficult for other game publishers not to follow suit, and then the price ceiling of the entire industry will change accordingly, which is a chain reaction that players do not want to see.
Among all the games, the game that players are most worried about the price increase is Grand Theft Auto 6. Many players are worried that the price of Mario Kart World at $80 will inspire GTA 6 to be priced as high as $100.
However, developer is also trying to balance the needs of players at different consumption levels. Although they obviously do not intend to compromise with public opinion and choose to lower the price, we still have a chance to get Mario Kart World at a discount - the developer announced that Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle will not be available until the fall of 2025, but it can help players save $30.
One thing to note is that the bundle is in limited supply, and it is not clear how long this offer will last and whether the inventory will be enough to meet demand. Players interested in this can continue to pay attention to this news so as not to miss the rush.