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Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé believes the Nintendo Switch 2 price point was just right, but the real challenge is going to be keeping players engaged.
When the Switch 2 was announced, the big talking point was to do with pricing. While the console itself did get some raised eyebrows due to its price, the big kicker was the cost of games, with Mario Kart World making waves due its whopping $80 price tag. Nintendo did ease this price point somewhat by bundling the game with consoles at a cheaper price, and while the backlash was loud, the Switch 2 became the fastest-selling console of all time, and sold over 10 million consoles in just four months (with 8.1 million of those being the Mario Kart bundle).
Speaking to The Game Business, former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé commented on the pricing of the console and its games. "I think the hardware was appropriately priced," Fils-Aimé says of the console's $450 price point. And while the price of games was the main part of the controversy, he adds: "I think it was very smart of them to launch the bundle with Mario Kart and offering that at a significant value. I think that took the edge off of some of the complaints around the standalone price for Mario Kart."
Fils-Aimé adds that "moving forward, really the challenge is going to be how they keep a pace of great software coming that is going to keep that audience engaged and get that next customer who's thinking about the hardware, thinking about whether it makes sense, getting that person into the ecosystem, that has to be what they're thinking about."
