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Nintendo boss Doug Bowser explains the $80 price for ‘Mario Kart World’ - The Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com)

submitted 5 days ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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https://web.archive.org/web/20250407134209/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/video-games/2025/04/07/mario-kart-world-price-nintendo-doug-bowser/

“What you see right there is variable pricing,” Bowser told The Washington Post. “We’ll look at each game, really look at the development that’s gone into the game, the breadth and depth of the gameplay, if you will, the durability over time and the repeatability of gameplay experiences.

AKA corporate greed.

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[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 23 points 5 days ago

Video games were $50 20-30 years ago. Development costs are way higher now and they take longer. With inflation, let alone longer development, you’d expect a more expensive product.

I mean, even with current prices, look at all the studios that went under

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 11 points 5 days ago

Given modern platforms and tooling, development should be cheaper and faster than ever. You have a huge talent pool, you can cobble together something in Unreal or other Switch-compatible engine, and run automated builds and tests before shipping right to the online store.

[-] Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

That's called an asset flip, and they are rightfully mocked.

[-] magic_smoke 6 points 5 days ago

Using a pre-built engine/modern toolset and not doing anything yourself are two different animals.

No one has to painstakingly write their games out in assembler like they used too. Nor do they have to pay for the costs of manufacturing/logistics for digital copies.

Also keep in mind, their sales are way higher than they where 30 years ago because of market growth.

There's a reason indie games are flourishing, its because games are cheaper and easier to make than ever. (Not that their cheap nor easy)