Nintendo made an unprecedented move Wednesday by changing up its pricing scheme for its digital and physical Switch 2 games. Starting in May, it's going to cost more to buy a physical game instead of a digital copy, and the current memory shortage could be the culprit.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, set to release on May 21, will be the first Nintendo Switch 2 game that will have two separate MSRPs, Nintendo said in a statement on Wednesday. The digital version will cost $60 while the physical copy will retail for $70 at Nintendo's online store, and Switch 2 exclusive games that follow will have a similar pricing scheme to the digital format, costing less than the physical.
Nintendo did not give a reason as to why the prices will be different. It did say that its games "offer the same experiences whether in packaged or digital format, and this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format and offers players more choice in how they can buy and play Nintendo games."
It's unclear how retailers will respond to this change. Nintendo says retailers can set the prices as they see fit for either version.
Which Switch 2 game will have the new pricing scheme?
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will be out on May 21.
What will be the price difference between physical and digital?
As of right now, physical copies will cost $10 more. It's unclear whether this will be the same across the board for different games, but it will be the norm for Nintendo's Switch 2 exclusive games.
Why did Nintendo make this change?
The most likely reason is that the storage for the games themselves was costing Nintendo too much money. In its statement, Nintendo says the change "reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format." Nintendo already broke pricing norms for games with Mario Kart World and its retail price of $80, the highest price for a new game.
In the case of Switch 2 games, since the newer console is more powerful and can produce better visuals, that means the Switch cartridges require more storage. Switch 1 games ranged from 2GB to 32GB, while Switch 2 games can start as low as 4GB, but they have double the file size of the older Switch games, with Split Fiction taking up 73GB. Cartridges with large storage sizes are more expensive to produce, especially during the current global shortage of memory happening across the globe. It would that Nintendo wants to pass along those extra production costs to gamers as it did with Mario Kart World.
What will retailers do about the Switch 2 game price change?
Retailers were arguably the biggest reason publishers like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo didn't price their digital versions of games lower than the physical copies. It's been rumored that when the Big Three game companies began offering digital sales of games via their respective platforms, it was retailers who advised that if digital copies undercut physical versions, they would stop stocking those physical versions on store shelves. This rumor hasn't been verified, but over the year, it does appear that there is an agreement to keep both versions of a game at the same price regardless of its physical or digital format.
The thing is, digital sales of games have been increasing over the years while physical sales have dropped tremendously. In January 2025, Matt Piscatella, senior director and video game industry advisor at Circana, posted on Blue Sky that sales of physical games media have dropped by more than 50% since 2021 and more than 85% since its peak in 2008. Part of that reason is how retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy and Amazon also sell digital codes for a game, which gives consumers more outlets to purchase from.
As retail stores are allowing less space for physical media, it's likely that they will not oppose this change by Nintendo. If there is one store that could feel the effects the most, it would be GameStop and other video games-focused retailers, but it's not doom and gloom for them. While most of the gaming public will continue to purchase digital versions of games, especially when prices are lower, a growing number of game collectors have shown a willingness to pay a premium for physical copies. There's also a push by some gamers to avoid digital media out of fear that publishers could turn off servers, making digital copies obsolete.
What will other game publishers do about the Switch 2 game price change?
Publishers of Switch 2 games, such as EA, Ubisoft and Bandai Namco will be the ones who have the toughest decision on this matter of pricing. Lowering the price of digital versions of their games is an immediate revenue hit for them, especially since many of the games they publish and develop have large budgets surpassing those of many Nintendo games. If they don't change the pricing for games across the board, these publishers might make changes to their midrange titles, where it would be an easier pill to swallow.
It's also unlikely that Sony and Microsoft will follow suit, as both have been adjusting their plans to deal with the current downward trend in gaming.
