Everyone loves a good sale, and gamers are no exception. Some may prefer to hold off on the latest release, despite being highly interested in the title, to wait for a price drop. After all, video games are an expensive hobby, and if a player is interested in a good number of new games each year, that total cost can add up. The Nintendo Switch platform has proven to be a big hit with players around the world, with many of its most iconic games being from Nintendo's first party lineup.
The console launched with the critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and has since had other follow up hits like Super Mario Odyssey and Splatoon 2. All three of these titles received rave reviews, and have proven to be among the most desired games on the platform. Another thing these three titles have in common is that they all came out in 2017, the same year the Nintendo Switch launched. This is important to note, because it makes these games four years old, and all of them have rarely (if ever) been discounted at a cheaper price.
Business is Business
First and foremost, its important to elaborate on when and why video games go on sale to begin with. Each year has a laundry list of big releases, all hitting store shelves at full price from the get go. The AAA titles like God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Marvel's Spider-Man were all incredibly expensive productions, so the developers will charge full price in order to guarantee making back these production costs. A full price game may be expensive, but from the perspective of the studio and how much it invested on its end, it makes sense and is fair.
All of these aformentioned games eventually recuperated productions costs and have since gone on discount, receiving permanent price cuts. God of War in particular, after selling millions of copies and winning Game of the Year, can often be found for a price tag between 10 and 20 dollars and most retailers nowadays. This is because, on the publisher's end, the title has hit enough of a milestone, made back its money and stopped selling at a frantic pace, so it can afford to sell it at such a reduced cost.
It no longer makes sense at this point for a publisher to continue to ask full price of a game that has slowed down momentum. This doesn't mean that the game is a failure, its just that it has reached enough buyers from the get go. Its at this time that aformentioned buyers who wait for those deep discounts can finally jump in, usually taking advantage of those year end Black Friday deals.
Taking Advantage of Evergreen Titles
Bearing all that in mind, the question remains why Nintendo doesn't follow the same example as often as its competitors. Games like Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are just as popular as God of War, yet seem to never go down in price, despite being available on the market for even longer. The simple reason is that these first party Nintendo games continue to sell at full price, years after the initial release. If Nintendo can maximize profits because a full priced game still manages to be a popular hit, make no mistake, as a company, it will continue to charge full price.
Price drops are predicated upon how well a game has done. Many titles hit their stride and can afford to go down in price after a while. Furthermore, this can be a strategy used by corportations to extend the shelf life of a product and try to squeeze some extra units out of it, attracting the buyers who may have been waiting for a lower price. Nintendo Switch games never reach this point, proving to always be a hot commodity for shoppers. As such, it wouldn't make sense for Nintendo to drop the price on games when it does not need to, as it can instead take full advantage of these evergreen Switch titles for as long as they continue to rake in the cash.