Nintendo has announced that the price of its physical-edition Switch 2 exclusives in North America will be higher at retail. The new pricing structure will impact Nintendo-published titles and kicks off in May with the release of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which will cost $69.99 USD at retail, while the digital price remains $59.99.
“Beginning in May 2026, with preorders for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, new Nintendo-published digital titles exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 will have an MSRP that differs from that of physical versions,” an official notice reads.
“Nintendo 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, offering players more choice in how they buy and play Nintendo games.
As always, retail partners set their own prices for physical and digital games, and pricing for each title may vary.”
The wording of “Nintendo published” games means this may impact not only the company’s in-house first-party games but also Switch 2 exclusives that Nintendo and third-party studios collaborated on, including Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment and the recent hit Pokémon Pokopia. While a price hike on new games won’t hit those games (for now), if another Pokopia hits the Switch 2 in the future, it will be a bit more costly, which might make Switch 2 owners want to pick up the game digitally to save money.
Its shareholders asked Nintendo last month whether it plans to increase the cost of Switch 2 hardware amid the current RAM crisis facing multiple electronics industries, according to Polygon. The price increase on Switch 2 exclusives might be the company’s way of getting a bit more from the Switch 2’s current audience while pushing the idea of a hardware cost increase for new customers to the side, at least for now.
