Eurogamer have investigated why Rime on Nintendo Switch costs £10 more than it does on PS4 and Xbox One. It’s quite obvious really, Switch games come on cartridges whilst Xbox and PS4 games ship on discs, which are much easier and cheaper to manufacture.
“We cannot enter in any specifics, but we can assure you Rime’s price is based on the costs of development and costs of manufacturing for each specific platform,” explained publisher Tequila Works in a statement.
Eurogamer say they have also heard that the cost of manufacture increases with the size of the card, again that seems very plausible, a 1gb USB memory stick is cheaper than a 32gb stick. However, some have speculated that this may lead to multi-platform Switch games having content cut so they fit on cheaper cartridge.
It has also been suggested digital versions of Switch games will retail at the same price as their physical counterpart to keep the bricks and mortar stores like GAME onside. That would mean the digital copy of Rime on Switch costs £10 more purely due to the costs of manufacturing an nonexistent cartridge.
This may also lead to some publishers skipping a physical version of Switch games altogether, so they can keep the cost of a game in line with our consoles. Sumo Digital’s Snake Pass will cost £15.99 on all platforms but there will be no physical release on Switch.
“Snake Pass is digital only,” Sumo COO Paul Porter told Eurogamer, “and we have no issue keeping the price the same across all platforms digitally. Indeed, it was important to us that people wouldn’t be penalised by which platform they decided to purchase.”
We should point that this is in no way a criticism of Tequila Works, it appears that they have to comply with the rules laid out by Nintendo.
Source: Eurogamer
JR.
I wonder if this will receive the same level of scrutiny as Sony’s costly proprietary memory cards for the Vita. Or will Free-pass-Nintendo dodge another bullet?
colmshan1990
You can’t avoid this cost.
This isn’t a proprietary memory card, it’s the only physical media current available to hold the games and be secure.
Blu ray discs are a bit too wide across to fit into a portable device as small as the Switch
JR.
I just think they should have designed the Switch to be a little bit wider to accommodate Blu-ray Disc size issues and save gamers money.
Only joking :D
You make a valid point Colmshan of the 90’s.
ron_mcphatty
What we need is more Minidiscs! The PSP got it spot on, since the mid ninteties the whirring and grinding sounds of an optical drive have been a joyous staple of gaming, taking that noise to a library and irritating middle-aged women is one of the only pleasures left in our cruel world.
ron_mcphatty
On a serious note, seems like a fair reason, as long as the prices drop once the manufacturing costs drop.
Tony Cawley
I can see this being a serious bone of contention for many gamers.
If I’ve got 2 systems and am looking to buy a game which is available for both, I’ll almost certainly go for the cheaper option.
colmshan1990
The portable version is always the winner for me.
No point saving €10 if I can’t access the game when I want to.
Pixel_nme
The trade off to that is the portable version is more often than not the inferior version with dumbed down graphics and missing features.
Avenger
Not inferior if you can play it anywhere, and with friends anywhere. Oh dear.
Pixel_nme
oh dear oh dear lol ;D
stonyk
I love my switch but let’s be honest, I’m only going to own A handful of games on it. Zelda and Mario. Already have Zelda (which cost me £40 at smyths) so not the end of the world.