I own a Nintendo Switch. I deeply Enjoy my Nintendo Switch. I am not, however, thrilled to discover that I am paying more games for my Nintendo Switch than folks playing on other platforms are.
From Ars Technica:
The folks over at Switch blog Switcher decided to quantify how much that “Switch tax” costs while building their own database of Switch games. Their analysis found that, of 471 games being sold on both Steam and Switch, the downloadable Switch versions cost just over 10 percent more on average.
That average obscures a wide range of price discrepancies, of course, including some that end up in the Switch’s favor. In fact, a majority of titles listed on both platforms (55.8 percent) sell for the exact same price on both, and an additional 8.9 percent are cheaper on Nintendo’s eShop.That said, the price discrepancy for the remainder of the Switch’s PC ports can be quite large. Payday 2, for example, costs $50 on the Switch compared to just $10 on Steam. The 2016 Doom reboot runs $60 on Switch and $20 on Steam. Steam’s frequent sales can exacerbate the differences, too: De Blob is currently $30 on Switch but just $6.59 on Steam—down from a PC list price of $20.
Not cool.
One theory, based on the data that Switcher came up with, is that the games cost more on Switch because, while they’re old news on other platforms, they’re still fresh to the console. As time goes on, Ars Technica’s thinking is that the Switch port of the games will drop down in price. I suppose it makes sense: If you’re throwing the time and resources at spinning an existing intellectual property off to work on a new platform, you’d want there to be a worthwhile return on the venture. As much as I love the idea of being able to pick up Doom for my Nintendo Switch for $20, the title’s developers have a good reason to wring a few more drops of blood out of this game playing stone.
Image via Wikipedia Commons
