I’m an old curmudgeon, and I remember (my parents) paying ~$50 for SNES back in the early-to-mid ‘90s; so I’m not exactly shocked that Nintendo have lifted their sell-price.

Compared to back then; gaming is still somewhat more affordable, which definitely feels counter-intuitive - I know!

Japan has for the first time since 1991 had >2% annual inflation for 3 straight years, definitively ending their 2+ decade of stagflation. Developer wages are going up, and games take longer to develop - those costs need to be covered. I am in support of paying a fair market price if (and only if), that increase goes to the labour, and not shareholder profits.

Seeing as the Executive team at Nintendo opted to take a salary-cut, rather than lay off staff, following the failure of the WiiU — they have exactly one credit from me, for the benefit of the doubt.

But that is where my good graces end; other developers are going to take this as the green light to further increase prices on their own (unfinished, rushed, micropayment-laden) titles, across the industry. Heck, there are rumblings that the base version of GTA6 may be $100USD!