‘If it’s the only place to play Mario, you buy it’: Former PlayStation boss reacts to $80 Nintendo games

Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has said that Nintendo’s first-party IP is strong enough to mitigate the “sticker shock” of $80 games.

Layden, who was chairman of the company’s worldwide studios group when he left Sony in 2019, recently appeared on the PlayerDriven podcast to discuss, among other topics, the Nintendo Switch 2.

Layden, who has been outspoken previously about the troubles the games industry has faced while trying to balance production costs with the player expectation of games pricing, shared his thoughts on Nintendo‘s decision to price Nintendo Switch 2 games above $70

“They poked through the ceiling of price elasticity, where we thought none existed before,” Layden said.

“Recently it went to 70, and people went crazy, I think Nintendo’s pulling the bandaid right off and saying ‘looks like it’s $80 for a frontline game on the new platform.”

Layden also discussed how Nintendo leverages its IP to negate some of the negative reactions to the increase in price.

“But right here you see, ‘wow, that’s kind of a hefty price hike from Switch 1 to Switch 2 wow, $80 for a game?’ ” Layden continued.

“If it’s the only place you can play Mario, then you get your wallet out and you buy into it.

“That first-party exclusivity kind of mitigates the sticker shock, if you will, of these price hikes, because you want the content so bad.”

So far, Nintendo has confirmed the price of three games for the system, with launch game Mario Kart World costing $80, Donkey Kong Bananza costing $70, and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour costing $10.

Nintendo revealed more information about the Nintendo Switch 2 last week. 

The system was announced to cost $450 in the United States, with a Mario Kart World bundle set to cost $500. This has been thrown into question somewhat after Nintendo announced it would delay pre-orders for the system due to the economic turmoil of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

In the UK, the system will cost £395.99, with the Mario Kart World bundle costing £429.99. In Europe, the system will cost €469.99, with the Mario Kart World bundle costing €509.99. In Canada, the system will cost $629.99, with the Mario Kart World bundle costing $699.99.