![[Update] Nintendo Published Switch 2 Games to Have Separate Physical and Digital Prices Starting in May](/articles_media/images/nintendo-published-switch-2-games-to-have-separate-physical-and-digital-prices-starting-in-may-874516_expanded.jpg)
[Update] Nintendo Published Switch 2 Games to Have Separate Physical and Digital Prices Starting in May - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 25 March 2026 / 8,536 Views
Update:
In a statement sent to IGN, Nintendo said "the cost of physical games is not going up."
Nintendo continued, "This means that when Nintendo sells digital versions of Nintendo published games exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 to consumers in the U.S., those prices will have an MSRP that is lower than their physical counterparts.
"Retail partners set their own prices for physical and digital games, and pricing for each title may vary."
Original article:
Nintendo has announced that starting in May Nintendo published Switch 2 games will have different manufacturer's suggested retail price between physical and digital versions.
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which releases May 21 for the Switch 2, will be priced at $59.99 for the digital edition and $69.99 for the physical edition.
"Beginning in May 2026, and starting with preorders for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, new Nintendo published digital titles exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 will have an MSRP that is different from physical versions," reads the statement from Nintendo.
"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 and offers players more choice in how they can 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."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Finally! That was literally the entire promise of digital games. Being cheaper than physical.
Imagine if they UP the price hahaha
But seriously, what mixture of simply boosting sales, offsetting the hight price of cards, pushing people towards digital, benevolence and whatnot is at play here?
Maybe the cards were pricier to manufacture than they wanted to (with respect to the desired MSRP) and simply upped the digital prices just because and now are reverting that for any of the reasons above?
It actually does look like physical prices are going up, and not digital going down.
We don’t know that yet. Nintendo has given nothing more than a vague statement and a $60USD digital copy of Yoshi— it is still 100% within the realm of liklihood that we see $60/$70USD split. Nintendo has silently been dropping prices recently.
Any examples? Just curious.
I have a bigger post down there, but for now the very game used to announce that change in the US appears to have been priced higher phisically in the US compared to how it is compared to other games like Donkey Kong in the EU.
Here are a few examples:
// Nintendo has lowered the price of several recently and upcoming releasing Amiibo (e.g. Kirby & Meta Knight from the KARs set, and Mario & Rosalina for the SMGalaxy set),
// NS2 Editions are no longer unanimously $20USD but have frequently hit as low as $5USD (Animal Crossing, Xenoblade X),
// Yoshi being $60USD instead of $70USD. No $70USD version of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.
While hardware has definitely been moving, I do believe Nintendo has been humbled a bit with Amiibo and software sales. I mean, I literally was able to snag some Zelda amiibo at clearence from GS back in December for $4USD a pop.
Nintendo clarified physical prices are not going up as a part of this change:
https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-switch-2-physical-games-will-now-be-more-expensive-than-digital-versions-with-10-price-difference-for-yoshi-and-the-mysterious-book
To be fair, we don't know if this is true because this was the first announcement of the prices of this game, right?
They might have already been considering releasing it at $60 but decided to up the price to $70 then claimed they aren't raising the price to cover additional costs of physical. Or they could have $70 but lowered the digital to $60 to encourage those sales (as they give Nintendo more revenue overall right?).
They aren't exactly going to admit "We are charging more for physical." outright.
Agreed, there is some possibilities out there.
It is already a fact Yoshi is physically cheaper in the EU than the release price of Donkey Kong, while both are $70 in the US.
Digital price parity between dollar and euros is still unchanged, both are 60, so digital did not get cheaper in comparison to other regions like the EU either.
Didn't see anything pointing to that? what convinced you that was the case?
I've explained it above. And also other posts, but not all up there.
But I'll try to explain again.
Before this announcement.
Donkey Kong (and other $70 games in the US).
Prices (Digital/Physical)
EU: 70/80
US: 70/70
Price parity between dollar and euro was the digital price, physical was lower in the US dollar compared to EU euro.
After Yoshi a split was announced for the US, so for there to be a difference between digital and physical, either digital needs to go down or physical go up.
Let's analyse the possible scenarios.
In the old model before the split, would Yoshi be a $60 or a $70 game?
If it was a $60 game, physical went up to $70.
If it was a $70 game, digital went down to $60.
Let's compare it to EU then so we have a base of comparison.
After the announced change.
Yoshi .
Prices (Digital/Physical)
EU: 60/70
US: 60/70
As we saw above with Donkey Kong, price parity between US and EU was the digital price.
That price parity is still the same, so the digital price did not go down compared to EU.
Meanwhile physical was lower in the US compared to the EU, and now it also has price parity, so physical went up.
And that becomes more evident when then comparing both games.
In EU a physical copy of Yoshi is cheaper than one for Donkey Kong.
In US a physical copy of Yoshi costs the same as Donkey Kong.
The comparison also worked before if going up, where in the US Mario Kart is 80/80 and in the EU it's 80/90. Price parity in digital price, US physical is lower in dollars than EU physical is in euros.
So it leads to the conclusion that Yoshi would be a 60/60 game in the US, digital and physical, but it announced to be 60/70, so physical is 10 up.
It is not a guarantee that other games will follow that, but this is the game they used to announce the split.
I just saw this, this makes sense, except for the part that no S2 game has been $60, the standard price was $70. I'm not convinced yet.
An standard $70 game in the US, before the split. was 70/80 in the EU, Yoshi is a 60/70 in the EU, so it's not an standard $70 game, as no change was announced for the EU pricing, and it's cheaper there than Donkey Kong was on launch, a $70 game, as explained above.
Makes sense, but then Splatoon Raiders is 50/60 in both, we haven't seen this pricing for S2 before iirc, at least on the US. I think we can clear this when Fortune's Weave releases as we can agree that under the previous pricing it would've been $70 in the US.
Well, Fire Emblem is confirmed to be $80 physical.
https://www.ign.com/articles/fire-emblem-fortunes-weave-sets-standard-physical-price-at-80
We're talking about Nintendo here. There is absolutely no chance that benevolence played any role in the decision.
Dang... Nintendo coming in with an unexpected pro-consumer W
I'll probably still buy my Nintendo games physically but this is great for the digital crowd
You are really naive. Nintendo its a corporation and they have investors, they care about the money first and foremost, and this move of "decreasing" the price of digitals are only to push them harder in front in detriment of physical.
If we see a $80 Digital & $90 Physical Mario or Zelda, then I will stand corrected
But I don't see that happening at this time
I think Nintendo is doing this as MKW has taken a nose dive in sales since the bundle stopped
I expect to see $60-70 Digital & $70-80 Physical as the standard going forward
It looks like physical is going up, not digital going down.
I have no issue with this if it provides a proper physical release and not a e-Waste Game Key Card.
70 bucks for a Yoshi game...lol
What should the price of a Yoshi game exactly? You seem to imply that because it is a Yoshi game it cannot be priced like any other game…
If you need to ask why a 2D Yoshi game shouldnt be the same price as games like Donkey Kong Bananza, then I cant help you. You enjoy.
Oh I definitely enjoy a good Yoshi game :) Don't worry!
I do not need any help to believe that the price of a game should be based on content/quality/production value not if it is a 2D versus a 3D game but thank you!
The profit margin with digital games should still be a lot higher than with physical, even if digital is 10$ cheaper. Especially for first party games.
Very true. But they're not in it for charity, nor are their competitors.
They've done this in UK/EU since launch.
Actually it seems like physical is going up, not digital going down.
Looking at European stores Yoshi is cheaper than other Nintendo releases, at 60 euros digital and 70 physical.
Donkey Kong Bananza for example were 70 digital and 80 physical.
Meanwhile Donkey Kong is $70 in the US, digital and physical, so Yoshi is not in price parity with Donkey Kong, as it costs the same $70 physical but $60 digital.
Which means Yoshi is a $60 game being boosted to $70 phisically.
As it matches Donkey Kong physical price in the US, but it does not in EU, where it is cheaper considering release prices.
Most Nintendo games should be going to be $80 in the US for now on, with the Mario Kart like games being $90. Physical might have just became $10 more expensive from now on.
You are aware that Nintendo has always charged more for physical versus digital in EU, correct? As far as NS2 is concerned.
Nintendo’s current statement is a tad bit vague admittedly, though Yoshi being $60USD digitally does sound to me like Nintendo is signaling at a $60/$70USD split. Though only time will tell— I really do not see Nintendo having an interest in selling even more games at a higher cost so early in the gen.
The point is not that the dolar price is lower than the euro.
The thing is, Yoshi is cheaper than DK physically in Europe, but is now the same price in the US, physically.
EU to EU, US to US.
Yoshi should be $60/$60 in the US, so it would be cheaper physically than Donkey Kong, like it is in the EU.
But it costs the same as Donkey Kong in the US physically, so the price went up.
Yes, I see what you are saying, but my point is this: The reason why Yoshi is cheaper may or may not be a result of Yoshi being the exceptional instance of $60/$70 split. It could be, for instance, that only newly released games will receive this price revision moving forward. It could also be that Nintendo simply hasn’t updated the pricing for DKBananza and such, especially since they specifically stated that these changes wouldn’t be taking effect until May.
Yeah, you'll need to wait to see more game prices, but the PR statement not immediatly calling it a price reduction for digital made me suspicious, and comparing the price difference of that game in Europe has led me to believe this is indeed a physical price increase.
I don't think that's gonna be the case given that Nintendo just made a clarification. I'll go ahead and quote it, and then cite where that came from.
"The cost of physical games is not going up.
"This means that when Nintendo sells digital versions of Nintendo published games exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 to consumers in the U.S., those prices will have an MSRP that is lower than their physical counterparts.
"Retail partners set their own prices for physical and digital games, and pricing for each title may vary."
Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-switch-2-physical-games-will-now-be-more-expensive-than-digital-versions-with-10-price-difference-for-yoshi-and-the-mysterious-book
I still don't see how is Yoshi the same price as Donkey Kong physically in the US when it's cheaper in Europe.
If the price is not going up why is this game also not cheaper physically than Donkey Kong around there as well?
Maybe they mean that existing games will not go up, because technically we can't say a price went up when it never had a lower price announced before.
But if we see more games were it costs the same in dollars as it does in euros, when they were all cheaper in dollars before this very announcement, then it's definitely up, even if not up from an once announced lower price.
Also, thanks for the source, definitely helpful.
My guess is that Nintendo won't start rolling out the price change until Yoshi releases. That or they won't be lowering the price of previously released games. Also, might be a good idea to delete some of your comments... just to help others not become confused.
Nope, I still don't see it settled the other way around, this game costs as much in dollars as it does in euros digitally in their store, just like all (or at least most) other Nintendo games. So to that end there was no change, while the change we can already see is physical being higher than digitally.
I can't say the price is lower digitally by that comparison, it is only lower compared to the physical price (as stated it would by Nintendo).
Again, if we see physical games in dolars priced the same as in euros as it not was not the case before, and $80 becomes the common price point where it was $70 before save very few exceptions like Mario Kart World, I don't think there is any confusion to be had here, by what I'm comparing.
Maybe the part of games possibly hitting $90 as that supposition would conflict directly with prices not going up, and it hopefully will not be the case.
I'd be inclined to agree given this one example so far. Yoshi looks like it would be a $60/$60 game they've change to $70/$60 rather than a $70/$70 game they changed to $70 /$60.
Let's see what happens when they release a top tier game like a Mario or Zelda though.
I just read Yoshi is cheaper in Japan as well, so it having the same price physical as Donkey Kong (just the $70/$70 example I choose) just in the US after this change actually means it's pricer physically there than around the world, in comparison to other regions.
It may be an isolated case but once again that's the game they choose to announce the change so...
Absolutely the right call for Nintendo to make. Unlike Sony and Microsoft (and def unlike PC, where physical media doesn't even exist for games), Nintendo is on cartridges. And the flash storage chips inside those cartridges are really no different than others that go into SD cards, SSDs, and many other things - they are all manufactured at the same facilities by the same core group of 5 companies or so. Which means, those Switch 1 and 2 cartridges probably cost Nintendo like twice as much, or even more, than they did just 9 months ago with the big AI boom going on.
Knowing the price of the cartridges means even that digital price seems steep.
Am I the only one who thought they already did that? Anyways it's not something I'm against but the difference is so small it feels more like a physical tax than a digital discount if that makes sense. I also kinda wish physical games could at least come with a manual or something if it's officially the more premium option going forward.
Yeah I'm reading this article and all the comments and I'm like uhh did someone change history and I still have the memory from the original timeline??
This $10 price difference for physical/digital has been standard since the Switch 2 launched, which is why the games have always quoted at 80/70 or 70/60 prices. Unless they dropped it at some point in the past few months unbeknownst to me and now they are just reimplementing it. If so, that's effed up haha, have people been paying physical price for digital S2 games recently?! Anti-consumer Nintendo strikes again! But seems like everyone on this site is acting like this is some new great thing Nintendo is doing haha, rather than they are just going back to the original pricing that I guess maybe they must've increased sometime recently and are now quickly backtracking on.
This means 2 things
a) They want to keep their first party games in cards instead of Game Key, so to stop having smaller profits margins they will now ask mor money for physical games which is... fair I guess
b) Their strategy for expensive SSD cards was quite dumb, they should have simply went to Game Install Card like PS5 does
Wow +2 to Nintendo, first the NS2 boost update and now this. It's almost as if...... No it cannot be..... are they listening to consumers????
Digital price $60. Physical price $70. Second hand physical price $40.
Fixed it for you…
This is fair. Nintendo obviously makes more on digital sales. Physical copies mostly appeal to collectors.
Physical better not be going up. 3D Mario and 3D Zelda better not be $80 digital with a $90 physical copy.
digital should be on average 15-20% the physical price. This $10 difference only amounts to 12.5%
I still have no problem buying physical copies, glad to see at least one company doing what digital games should have been doing from day one.
Sucks hard.
