The 'Mario Kart World' Direct didn't justify the $80 price, but maybe it didn't need to?

On Thursday morning, Nintendo kicked off the post-hump day portion of the week with a juicy little Nintendo Direct livestream focused on Mario Kart World. It was nice to get some fun new details about the flagship launch title for Switch 2, but the Direct didn't really answer the biggest question on many gamers' minds: Why does Mario Kart World cost $80?

Compared to the standard video game price of $60 that held steady for about 15 years — and even considering the more recent bump to $70 with some big titles — the price is downright upsetting at first glance. When the $80 price was first revealed, gamers immediately raised questions. Ever since, Nintendo's party line has been to tell gamers just wait for the Direct. The implication being that once fans saw the game in action, they'd understand the price hike.

Now that the livestream is over, I don't feel Nintendo really revealed anything to explain it. (And I've actually played Mario Kart World.)

But after giving it some thought, and wanting so badly to scold Nintendo for nickel-and-diming customers, I realized that maybe the price doesn't even need to be justified. And with ongoing tariff chaos, Nintendo likely has bigger problems. You still can't pre-order the Switch 2 in the United States, after all.

Mario Kart World's price might not have anything to do with the game itself

Chargin' Chuck's inclusion might be driving up the price, honestly. Credit: Nintendo

In interviews with the media after the big Switch 2 Direct two weeks ago, Nintendo employees generally took the position that Mario Kart World's price makes sense because of how much content is in the game. Thursday's Mario Kart-centric Direct did shed some light on this, and to be sure, the game does seem to have a lot of cool new stuff.

It's got a giant open world full of hundreds of optional challenges to explore with friends. There are also dozens of unlockable costumes, loads of new tracks, a multitude of both local and online multiplayer modes, and even enhanced social features, like webcam support. It's clear that Mario Kart World is a massive game with dozens (or maybe even hundreds) of hours of enjoyment to be found. Strictly from that perspective, one can easily argue that it's worth $80 (Nintendo clearly thinks so), even if no one actually enjoys spending $80 on a video game.

But there's a lot more at play here. The big one: Video game prices have been flat for a long time, even as other tech products get more expensive. In general, prices go up over time. It sucks, and no one likes it, but that's life. You used to be able to get a week's worth of food at Taco Bell for $20, and now you can't. It's actually a strange aberration that game companies maintained a $60 price tag for so long.

I'd argue that gamers have been getting a good deal on big-budget games for the last decade. That's even easier to argue when you look at how much it costs to make a big video game in the 4K era.

Unfortunately, game companies are far less forthcoming about budgets than film studios, so the best information we have comes from data breaches. One such breach in 2023 revealed that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 for PS5 cost $300 million to develop. It also takes a lot longer to make blockbuster games than it used to, which adds to labor costs.

My face when thinking about real-world economics. Credit: Nintendo

It's also worth pointing out that PlayStation (among many other video game companies) has done layoffs at its internal studios since that leak came out. While Nintendo cut contractor positions from its testing department last year, the company does not have an extensive history of doing mass layoffs for full-time employees. Much of this is undoubtedly due to friendlier employee rights in Japan compared to the U.S., but it should be noted that Nintendo has, in the past, actively worked against doing layoffs.

For example, former CEO Satoru Iwata once cut his salary in half to make sure jobs wouldn't be lost. And if the cost of treating employees fairly is slightly pricier video games for the Switch 2, I'm okay with that.

Mario Kart World's $80 price may be a harbinger of things to come...

I've gone to great lengths to explain why Mario Kart World probably costs as much as it does, but that doesn't make the hit to your wallet any less impactful. That's a lot of money to plunk down on a luxury good like a video game, especially in stressful economic times. Fans may also wonder why this game, and only this game, costs so much, especially as some families struggle to afford basics like groceries and rent.

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That's where the final and most maddening real-world factor comes into play: your wages. In the U.S., wages have not kept up with inflation or productivity at all over the past several decades. In 2022, the Economic Policy Institute found that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour was worth less than it had been at any point in nearly 70 years. The EPI also found in 2015 that hourly worker productivity had risen by 74 percent in the prior 40 years, while wages for hourly workers had risen by only 9 percent in that same timeframe. Contrast that to the 30 years following World War II, when wages and productivity rose at a nearly 1:1 level.

In short, stuff costs more, but you're not necessarily getting paid more.

That's a political problem more than anything, and any potential solutions to it are well above my pay grade. But over the last two weeks, I've gone from thinking that $80 for Mario Kart World is unreasonable to reluctant acceptance.

You're allowed to be annoyed at a video game costing $80 (I still am), but it's likely not the last game we'll see priced at this level. And in deciding if the price is justified, Switch gamers will ultimately vote with their wallets.

This story is an opinion piece and doesn't necessarily reflect the views of Mashable or its publisher, Ziff Davis.

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