Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime transcended the common “faceless suit” trope. the face Nintendo's for many years for millions of North Americans, myself included. I can't think about his reign without imagining the man himself, whether it was his hilarious feud with Geoff Keighley or the nascent Nintendo Directs he was still around to help spearhead.
On Friday, Fils-Aime gave a lecture at New York University. The hour-long discussion covered a wide swath of topics, but focused on specific segments — including his take on some of Nintendo's infamous approach to pricing.
Kyoto Craftsmanship and a Changing World
Fils-Aime began this part of the lecture with a fascinating comparison to the historically poignant Japanese city of Kyoto. Home to the Emperor's palace for many centuries, Kyoto has a reputation about it that I urge any tourist to Japan to fully explore; You will see what I mean.
As part of that reputation, the city is also famous for its craftsmanship. “The linen, the china, the dishes,” Fils-Aime mentioned, are all of incredible quality. And indeed, they always have been. He compares Nintendo to this, especially in the modern era, calling out a large number of games that launch with an update on the big day to make them “feature-full”. Nintendo, he admits, does this sometimes; But by and large, it's “philosophically” the opposite, he says.
This is where things change in pricing:
“That's where, sometimes, customers push back. We don't discount our games. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has never had a price discount since the day it launched. Never had a discount. Sometimes, retailers might decide to do something, but the company has never discounted. And that's part of the process. We're going to ship it, we're going to ship it, we're going to make it great, we can. We're going to charge a fair price, and that price is never going to change.”
With that being said, he quickly changed tack slightly, realizing that the times had changed. “Flexibility,” Fils-Aime notes, can go a long way:
“I say this with a lot of passion… I think, modern times, you have to start thinking about things differently. […] I think there's a thoughtfulness that needs to be in the market, where you need to think about what you're offering, think about what that's a fair price for, and go from there. As opposed to looking at a particular price point.”
Now, it hits me. Note that he didn't tell Nintendo discount Its games, but rather, it (and other companies) should be more reprehensible About finding the right point for each game. It tracks the Big N's own movements in the post-reggae landscape pretty well, especially now, with more price differences between individual Nintendo Switch 2 games. To an extent, this has always been the case, but we're really seeing a huge swing from low to high for personal software.
Of course, not everyone is willing to shell out $79.99 USD for Mario Kart World. And why would we? Still, Donkey Kong Banana is $69.99. The upcoming Splatoon Raiders is $49.99. A port like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will also be $49.99, while something smaller like Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is $39.99. We balk at MKW, but Nintendo is at least demonstrating that it's willing to cast a wide range, and I agree with Fils-Aime that it's an attractive approach, especially today.
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