Mario Kart World is the “Richest Mario Kart Experience Yet”, Says Nintendo Regarding $80 Price

After extensive feedback from players about the high price of Nintendo Switch 2 titles like the $80 Mario Kart World, Bill Trinen, Nintendo of America’s VP of product and player experience, said he believes the content justifies the price.

In an interview with IGN, Trinen said, “I would say it’s less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it’s more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value?

“Mario Kart World, I think especially as you see from the Nintendo Direct, not to give you any hints or anything, but I did read your article this morning, and I think you mentioned that you didn’t find a lot to discover when roaming around. So I would say tune into our Mario Kart Direct to see what. Maybe you’ll be able to find out about that.” The Direct is scheduled for April 17th, though you can view plenty of gameplay from Grand Prix mode here.

“But honestly,” Trinen continued, “This is a game that is so big and vast, and you will find so many little things in it to discover. And there’s still some other secrets remaining that I think as people end up buying and playing the game, they’re going to find this to be probably the richest Mario Kart experience they’ve ever had.”

The same logic applied to Switch 2 editions of titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, the former costing $69.99 while the latter is $79.99.

“Well, again, what I would say, is that we just look at each game, and we look at the content and the value of that game, and then we say, ‘What is the right price for the value of this entertainment?’

“What I would probably counter to some of that is that really what you’re looking at is for the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, that’s the physical price for somebody that has not bought the base game. For somebody who has bought Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the Wild, the upgrade packs for those are $9.99.

“And if you happen to be a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack member, both Zelda upgrade packs are inclusive within that membership. So there’s no additional charge for those.” It’s worth noting that NSO + Expansion Pack costs $49.99 yearly, but at least you get some other notable features, like access to GameCube Classics.

“I think overall, our general approach is really just focus on what’s the content, what’s the value, and what’s an appropriate price based on that,” Trinen concluded.

The Nintendo Switch 2 launches on June 5th worldwide for $449.99, though a region-locked version is available exclusively in Japan for cheaper. Pre-orders have been delayed following recent US tariffs, but there’s no change to the release date. Nintendo has yet to indicate whether its price will increase or not.