Nintendo to Change Digital Pricing in May 2026

Published 3 weeks ago by

Nintendo has announced that in May 2026, starting at the same time as pre-orders for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, new Nintendo-published digital titles exclusive to the Switch 2 will use a different MSRP (Manufacturer-Suggested Retail Price) than physical versions of the same game, to accommodate for the differences in cost associated with the production and distribution of games in each format, and to provide more flexibility in choice with how consumers choose to buy the games.

Quote From Nintendo

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.

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.

The exact amount of price change we can expect has not been stated. We can only know for sure once the games are out with the change in place.

What do you think of the price changes? Let us know in the comments below.

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Comments

  • It’s about time… sort of.

    We all knew this had to eventually be a thing. Digital has effectively zero costs so it’s more profitable for companies to only do digital. As someone who likes physical games I don’t mind the price increase but it makes me wonder if this is the end oh physical games. Seeing a price difference more people may opt for that digital version now which if retail sales slide less companies will take the risk in mass distribution of a game.

    We’ve had companies that do smaller runs of physical games for games that were otherwise digital so maybe not all hope is lost, but if Pokopia is anything to go by, we might be losing the ability to have games on cards anyway going with just a key on them instead to cut costs.

    Might just be time to 3d print my games collection and stick some stickers on them so I have a nice shelf and embrace the move to digital. I don’t need to loan games out to people it’s a rare occurrence but it is fun when it happens.