I played the demo of Splatoon and really enjoyed it so I searched around on the interwebs to buy the game. I found that the European version is a lot cheaper. Why? The Europeans also had a chance to get a 10% discount if they bought the online version after playing the demo. The U.S. got a shitty character skin that was only available to use during the demo. I haven't found any discounts for the U.S. version and it cost the full $60.

Why does Nintendo hate the U.S.?

They know suckers when they see it. I think the game looks cool, but no way in hell its worth $60. On steam this is either free or $10-$20.

Also forgot the awesome dolls you will have to buy to get content that is locked.So really looking at around $100 when its all said and done. But no one will mention anything like that, 9 out 10 must buy for Wii u owners.

It's $69.99 in Canada, like every other game.

Some games -- like Star Wars Battlefront -- are listed as $79.99.

So... enjoy your $59.99 version. Us Canadians will suffer with our awful dollar and our game price woes.

Uh... so from my understanding, practically every game is cheaper in the US than in other places. We also get pretty consistent pricing - almost every new, on-disc game is $60 here. We don't have all that much room to complain about game prices.

Americans have it a lot better off than most other countries

so now you know what it feels like to buy ANY game in Europe

It's super baffling that this game, and Captain Toad, and Codename S.T.E.A.M., are all full price games. Nintendo needs to figure out their pricing game.

Codename S.T.E.A.M. is cool and all, but it's like Valkyria Chronicles Lite, with much simpler RPG customization and much simpler cutscenes. Cannot fathom why it was a full price 3DS game instead of like $25-$30.

Captain Toad really should've either been full-on download-only (like the Lemmings-esque Mario vs. DK series), and/or and be ~$30. Here in Canada Captain Toad is $45, and I assume $40 in the U.S.?

Splatoon is already a hard sell because all of the 10-year-olds wanna look like tough guys in front of their friends and get Call of Duty, and while Splatoon is a fun game by the looks of it, again, I think the content present (no setpiece-laden single player campaign, mostly just multiplayer) only justifies about a $30 (or maybe $40) game.

@smeffw: You can get the 10% discount in the US, I saw it advertised on my Wii U

Every time I see someone talk about this game I continue to not get it. I assume it only gets attention because of the massive WiiU game drought.

@bisonhero: Uhhh, it has a singleplayer campaign

@bluefalcon: Did you play the demo at all? I had no interest until I played that, and now I am really interested in it.

@bluefalcon: I did say "no setpiece-laden campaign". The singleplayer campaign is there, but I don't think it's the draw in the way that the singleplayer campaign in Advanced Warfare or Black Ops might be. They debuted Splatoon with multiplayer footage, and the vast majority of their marketing focus has been multiplayer, and most people will buy it for the multiplayer.

@smeffw: As with all products released across borders prices generally have to do with licensing, tariffs and the market they are selling to. It's why Netflix can only serve certain content to each country and why they have to pay content creators again each time they want to release it to a new country.

After that you have to deal with each retailer's promotional deals with the distributor on a per country basis. Bigger markets can make bigger numbers so they often get a better deal. Perhaps the EU's "borderless" nature can allow a better deal to companies there or perhaps their market doesn't support that price point while the US market does? It can get rather complex when dealing with so many varied factors.

TLDR: It's complicated and governments/laws become involved. The only real way to change the market is to have a true boycott on price which is impossible in a country with so much wealth.

$80 for the normal version now? man they really want Canadian's to not buy games don't they?

shit I just saw that

I would expect 80 to be the norm by the end of the year then. our dollar is dying :(

"Waaaaaah Waaaah It could cost the full 60$" In Canada we pay 69.99 for games, but guess what it's increasing for some games MGSV is 75$ over here.

Quit whining.

This thread is really petty.

@big_jon: Do you know how many FTP arena shooters are released everyday, or are currently in early access on the PC with equal to double the content this game has and are FTP or less than $20. Go back and listen to podcast from E3, a lot of the commentary was hoping they would release the game soon and either free or as a $10-15 downloadable e-shop game. The only people who will buy this game are the same Nintendo suckers who pay full price for anything they release, thats just the facts.

@me3639: Quantity is not quality.

@me3639: So you're a sucker if you buy Nintendo games now? Are you being serious? Or just trying to be insulting?

@me3639 said:

I'm with you.

On the one hand, Nintendo's problem is that if they launch a new IP/franchise/series at a budget price, it's basically doomed to stay in that price bracket forever. If they launch a $30 Splatoon, and if it's successful, and then they want to make a sequel with an even more expansive feature set, people would lose their shit if Nintendo "upped the price" and sold it for $60.

On the other hand, while Splatoon looks like a pretty well made game, lots of other shooters are also like, moderately OK games. And lots of those shooters aren't the full $60. Remember when 5th Cell made Hybrid, and they sure as fuck didn't make it a $60 retail game? Hybrid also had something inventive that set it apart and it worked well enough, but they weren't crazy enough to think that just because it was pretty clever that they could compete with Call of Duty and t3h Haloz. Similar to Hybrid, I think Splatoon has an inventive mechanic and reviewers will like it, but I wonder if it will ever build enough of a community, given that Nintendo is expecting consumers to gamble $60 on a completely unproven multiplayer-centric game.

What this game needed was multiple lengthy "open beta" periods to give people a taste of the game and so that Twitch streamers could show it off (assuming they would mostly have a positive impression of it), instead of the ridiculously short stress test they did at incredibly weird, random times. Even then the game probably should've been no more than $40 (like Captain Toad, also a WiiU game).

It feels like Nintendo is shooting themselves in the foot on this one.

Question: Do people in this thread feel like Mario Kart 8 was priced correctly?

For all we know this game will have a similar longevity. It seems crazy to be talking about the content and value propositions of Splatoon when the full game isn't even out yet.

Edit: I would be interested to hear if they have announced the overall content in terms of maps, weapon types etc

@smeffw: Most games are dearer over here so I wouldn't complain that much if I were you.

I'm from the UK and you definitely need to do some research and reconsider this thread.

Apologies that the North Americans had to pay more than us for once. Yeah that's right, we can refer to you solely based on the continent you're from too.

Everything is sold for what people can make on it. My guess is, unlike steam, a smaller market (in this case Wii U) means fewer potential buyers which means a higher value per buyer is required to make up the difference. Maybe they end up being wrong and too many people wont buy the game because of the price tag but this reasoning seems sound enough not to think of them as swindlers.

In this market of wildly expensive costs for development I feel like people are making a bigger deal out of video game prices than is warranted. The money has to come from somewhere.

@bisonhero: By the way, I'm not arguing it should be full price, but the argument that it should be free is ludicrous.

@lv4monk said:

It does kinda feel like they're off-setting "Wii U small install base" with "fuck it, everything is a full price retail game". Honestly, some of the Nintendo retail games as of late feel like if you randomly made Ori and the Blind Forest a $60 disc game. Like, Ori is a good game and all, but c'mon.

Nintendo has to get paid, but making everything a full price retail game when some of those games could've been $20-$30 downloadable games or $30-$40 retail games feels like we're paying a "Wii U hasn't moved enough units" tax on a game with an amount of content on par with a higher-end downloadable game.

Wow I thought this was gonna be $20 or $30... I'am not sure anymore about picking it up.

If the game is getting the support Nintendo plans on giving it, it'll be worth it.

I haven't watch the recent direct about Splatoon but it sounds like the summer will be filled with updates including new maps, and for free.

I'd rather have a game do that than split the user base with every DLC expansion. And I'd rather play this than the next COD or Halo online.

@finaldasa said:

I'm right there with you, but how many gamers out there are a cool enough dude to save the presi- I mean are a cool enough dude to play a game based on its clever new mechanic like Splatoon? Compared to how many gamers out there are teen guys who are insecure about how masculine they are so they buy the game where a military dude shoots Arab/Russian dudes in the head to save the world from terrorists?

I want this game to succeed, but the business realities concern me. I really wish they had sweetened the deal and made the game like $40 just to rope in more players, like that year...Sega or whoever made that really good football game for like $30, and then it didn't matter because EA or whoever just bought exclusivity to the NFL license.

@asilentprotagonist: Our dollar is garbage right now, the relative price is the same.

@bisonhero: But do those teenagers even own a Wii U? If that's all they really care about they probably own a PS4 or Xbox One instead. The reality is that audience probably won't care about this game, but they probably don't care about the Wii U either, so it's kind of a wash. That's not the audience the game is targetting in the first place.

@zeik said:

True, maybe they're marketing this game crazy heavy on whatever local kids' channels there are that show cartoons aimed at a 6-14 age bracket, and hopefully those kids are super jazzed by the idea of the game and it does super well!

I have a really hard time believing a 15-18 Wii U-owning demographic exists, but maybe?

And then the 18+ Nintendo faithful that already own Wii Us will consider buying Splatoon, and that's kind of a "who knows?", because some of them like seeing inventive new games and giving those games a shot, but these are also people that can freely buy and play Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, CS:GO, etc., and there's only room for so many shooters in one person's life.

I think you're discounting the level of fandom people have for Nintendo and the older fans who want something more adult from their Nintendo games. Legions of fans go gaga over Smash because it's more adult than your typical Zelda or Mario game. A shooter may fill the niche for those same fans.

I for one enjoy Halo and COD but I don't want to buy one every year and the multiplayer is all the same at some point. Splatoon seems different and off the wall enough to earn a purchase from me.

Also remember that all games, mostly, are $60. If this game is somehow cutting content or feels watered down then don't pay $60. Otherwise I don't see the problem or difference from something like Titanfall.

@bisonhero: Well I think the fact that it is something different is what is going to give it a chance at a reasonable success. If this was yet another military shooter I doubt anyone would give a shit, even Wii U fanatics. The world definitely doesn't need more of those and no one is going to choose to play one on the Wii U over the other consoles. But the world does need more original ideas (or at least original spins on existing ideas) and I think that is the main thing the game has going for it.

I don't know if I'm ready to say I'm going to run out and buy this game day one, but I'm pretty sure I'd buy it 100x over before I gave a single fuck about a new CoD or Battlefield or anything like it. Maybe it won't draw hardcore fanboys away from their go to shooters, but I do think it has a better chance of drawing in the people who are getting tired of that experience than all the games that just want to be the same thing.

@finaldasa said:

Man, forums ate my post. Retyping ho!

I'll admit I'm being kinda pessimistic about this, but sometimes it seems like in certain genres, I don't even know what you'd have to do to get noticed. Like, you could make the best kart racer in the world, and it wouldn't get noticed because Mario Kart still exists. And that just bums me out.

As for it having to be $60, Hybrid was an XBLA game! Also Monday Night Combat and Gotham City Impostors! It just feels like businessmen looked at those games and said "Look, it's a swell idea, but realistically we can give you the budget for a $15 downloadable game and hopefully it does alright." But then somehow Nintendo business witch doctors said "Splatoon? Put that onto store shelves ASAP! Here, have millions and millions of dollars!" I'm just going to be super bummed if the game doesn't succeed financially, because that'll just give Nintendo execs more ammo for the usual argument of "Don't take risks on new IP! Fuck everything forever, just make more New Super Mario Bros. games!"

Alternately, Splatoon could've been free to play, and be advertised heavily to try to move Wii U hardware. "Hello [Walmart mom], why buy your child an Xbox and Call of Duty which costs [money] and [money], when you could buy a Wii U and have them play Splatoon which costs [less money] and free!" Also, the Nintendo faithful who own Wii Us seem like they'd be just the kind of F2P whales that would buy every sort of Splatoon character and weapon skin you could throw at them.

@bisonhero: I think that's why it's $60, it isn't free to play. Monday Night Combat did well enough for them to go make a sequel, which is free to play. Gotham City Imposters eventually went free to play as well. I'd rather just pay my money, be guaranteed some maps and content, and know everyone will be on an even playing field.

And really if you're going to experiment and know fans of Nintendo will be there to invest, why not go the full $60? If it sells well enough you won't have to worry about keeping players or acquiring new ones, you'll only have to worry about a sequel.

I wish it was $40, but I had so much fun with the testfire and there seems to be just enough content to justify me picking it up.

@finaldasa: Well, Nintendo has placed their bet, so hopefully the game does well for them!

Splatoon and Code Name S.T.E.A.M. are both really interesting games, in how much it feels like they are specifically targeting audiences in the West. When you think about it, for better or worse, Splatoon is pretty much Nintendo's Lost Planet. And how often do you see a Japanese-developed game inspired by Jack Kirby's 1960s work for Marvel Comics, oh and also steampunk?

I'm super curious how those games end up doing in Japan. I skimmed Metacritic, and they don't seem to have any Japanese publications I'm familiar with that reviewed Code Name S.T.E.A.M.

I live in Australia enjoy your taste of my life.

I feel like for a new IP with a full single player campaign and online multiplayer $60 is fair enough. Nintendo is taking a risk introducing a new IP on a system with a smaller fan base. If it's a quality game, I have no issue paying full price for it. I'm excited to see the reviews up for it and if they're great then it's a day one purchase for me

I have to admit I kinda think this is funny ... games being more expensive in europe (at least in germany) is pretty much the norm. So, yeah ...

Liberty tax.

@haz said:

I dunno if you realize, but $70 CAD is less than $60 USD

https://www.google.ca/webhp#q=70+CAD+to+usd

$80 for a game is hot bullshit though.

It is, but the money we take home from employment didn't go up by 10% just because the USD did so it still costs 'more'. The hike will still make people think twice about buying any new game at launch, doubly so when they're $80.

What really gets me kinda miffed is when Ubisoft and Bioware give us this hike and yet pay their dev costs to canadians, in CAD.