What province are you buying from? Digital tax differs per province, which is why I have my 3DS store set to Alberta ;)

Isn't Canadian money like worth nothing at this point :P or are these USD's ?

Nope, if Nintendo charges that much I'll never get a switch.

Following the exchange rate a game (60 USDs) should be exactly 81 CADs. It is currently 80. Cranking it up to 100 is completly insane.

It's a thing now.

Pokken, Metroid, Yoshi, and Kirby are all preselling for 99.99.

It wouldn't be that big a deal if it wasn't for the fact that Nintendo games never go on sale.

Rocket League will be $60.

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier, but Video Games Plus is preselling Mario Odyssey for $79.99. They're reputable, I got my copy of yakuza 2 through them.

https://www.videogamesplus.ca/mobile-info.php?products_id=24436&osCsid=563f57cddcdc25b3f630897b3f910b09

Been there, done that. Final Fantasy 3 (VI) was $100 in Canada back in 94.

I will never buy a new game again if games go up to $99.99. I already pay around $92 for a new game, and when we were always paying 59.99 before they suddenly shot up, paying around $115 for a new game is just too much.

This is a new thing in Canada? I was under the impression that you guys have had this for ages. The one time I bought a game in Canada, I saw a ton of variable pricing. It was during the N64 days so maybe cartridge pricing was a bit more flexible.

The weirdest thing about this is that it's only first-party Nintendo games. That Mario-Rabbids game is still $80. When it was just Mario, I thought Nintendo might just be trying to gouge us on a popular title, but now that Nintendo's second-tier games like Kirby and Yoshi are also $100, I'm beginning to think they've just lost it. They are out of their minds if they think many people are going to pay $100 to play Kirby. I like my Switch, but there's no reason games should cost more on it.

@liquiddragon: They have been relatively standard at least since the PS2 days. Other than budget games and discounts. When the prices start to change because of the exchange rate, then you will get some weird pricing differences. I remember when games started going from 59.99-->64.99-->69.99. There was a short period where games could be any one of those three prices, but they quickly all went to $69.99. I can't remember if something similar happened when they went from 69.99-->79.99.

@cameron: I posted earlier in the thread, but our dollar conversion in NZ is about equal to Canada, and Nintendo games have been $100-$120 for at least the past decade, and they still sell like hotcakes. Because of that, I don't think I own more than 10 first-party Nintendo games despite having a Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS. The prices are just too unjustifiable, and always have been.

Being Canadian is the reason I don't have a Switch yet

@zombievac: Right now $60 US is $79.65 CDN so I am not sure how you figure that the publisher is making less money when they charge $99.99 CDN...?

Seems to me like they are making significantly MORE for the same product.

Also please be aware taxes in Canadian Provinces can be SIGNIFICANTLY higher than in most States.

And while I sympathize with your healthcare concerns that is really beside the point of this topic: the price of video games increasing in Canada - if we start listing all the pros and cons of life (or even just healthcare) in every nation that is represented on Giant Bomb we will be here a LONG time with no clear consensus on any country and avoid the topic of OP entirely.

Note that I said could - and that there are more than fiat currency conversions involved. I'm not sure when and where, if anywhere/when, that VAT/duties/whatever are included in that $99 (I'm not Canadian). But whether or not it is, there are significant costs to market and prep a product for distribution in another country, a whole other set of regulations to follow, retailers to bribe for shelf space, and much more. So what I meant is, overall, they likely raised it to $99 due to many factors - current currency strength, and its effect in increased costs for the entire process due to that alone (all the middlemen - government, retailers, etc). Probably other factors too.

Canada's market is the size of a US State, or a small European country. The cost of entry into any market is almost always a huge factor in the resulting price in that situation, especially due to fiat currency conversion rates being much less equal currently.

Healthcare is not really beside the point, it was to illustrate that us Americans think it's so great that we pay less for some products than other countries because of VAT and duties and such, but we really pay a hell of a lot more for general living costs because of it. So, look on the bright side. Buying a used or on-sale video game - or just paying more at release - is a small price to pay given that a lot of that price is due to the hugely valuable, and basic, benefits they provide for your country... indirectly, but still possibly the most important point of why costs are so different.

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to import it at that point?

The USD is quite pricy atm. 80 CAD is 60 USD. The prices are insane in Sweden too. The USD has gone from costing 6SEK to being worth 9SEK so that is 50% more expensive dollars in 2 years. Can't blame it all on the US though as it is the Swedish goverment that keeps the value of the SEK down to help export. It makes it more expensive to import though.

I saw this and whilst whilst prime discount makes it slightly bareable for titles like Mario there is no way in hell I'm paying that much titles like Yoshi or Kirby you gotta be kidding me.

It's hard to justify buying games at full price these days, especially when the likes of EA and Blizzard charge above the norm on their own platforms (PC). This 100 CAD move is some real bullshit, if I was in Canada I think I'd be staying away from the Switch.

As of now if I think about buying a Switch with 1 or 2 games, that's a substantial amount of extra money on top of the console unless they are smaller downloadable titles. Fuck that.

@kingbonesaw: hmm that's a good sign. I assume pre-order numbers are much lower than they expected.

If you look at games published by company's either from Canada or with an arm in Canada you will always see more realistic pricing, even day 1, with sales. So, clearly some companies are aware of the price problem. Ubisoft does this a lot. I assume it helps when your staff are Canadian themselves and can't afford the game they are making...

@kingbonesaw:

Came here to reiterate this as well. My best guess is that Amazon is estimating high with preorder prices to prevent taking a big loss if Nintendo actually does increase prices between now and launch. Hopefully the other first party titles are knocked down to (a still expensive) $80 between now and release.

Also take into account that they have to predict what the currency is going to be. With signs that our dollar will be stable or worth more from the recent interest rate increase, they can keep the price the same. I think that is why Splatoon was 80 still, they knew it would still be worth 80 usd.