Opinion: Nintendo 3DS game prices in Australia are weird, too expensive and need to change
At the moment game prices for the Nintendo 3DS are just plain weird, they’re too high and they need to change. Here’s why.
Since the launch of the Wii U here in Australia, aside from some third party games, recommended prices for that console have been $79.95 or lower. This has included ports, new titles and even original Nintendo first party titles. Yes, first party Nintendo titles for less than $99.95.
That’s lower than most launch day Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 titles, that’s lower than some Wii titles still rotting store shelves to this very day. Donkey Kong Country Returns, one of the Wii’s later titles is still $88, Skyward Sword is still $98. These games will remain that price too until grandma buys it for little Jimmy or cleared out in a years time.
This is all good news though, a positive move – Wii U games are cheaper and closer to other regions.
However the same can’t be said for Nintendo 3DS games. Let’s take a look at the upcoming catalogue from Big W and their pricing for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.
That’s some nice pricing there for the Wii U version. But hold on what’s going on with the 3DS one, just ten dollars less ($58) that’s not bad!?
Alright let’s go to EB, they have most games for full RRP – although they’ll be sure to remind me they do price match.
What was now a $30 difference between console and handheld is now (looking at RRP) a $10 one. Even less when retailers discount, 3DS games are now priced in this awkward void, $69 seemed cheap when compared to console games but now with the console game prices falling it just looks terrible.
We also have to consider that all of these games are available on the eShop as well for the full $69.95. That is of course you switch your eShop region (which has no ill effects) to the UK or Europe and score copy for £39.99 or less. Converted back into AUD that’s around $59. If you try other currencies as well such as the Euro or Polish Zloty you might have an even better return.Normally we wouldn’t directly convert prices, however this is a digital store and there’s no taxes, shipping or packaging to account for here. There’s also no excuses.
We were able to find Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate from Europe (physically) as well for £29.99, that’s $43.60AUD or 60% less expensive. We could also compare US prices as well, but that’s another ball game all together with region locking in place. That too is another fight for another day.
The simple fact is 3DS games are too expensive in Australia and its weird, it’s a familiar complaint but evidence has shown that game prices are falling. It’s certainly not Nintendo 3DS ones though.
its actually getting to a point of ridiculousness now. $70 for a 3ds game? $80-100 for console games? absurd.
The pricing on the Nintendo eShop on the 3DS is insane for digital downloads. I’d expect marketing, packaging, shipping and media to increase the cost of your local store buys, but I’ve noticed some games costing around $69.95. Fairly sure some titles instores are anywhere sold for less than $20 the cost.
Digital downloads need to be pushed more at a cheaper cost. Understandably though shops will probably continue selling at high prices on the low demand if DD surges.
I love the eshop on my 3DS because you can get great original titles (see pushmo, crimson shroud, denpamen etc..) and virtual console at great prices. I would love to be able to utilise full retail digital downloads but how can I justify the purchase???
Further showing Nintendo’s ignorance of the issue was the recent initiative to price ZELDA OoT at $40 to encourage gamers to venture into the digital. Sounds like a great idea, but it was a shame I had already picked up a retail copy of the game for $35. Even at this “discount price” I still found the game cheaper than Nintendo could offer. Nintendo really just can’t get their prices right for 3DS titles.
The RRP of Monster Hunter on the Wii U and 3DS is $146 combined. Does Nintendo expect people to pick up two copies of the same game at this price? They either expect gamers will simply purchase one or the other or are really that out of touch with the modern gamer.
I think its ridiculous to see a Wii game at $99 sitting beside a Wii U game at $79!!!
Wii games should’ve gotten a price chop.
Same for DS vs 3DS prices. I don’t understand why a DS game would have the same price as a 3DS game (in a shop).
For me, it would be more logical to see something like this:
Wii U $79
Wii $69
3DS $59
DS $49
Why is there region locking in the first place for hand held consoles. The 3DS is the same console around the world. Since there is no TV connection required for the games to be played the ‘PAL’ or ‘NTSC’ version label is really a marketing nonsense. Surely the Australian Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission can look at the legality of this arbitrary region locking in the case of the 3DS console.
Wii U games are actually much cheaper than stated above and I agree completely about the weird and expensive pricing for 3DS games.
I’ve bought six retail Wii U games and the most I’ve paid was $69.
If it matters to anyone here is a list of what I’ve paid so far:
NSMBU $69 from JB
Sonic Racing $59 from EB
Zombi U & Scribblenauts $48 each from EB
Tekken $40 from JB
Batman Arkham City $28 from Ozgameshop
I purchased all of these on launch day or in December last year except Batman, though that’s been on sale for $28 a few times since boxing day.. Ozgameshop even had Sonic Racing for $30 a few weeks ago.
I even managed to preorder Rayman Legends (before the Ubisoft scandal) for only $40 from Video Ezy!
Wii U games have been the cheapest I’ve ever seen and it’s great, but I can hardly find new release 3DS games (or even old ones) for less than $40, usually about $50-$60 and I’m hoping I can get a good deal on Luigi’s Mansion 2 that’s not a UK import, otherwise I may need to settle for an import.
Touching on the eshop, I only see it as a way to get indie and virtual games and I love all the constant Wii U sales on them! Retail games however are far overpriced! The money saved on manufacturing, printing, shipping/importing, and retail attendance should realistically cut the download RRP by half.
When I can buy Batman for $28 for a hard copy, why would I pay $80 for a file?
Rant over.
I’ve noticed that JB have also *increased* the prices of a number of first party Nintendo 3DS titles to $64 as opposed to the usual $59. It’s quite unfortunate considering that most of these games were made available for $47 for a little while late last year. I don’t understand why they’ve decided to stray from their usual pricing model for 3DS titles. $60+ is an absurd amount to pay for a handheld title.
Yeah i totally agree, thats why i have been looking to import UK copies.
Where did you find Monster hunter 3 ultimate for 29 GBP? Was that for the Wii U?
I moved to Oz from the States back in June. I brought my U.S. 3ds (not XL) with me, but realized I couldn’t play any games. I was keen to buy an AU White 3ds XL, and thought the price for the system was reasonable. Then I started looking at the prices of games and quickly changed my mind. WAAY to expensive! Its cheaper for me to buy U.S. games for my U.S. 3ds and have them shipped here.
I’m in two minds with all this. On the one hand, I don’t give a shit cause virtually everything can be had cheaper online. On the other, I remember a time when I paid $90 for Atari Lynx games, $150 for Snes SF2 Turbo, and out of my savings for several months at that! These days $10-$15 or less can get you some excellent digital releases, handhelds have essentially console games for cheaper. I mean should Monster Hunter even have a price diff between versions? Same game basically, hell, if anything surely the cartridge costs more to produce than the disc! I remember when N64 was due for release the regular round of “game prices will go up”, “carts are more expensive” was going around just like the $50/$60 bullshit u see on US forums these days. But damn, why shouldn’t they have been more expensive, the carts were at least 2x the size of snes games and just like today, required many more man hours to create the games in the first place! And after all that, I never had an N64 game cost me even as much as those Atari Lynx games, let alone the exhorbitant price of SF2 Turbo! If anything, even crappy prices here in aus are too cheap and being older, most of us long time fans are on a steady wage and shouldn’t be complaining so much anyway.