In a notable change to its usual strategy, Nintendo has announced that the price of Switch 2 games will differ depending on whether you buy them physically or digitally.
Starting with the upcoming Yoshi and the Mysterious Book in May, Switch 2 games published by Nintendo will be cheaper to buy on its digital eShop storefront than buying a physical cartridge of a game.
According to a support page on Nintendo Australia’s website, the change “simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format”. It also brings Australia in line with other regions that already have different prices across digital and physical formats.
As seen on the Australian My Nintendo Store, the cartridge version of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book carries a retail price of $109.95. Meanwhile, the digital version costs $94.95 on Nintendo’s eShop.
Nintendo’s revised pricing strategy mainly benefits existing gamers’ buying habits. A 2025 report from Australia’s peak games industry body shows that people already spend more on digital games than at traditional retail.
Based on this report, which is based on 2024 sales data, Australians spent $416.4 million on digital full-game software compared to $262.5 million on full games at brick-and-mortar retailers. If anything, Nintendo’s price change will make Switch 2 games more affordable for the majority of people who already buy games digitally.
Nintendo also makes more money from purchases on its digital storefront. As explained by games industry consultant Jon Cartwright last year, manufacturing cartridges is expensive, even more so than discs. Once you factor in retailers, Nintendo’s margins on selling physical games are much narrower than a digital distribution model.
This new pricing model also provides some parity between digital purchases and retailer discounts. For example, Donkey Kong Bananza was priced at $109.95 across both physical and digital formats, but many retailers discounted the game at launch to $99.
It’s a discount that digital buyers typically miss out on. But once May rolls around, digital Switch 2 games might be more tempting.
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