How come Nintendo games tend to keep their value?

Because sheep gonna sheeple...

Fools and their money... Jazzzz. lol :P

Lol, yeah definitely the latter. That said - they certainly often produce classics.

The Nintendo ecosystem is... ...shall we say, "uniquely vertically integrated."

All I know is I've bought less Nintendo games because of the prices. It's never an impulse buy like it can be for other games. Third party games even cost more on the platform so I just don't buy them on Switch, I buy them on another platform. I think they might be losing money because of the prices, they definitely are from me.

That's why Nintendo games sell the best and have long legs.

Simple, they don't lower their prices and people buy it regardless. When you have publishers releasing a game at $60 and then cutting prices to $40 a few months later, gamers can afford to wait. If there is no lowering of the price anytime soon, there is no need to wait.

There no competition in d portable console market. Nintendo knows the fans will buy the games whatever the prices they set plus there isnt much online stores where to purchase games from else then Nintendo. Ins short... Nintendo has almost full monopoly

Idk but if anyone wants to buy a copy of Mario 3D Allstars for $99.99 hmu

My personal opinion, nintendo games don't lose their value because 3rd party don't releases "new" games on the platform thus creating scarcity that nintendo could take advantage.

On other consoles you have billions of games competing in the all the genres but you just dont see that competition on Nintendo.

Because they are just that damn good. Nintendo has always been known to put out top quality games. It’s not really true that they never drop the price of their games though. They do put some of their games “Nintendo Selects” but that happens years later and usually when that system is nearing the end of its lifecycle.

Nintendo generally doesn't lower the prices because they believe the games are that good. It's great to have faith in their own products but there reaches a point when the games simply don't hold up... especially at the $40-$60 mark.

Well for one yes they are really good, Nintendo has been pretty consistent when producing quality titles.

And that's just how they operate, they know their titles and trademarks hold value so the keep selling their games full prices and so far it seems the consumers tend to agree about this value since they've been buying their stuff in droves.

While I would like them to lower their prices like the others, I also can't blame them for not doing it.

@sakaixx: That's a good theory! There is less competition for Nintendo games on the Nintendo platform.

I remembered many years ago on visiting a website which explains the many reasons why things in Japan cost more than say, in America. One of the reasons is that the Japanese are willing to pay a high price for a product because they often associated its high price with quality. If the product's company decides to cut the price of its product, its sales will drop quickly. This applies to both Japanese and foreign products.

It is possible that Nintendo products are priced as they are due to Japanese consumer culture mentioned in the last paragraph.

Interesting video on the subject, watched it a couple of years ago and remembered it now.

It's their business model. I buy significantly more Nintendo games day 1 than I do other platforms because I know the price won't be going down.

Couple things factor into Nintendo games holding value over the years.

1. Obviously the incredible quality of the titles. One can talk about Nintendo being unwilling to lower prices, but the prices of used games hold pretty well too, remaining close to new for a VERY long time as well. This suggests people aren't trading them in as much as they do other games.

2. They don't release a TON of games, really. What, a big release every other month? Usually tied to a massive franchise?

Nintendo first party games sell fairly well even years after release. This is even more true on the Switch than their older platforms. Nintendo knows people are willing to pay full price for their software, so there’s very little reason for them to reduce the prices.

Smash Bros and Mario Kart ain't many years old and still $60 because they hold value. Nintendo just never drops prices on older stuff which is one of the reasons I passed up on a Switch. **** $60 for a 2 year old game.

Less games on Nintendo hardware than on other hardware. Less competition.

This year alone I’ve bought for my PS4: Dreams, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part II, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2, Crash Bandicoot 4.

That’s not even half of the games that have released this year for PS4 (and Xbox One).

For my Switch this year I’ve only purchased:

Animal Crossing New Horizons, Mario 3D Allstars

The only other major release for Switch this year was I believe Paper Mario

good luck man, it goes for 49.99 at my local walmart they had a bunch of copies

Because Nintendo never lowers the price.

There are non nintendo games that hold up today with incredible quality and all, and they are usually re-released for a fraction of the price. Examples like Devil May Cry 1 and 3.

Why lower the price when it’s still sellling? Both BOTW and Odyssey, despite coming out in 2017, were lodged quite comfortably in the most recent NPD report, along with Mario Kart and other titles.

@jcrame10: You should have waited a few months. Those PS4 games will be $14.99 soon cause no one buys them.

@mesome713: weird considering TLOU2 came out in June and Ghost came out in July. Both broke records, sold millions of copies and are still $50-60 today.

THPS 1+2 sold a million copies in one week and was the fastest selling game in the franchise.

Crash 4 will also sell fast and sell millions.

Can you at least try?

Suckers

Its the same company that charges for Online while having the online infrastructure on par with XBL from 2004. I'll let you guess why they're so overpriced.

Nintendo are very bloodthirsty when it comes to retail. If you buy their games to sell at your store, you have to pay for them upfront and you cant return unsold product. =Prices are high for a long time.

Next year will be a good time to sell.

Free market that's why. There is no set value for anything. Things are worth whatever people will pay.

Same goes for the $70 a game thing becoming standard. If people weren't willing to pay for it, it wouldn't happen.

They have legs. Mario Kart a 3 year old game still makes the top 10 every month.

Huh, that's interesting. You got any sources on that?

lol...

It's okay if they sell games they developed at full price for a long time! because unlike sony and microsoft, they only make games!

but the problem is the other bad things they do! like selling three old games with no change for 60$!

Because of sales.

Gamers are fine with it. The demand is there. And it saves them money on cartridges.

Nintendo 1st party titles have legs, Sony and MS titles don't. People play Nintendo titles for years, MS and Sony titles have a shorter life on average. Also, take a peek at used Switch games vs used Xbox and PS games. It's worth buying physical on Nintendo because you can get damn near what you paid for it in a resale.

Because Nintendo says so.

When PlayStation first party games sell well and have been out for a while they become “Greatest Hits” or “PlayStation Hits” titles and and go down to $20 US dollars.

If Nintendo never discounts its first party games, then obviously used first party Nintendo games will sell for a higher price. It has nothing to do with Nintendo games having “legs”...

The reason is simple. Nintendo game have very long legs and Nintendo exploits the fact. Is it messed up? Sure. Is it smart for Nintendo? Absolutely.

This is why I don't buy most X-box or Ps4 games on day one but I always do with Nintendo games. I know the PS and Xbox games will quickly devalue down to damn near nothing, but with Nintendo you might as well just get the game cause that price is never going down.

From a pure cold pragmatic perspective it is honestly quite brilliant. Horrible, anti-consumer, and brilliant all at the same time.

Make that a 6 year old game

HMU

Highest quality creates highest value.

I came here for cow's and lem's tears.

I'm not disappointed.

Nintendo games are the best it's why they sell more than bargain bin Xbox and PlayStation exclusives.

Because they can. People will still buy them.

The bizarre thing is that I remember my mother spending under twenty dollars for Mario Sunshine, Rogue Squadron II and other Gamecube games. Pretty sure Smash Bros. Melee was under 20 as well. Wind Waker might have been fifty and Paper Mario TTYD 40 or 50, but I think those were new. The Twin Snakes was about 20. Well, maybe this says more about how much better the used prices at Gamestop and EB Games used to be.

I always thought it was because Nintendo creates both video games and consoles. So, to support their console and developers, they absolutely have to sell their game at full price unless the game tanks, like Metroid Other M did. I remember seeing that game go from $49.99 to $19.99 within just months of release. I bought that game for the latter price. Nintendo also usually drop incredible games. They're not the uber violent or mind blowing storytelling type of games you find on Sony and Microsoft products, but they release quality single and multiplayer games which are unique and made to only work with the consoles that they build. Plus, they don't have the 3rd party support like Sony and Microsoft have, so they need to find a way to support themselves. That's what I always took them not dropping prices as.

Three reasons:

1. Nintendo IPs - They generally have high brand value. The likes of Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and Animal Crossing are household names, for example.
2. Nintendo Seal of Quality - Nintendo don't devalue their products but value them highly, giving the impression of high quality and high value.
3. Game quality - The games themselves usually tend to be well-made, supporting the "Nintendo Seal of Quality" image that their products tend to have.

They are fun to play.

Cos they're worth the money. Imagine spending 60 bucks on TLOU 2 at this point in time vs spending 60 bucks on BOTW.

Nintendo from the start made it a mission to not flood the stores with games. They keep supply limited so that the brick and mortar stores don't have to put sales to clear stocks. It was a policy that came from the lessons learned from the Video Game Crash in 1983.

I'll find some. This was my personal experience as a Gamestop store manager back in 2010-2014. If you'd consider me a source.