Nintendo's Reason for No Discounts: It Ships "Complete" Games, Former President Says

Patience usually pays off when it comes to new games, as a few months after launch, a steep discount isn't uncommon. Nintendo is one of the few exceptions to that rule, as, apart from a rare sale, prices for its first-party titles largely remain the same for years on end. Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé recently commented on this strategy, comparing the games to "Kyoto craftsmanship" that are designed to offer a complete and crafted experience from day one.

"The Nintendo mentality is, we're shipping a game complete," Fils-Aimé said in an NYU Game Center lecture. "It's ready to play. There's no day one update that's going to take three hours, and part of it is, it's a different mentality. That is their [Nintendo's] thinking. I liken this to the idea of Kyoto craftsmanship. The company is headquartered in Kyoto. A city known for its fine craftsmanship: linen, china, pottery, that is Kyoto. I'm convinced that Nintendo, as a company, has that same type of mentality. We are going to build the best games, we are going to send them out feature complete, and as a result--this is where sometimes customers push back--we don't discount our games."

Fils-Aimé would then reference how The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild never received a permanent price discount from the day it launched. A quick look at the eShop listing for Breath of the Wild confirms this, as Nintendo is still selling it for $60 almost a decade after it first came out, and dozens of the company's other first-party games are still listed at their launch price.