Nintendo Games Will Have Different Prices For Physical And Digital Moving Forward, Starting With Yoshi And The Mysterious Book

Nintendo has announced a change to its Nintendo Switch 2 game pricing, with digital and physical versions of its titles launching at different prices. This change will begin in May with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, and because preorders for the game are now live, we know the price difference between the physical and digital versions. 

The digital version of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will cost $59.99 and the physical version will cost $69.99, reflecting a $10 price difference. That’s in stark contrast to previously released first-party Nintendo games, like Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Metroid Prime 4, which all launched with the same respective price tag, regardless of whether your copy was digital or physical on Nintendo Switch 2 (though Mario Kart World’s tag was higher at $79.99). 

“Nintendo games offer the same experiences whether in packaged or digital format, and this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format and offers players more choice in how they can buy and play Nintendo games,” the company’s announcement reads. Nintendo notes that, as always, its retail partners are free to set their own prices for games, regardless of this change. 

While this means nothing will change for Nintendo Switch 2 players who like to own physical cartridges, it does mean that players who purchase games digitally will save money. 

It’s unclear at this time whether we can expect a $10 price difference across all physical and digital versions of first-party games moving forward, or if that’s only the difference for Yoshi and the Mysterious Island, but we’ll learn more as new games are released. I looked at the prices for previously released Nintendo Switch 2 games to see if their prices reflect this new change, and, unsurprisingly, they don’t. 

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on May 21. 

While waiting for its launch, check out the Yoshi and the Mysterious Book reveal trailer, and then read Game Informer’s preview of the game (if you’re a subscriber). After that, check out the latest Yoshi and the Mysterious Book gameplay trailer.