Did you hear the one about the guy who doesn’t know Jack about the games industry who is suddenly an expert on economics and geopolitics? You probably did, because there are so many such larpers shooting their mouths off. And you’re probably laughing just as hard as I am.

Days ago, Nintendo revealed the price point on their upcoming Switch 2 system, but have subsequently delayed pre-orders, as they reevaluate what they may charge for the system. This occurs as tariffs go into effect, and it seems reasonable to guess that there’s a causal connection.

While it’s easy to get ansey about how much the Switch 2 will cost, if you had the intention of buying one, you’re probably about two months away from having one, and three away from not caring what you paid for it.

How can I say that so confidently? Because I’ve been through this many times. On launch day for GameCube, I could have cared whether I had the $200 to buy one. But after that, I had one. I waited a bit to buy Wii, but after I got that, I didn’t even remember how much it cost. Same with Switch. Once the hurtle of initial expence is cleared, people are just going to move on to the next thing.

And if Nintendo is going to offer something of greater value than what they already have, wouldn’t it follow that they’d charge more for it? And if someone thinks the price is too high, they can decide not to buy it. No one is forcing anyone to make a purchase. It’s a free market.

And speaking of price points, it seems like fainting spells are on the uptick, because Nintendo is setting the MSRP for Mario Kart World at $80. People are used to paying $60 for a game, and here I’m remembering how much a new copy of Chrono Trigger cost in the nineties. Depending on where you looked, it would have been as much as $90.

Nintendo’s reasoning for the price point for Mario Kart World is that they put a lot of effort into the game. And this is reasonable. If I’m going to be getting a lot of game with lots of play and replay value, then it’s worth the money.

If you bought a new game with the complete DLC package, such as Pokémon Violet, then you probably spent $94.98 for it, before taking sales theft tax into account. Whether you would have gotten your money’s worth is up to you, but if that’s what you spent, then you were somehow able to justify making that purchase. Compared to that, to spend only $80 on Mario Kart World sounds a bit more reasonable.

But if that doesn’t seem reasonable to you, you don’t have to buy it. When it comes down to it, it’s the consumer who decides the value of a product, not the company that made it, regardless of inputs. And if you don’t want to pay the MSRP, you can just not buy the product. You might even find it at a more agreeable price later on.

But the temper tantrums are pointless. Nintendo knew that they’d hear screeching over any choice they’d make, and they’ve already figured out that they could just ignore it.

The PS5 Pro’s price didn’t come down, the Minecraft movie was still made, and Sonic from Sonic Boom still has blue arms. Nobody cares that someone from YouTube pretended to understand economics.

To get right to the heart of the matter, which I’m not hearing much about: Nintendo has investors, and Nintendo doesn’t want to upset them. To that end, they’d much rather turn a profit on the Switch 2’s first year. Pricing Switch 2 above cost would seem expedient to this.

Sure, Nintendo’s stock has fallen in the last few days, and this correlates with fans learning of the pricing of Switch 2 games. It’s also rebounded since yesterday, indicating that it wasn’t a lasting trend. But I suspect that sales numbers will play a larger role in stock valuation.

Care to guess whether millions of Nintendo fans, and way too many loathsome scalpers, would contribute to huge Switch 2 sales at launch even if it were to be priced like the PS5 Pro?