It's official: The Nintendo Switch 2 is coming very soon. June 5, to be exact! Following a lengthy Nintendo Direct that showed off new games for the highly-anticipated console alongside more information on the Switch 2 hardware itself, some items are starting to go up for preorder. This includes microSD Express cards, which are the only storage cards the Switch 2 will be compatible with.

Preorder MicroSD Express Cards at GameStop

One of the biggest surprises of the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct this week was its exclusive FromSoftware reveal, The Duskbloods. It's a PvPvE game developed by the Soulsborne studio, but director Hidetaka Miyazaki said this doesn't mean the company has shifted direction moving forward.

In a new interview with Nintendo, Miyazaki spoke about the decision to make The Duskbloods a PvPvE game. The director said he's "always found" the structure interesting, as it allows for a broad range of game-design ideas while also letting FromSoftware leverage its experience in designing challenging enemy encounters.

"As a side note, please allow me to address one thing," Miyazaki said. "As we previously mentioned, this is an online multiplayer title at its core, but this doesn't mean that we as a company have decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction with titles going forward."

He continued: "The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Elden Ring was also announced, and we still intend to actively develop single-player focused games such as this that embrace our more traditional style."

Since the release of Elden Ring in February 2022, FromSoftware has certainly experimented a bit. Its DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, tried out some interesting new power scaling methods in the form of Scadutree Blessings. There's also Elden Ring: Nightreign, an upcoming co-op survival action game that blends the usual Souls style with an encroaching storm, loot, and character archetypes. The studio even went back to its mecha days with Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon.

So with The Duskbloods, FromSoftware is trying something a little different again. In the interview, Miyazaki said the company's outline for The Duskbloods was "still very bare-bones" when the team presented it to Nintendo — "more a loose string of ideas than a proper presentation," and the concept was "different from anything [FromSoftware] had done before."

Nintendo was interested in making it happen though, and while a small team started the project for the original Switch, Nintendo approached FromSoft with the idea of moving to the Switch 2 instead. "The new hardware's focus on online features allowed us to stay as true to the original vision as possible, which was very good news for us," Miyazaki said.

So while The Duskbloods might be a little different from the usual FromSoftware game, it sounds like the studio isn't completely leaving the "traditional" style you'd expect behind. Put differently: let FromSoft cook on this one.

But what could FromSoft's next single-player focused game be? Miyazaki has said the developer is not currently considering making Elden Ring 2, but late last year left the door open to the possibility in the future. It's probably not Bloodborne 2, either, much to the frustration of fans.

For more on the Nintendo Switch 2, check out our round-up of everything announced at the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct this week, and read over our recent chat with analysts about the sticker-shock of both the Switch 2 console and some of its games.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

It turns out our favorite Hell's Kitchen villain Wilson Fisk is off limits for the big screen — according to Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D’Onofrio himself.

"The only thing I know is not positive," D’Onofrio explained to Josh Horowitz on the podcast Happy Sad Confused recently. "It's a very hard thing to do, for Marvel to use my character. It's a very hard thing to do, because of ownership and stuff."

He continued: “I’m only usable for television shows. Not even a one-off Wilson Fisk movie. It’s all caught up in rights and stuff. I don’t know when that would work out — or if it ever would work out at all.”

That appears to rule out D’Onofrio's take on Fisk making an appearance in any Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, thus also ruling D’Onofrio out of appearing in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday (I guess we won't be seeing D’Onofrio's name on a director's chair in the future). Could this also throw a spanner in the works for any potential Charlie Cox Daredevil movie, where you'd reasonably expect D’Onofrio to appear as a villain?

D’Onofrio first appeared as Fisk, New York City’s most powerful crimelord and future mayor also known as Kingpin, in Marvel’s Daredevil. The 2015 Netflix original had three seasons and ended with just shy of 40 episodes in 2018. D’Onofrio’s portrayal has been praised up and down by fans and critics alike over the years, so it should come as no surprise that he puts a lot of thought into how he wants Fisk to be perceived — especially when it comes to the influences he pulls from.

“Anytime they were in a fight, or they were holding a gun, they looked nervous,” D’Onofrio explained to IGN last month about the everyman performances of the likes of Harrison Ford and other older greats that inspired his own multifaceted villain.

“They carried their own humility into the action scenes with them. And I always thought that that was the way to go. That made it look real to me. Gary Cooper in Sergeant York, when he takes aim, when he becomes the sniper, it's the humility in his eyes that you see. It's amazing. I think that helps action stuff a lot. We're all very conscious of that.”

Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again is currently airing week-to-week on Disney+ and will premiere its finale on April 15, 2025.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

The expensive price tag on its new games is one of the drawbacks of the Nintendo Switch 2, of which preorders have already been going live early (Amazon included). Luckily, ShopTo is taking the sting off for UK customers by allowing you to get Donkey Kong Bananza for only £63.50.

While this is still more than the £58.99 RRP for digital copies, it's the best price possible right now for those who want to actually own their games, and hold them in their hands like a newborn bab. This handy bargain comes as the result of using ShopTo's "SPRING" coupon code, which allows you and other future Nintendo Switch 2 players to knock 5% off various games, consoles, gift cards, and more across your order on the website.

Amid the ongoing backlash to Nintendo’s shock pricing for the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World, two former Nintendo PR managers have described the situation as “a true crisis moment for Nintendo.”

Speaking in a video on their YouTube channel, former Nintendo of America PR managers Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang criticized Nintendo for the way it revealed the $449.99 price of the Switch 2 and the $79.99 price of Mario Kart World.

“I don’t want to blow things out of proportion, but this does feel like a true crisis moment for Nintendo,” Ellis said.

Mario Kart World isn’t the only Nintendo Switch 2 game to cost $79.99. Some Nintendo Switch 2 Edition titles, such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, also cost $79.99.

Nintendo has even come under fire for charging for the Switch 2 tutorial video game experience, Welcome Tour, which fans have said should be a free pack-in. Astro's Playroom, for example, comes pre-installed on every PlayStation 5 console, serving additionally as a free tech demo for the DualSense controller.

Anger at the pricing has even spilled over into Nintendo’s Treehouse livestreams, which are overrun with viewers spamming “DROP THE PRICE” in the chat.

Ellis and Yang were particularly critical of the way Nintendo revealed the price of the Switch 2 and its games. They pointed to the lack of a price in the Direct itself as a "deliberate" omission that caused confusion and misinformation as fans scrambled to find out pricing confirmation elsewhere.

The Switch 2 and Mario Kart World pricing was “intentionally omitted from the Direct for a reason,” Yang claimed, “but handled poorly in terms of the information being in all these different places and you’re expecting the fans or the consumer to piece it all together.”

Ellis added: “It just shows some disrespect to the consumer, where, ‘oh, you just saw the Direct you’re so excited, you’re just gonna throw your money at us blindly, you’re not going to even ask the question of how much it cost because you’re so excited, aren’t you?’ "

“It’s a little bit degrading almost to the intelligence of the consumer,” Yang said.

The former NOA communications staff then went on to discuss Nintendo’s failure to address the pricing concern, either with a public statement or in interviews with the press. This, they said, was causing rampant speculation to fill the void with misinformation.

“They are enabling the story to get out of hand, out of control,” Yang said. “They have lost control of this,” Ellis added.

So what went wrong? Ellis and Yang suggested Nintendo now lacks the consumer mindfulness it once had, following former NOA boss Reggie Fils-Aimé’s retirement and the tragic loss of former Nintendo head Satoru Iwata.

Nintendo’s communications team will now be recommending the company release an official statement, Yang said, but the approval process will be painful, with many people involved before it even gets to current Nintendo boss Shuntaro Furukawa.

Nintendo will also be out of practice because it hasn’t spoken to its community or press in such a long time, the pair said, nor has it had to deal with this sort of negativity since the Nintendo 3DS price debacle of 2011.

Now there is concern for staff manning demo stations at the public-facing Switch 2 hands-on sessions. Fans will have reasonable questions at these public events and might put those to staff who are manning demo stations. If they respond with any sort of answer, that could end up online and framed as Nintendo’s official response.

What happens next? It remains to be seen, but neither Ellis nor Yang expect a price drop of either the Switch 2 or its games before launch.

For more, check out everything announced at the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, and what the experts have to say about the Switch 2 price and Mario Kart World’s $80 price tag.

Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

inZOI has sold 1 million copies in a week, developer and publisher Krafton has announced. That’s the fastest sales milestone ever for a game published by the South Korean megacorp.

Krafton’s The Sims competitor launched on PC via Steam in Early Access form on March 28 and quickly hit the headlines after players discovered they could run over and kill children. Krafton responded to say it had patched out what it called an "unintended bug."

Despite this hiccup, inZOI has a ‘very positive’ user review rating on Steam, and saw a peak of 175,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch, ranking third in the Games category. It rose to number one on Steam’s Global Top Sellers List (by sales revenue) just 40 minutes after release.

Meanwhile, Canvas, inZOI’s in-game user-generated content (UGC) sharing platform, saw over 1.2 million “participants” on launch day, and over 470,000 pieces of content uploaded.

IGN’s inZOI Early Access review returned a 6/10. We said: “inZOI is a visually striking life simulator with plenty of ambition, but not enough depth as of its Early Access launch.”

Clearly, inZOI is doing the business for Krafton, which highlighted its work promoting the game ahead of launch and its communication with the community as helping to build trust and momentum for release. The inZOI global showcase and demo build “particularly attracted high interest,” Krafton added.

CEO CH Kim commented: “We are grateful and excited to present inZOI to players around the world through Early Access. We will continue to actively communicate with players and foster inZOI as Krafton’s long-term franchise IP.”

As for what’s next, Krafton said future updates will introduce new content, including mod support and new cities, with all updates and DLC provided for free until full release.

In a recent note to players, Krafton said it will “quickly” apply fixes for reported issues through hotfixes during April amid complaints from some players about the state of the game. The scale of inZOI’s global community is “a next-level experience for us,” Krafton said, before admitting it’s “going through some trial and error in finding the optimal means of communication.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Nintendo has confirmed some of its Switch 2 game sizes, and, thankfully, they’re relatively small.

The Japanese My Nintendo Store lists a number of Switch 2 games alongside their file sizes.

The Nintendo Switch 2 features 256 GB of internal storage, which is a significant upgrade on the 32 GB available on the OG Switch and Switch Lite and the 64 GB on the Switch - OLED Model.

Another big difference is that the Switch 2 requires microSD Express cards for up to 2 TB of extra storage, meaning the microSDXC cards the current Switch models support cannot transfer over to the new console.

But, based on the file sizes revealed on the Japanese store, that 256 GB of internal storage should keep most players going for a while.

Nintendo Switch 2 game storage sizes:

• Mario Kart World: 23.4 GB
• Donkey Kong Bananza: 10 GB
• Nintendo Classics: GameCube app: 3.5 GB
• Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition ＋ Jamboree TV: 7.7 GB
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition ＋ Star Crossed World: 5.7 GB

The biggest file size here is, as you’d expect, Mario Kart World, but at 23.4 GB it only takes up around 10% of the Switch 2’s total internal storage.

Mario Kart World is relatively slim compared to the beefy Cyberpunk 2077, which weighs in at 64 GB on Nintendo Switch 2. That's a chunky 25% of the Switch 2’s internal storage.

Nintendo also recently confirmed that several new Switch 2 game cards won’t always carry an actual game, but instead contain a key for a game download. This isn't the case for Cyberpunk 2077, though.

For context, one of the biggest games on the original Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, was just 16 GB.

It’s worth noting that the GameCube app’s size is expected to grow as new games are added to the library. At launch, the GameCube app contains The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and SoulCalibur 2.

So, how is the Nintendo Switch 2 able to get away with relatively small game sizes while offering up to 4K resolution?

In January, the internet spotted a Nintendo patent, filed July 2023 but published for the first time earlier this year, that described AI image upscaling technology that would help keep video game download sizes small enough to fit on a physical game cartridge while offering up to 4K textures. It was thought at the time that this applied to the Nintendo Switch 2, and could relate to Nvidia DLSS graphics technology.

Nvidia DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is an AI-powered technology that uses machine learning to upscale lower-resolution images in real-time, enhancing both performance and image quality in games.

This week, in the wake of the Nintendo Direct, Nintendo and Nvidia confirmed the Switch 2’s custom GPU enables AI upscaling via DLSS and ray tracing.

Nvidia described it as a “custom Nvidia processor featuring an Nvidia GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores for stunning visuals and AI-driven enhancements.”

Those upgrades include up to 4K gaming in TV mode and up to 120 FPS at 1080p in handheld mode. Nintendo Switch 2 also supports HDR, and AI upscaling “to sharpen visuals and smooth gameplay.”

The new RT Cores bring real-time ray tracing, delivering “lifelike lighting, reflections and shadows for more immersive worlds,” Nvidia continued.

Tensor Cores, meanwhile, power AI-driven features like DLSS, “boosting resolution for sharper details without sacrificing image quality.”

Details are thin on the ground, however. In a hardware-focused roundtable Q&A in New York this week, attended by IGN, Nintendo representatives confirmed the Switch 2 uses DLSS, but did not specify which version of the tech, or whether it had been customized for Switch 2. It was a similarly vague response when Nintendo confirmed the Switch 2’s GPU is capable of ray tracing.

And what about the GPU itself? Tetsuya Sasaki, General Manager at Nintendo’s Technology Development Division, and Senior Director at its Technology Development Department, chimed in to say Nintendo prefers not to get in the weeds on things like the GPU.

“Nintendo doesn't share too much on the hardware spec,” he said. “What we really like to focus on is the value that we can provide to our consumers. But I do believe that our partner Nvidia will be sharing some information.”

For more, check out everything announced at the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, and what the experts have to say about the Switch 2 price and Mario Kart World’s $80 price tag.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Remember Marathon? It’s Destiny developer Bungie’s next game, and it looks like we’re about to finally see more of it.

Marathon is a PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV. Players inhabit the bodies of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries who have been designed to survive the planet’s harsh environments, exploring the lost colony that once inhabited Tau Ceti’s surface.

It has been some time since we saw or heard of Marathon. In October, Bungie released a lengthy development update video that shed light on Marathon's mechanics, but stressed how early in development the game was. Player character models were, at that point, still "coming together," while enemy models were still in an "early state."

Now, though, half a year later, it looks like Bungie is finally ready to reveal what it’s been working on. A tweet from the official Marathon account, below, revealed a typically cryptic image and accompanying garbled signal noise. As fans have noticed, there’s ASCII art of footage from the debut Marathon trailer. Given this is Bungie we’re talking about, a developer known for its mysterious teasers, hidden clues, and Easter eggs, there’s probably much more here to discover, and fans are already working to find out what it all means.

Either way, it very much looks like it’s finally happening for Marathon after what has been a troubled development.

pic.twitter.com/6NBgIdRVK2

— Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) April 4, 2025

Marathon was revealed in May 2023 as a reboot of the classic Bungie franchise, but with all its themes of "mysteries, eeriness, and psychological creepiness." But Bungie itself has suffered several controversies in recent years, headlined by the laying off of 220 staff members, meaning 17% of its workforce, in July 2024: a move even industry peers criticized.

This came less than a year after 100 other layoffs at Bungie, at which point staff told IGN the atmosphere was "soul crushing" at the studio.

Further controversy came when a report released weeks after the 220 job losses alleging former Marathon director Chris Barrett was fired after an internal misconduct investigation at Bungie. Barrett subsequently sued Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie for more than $200 million.

This all comes as Sony rethinks its focus on live-service games. Sony president Hiroki Totoki said in November 2023 the company was committed to launching just six of the 12 live service games it was working on by March 2026, in a shift in strategy that saw The Last of Us multiplayer game cancelled.

While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 was a breakout hit, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, Sony’s other live service games were either canceled or suffered disastrous launches.

Indeed, Sony’s Concord is one of the biggest video game disasters in PlayStation history, lasting just a couple of weeks before it was brought offline amid eye-wateringly low player numbers. Sony later decided to kill the game entirely and shut its developer.

And earlier this year, Sony reportedly canceled two unannounced live service games, one a God of War title in development at Bluepoint, the other in the works at Days Gone developer Bend.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

When the Nintendo Switch 2’s $450 USD price was announced it turned heads given this is a bigger sticker price then we’ve come to expect from Nintendo in the past. However, with the rise in production costs and other economic uncertainties like tariffs, analysts did predict the Switch 2 to cost around $400 USD at least.

Maybe the bigger shock was around the cost of Switch 2 games, which not only hit the new $70 USD standard for new games but also go as high as $80 in the case of games like Mario Kart World. Add in the additional cost of the various accessories if you want the full Switch 2 experience and it all totals a hefty sum.

But if you adjust the launch cost of previous Nintendo consoles for inflation, how does Switch 2 stack up? And how does the Switch 2 price also compare to other consoles? The results might surprise you...

Nintendo Switch 2 Price Vs Previous Nintendo Consoles

NES

The NES was released in 1985 and was sold for $179 USD at launch. That sounds like a bargain these days, but if you adjust the cost for inflation it would set you back $523 USD in 2025. Woof!

SNES

Nintendo followed it up in 1991 with the SNES, which at the time cost $199 USD. It was $20 dollars more back then but taking into account the additional inflation between the two launch years, it would cost $460 USD in 2025.

Nintendo 64

Nintendo’s big 3D revolution came when the Nintendo 64 was released in 1996, which came in at the same $199 price point as the SNES. However that’s $400 USD in today’s terms after adjustments for inflation.

Nintendo GameCube

The Nintendo GameCube, whose games will be available on the Switch 2 through the Nintendo Switch Online’s classic library, hit the shelves in 2001 for $199 or $359 USD in today’s dollars.

Wii

Nintendo’s bold next step after the GameCube was the motion-controlled Wii which went on to become a global phenomenon. In 2006, the Wii hit shelves at $249 USD or about $394 USD in 2025.

Wii U

Nintendo wasn’t as successful with its follow-up the Wii U. It was released in 2012 for $299 USD at launch or $415 USD in 2025, making it closer to the Switch 2’s pricing.

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo found its groove again with the Nintendo Switch, which will go down as one of Nintendo’s most-successful consoles of all time. The system hit stores in 2017 – nearly eight years ago – and retailed for $299 USD, or $387 USD in today’s dollars, so still cheaper than Switch 2 when it hits the shelves on June 5.

So there you have it, the original NES is the most expensive console Nintendo has ever launched if you adjust prices for inflation. Does that make Switch 2's price any easier to swallow? Absolutely not.

Now that we finally have a release date and tech specs on the highly anticipated Switch successor, Nintendo Switch 2 — as well as an idea of how much first-party Nintendo games cost on the new console — thoughts turn to the cost of the system itself.

While no prices were confirmed during the Nintendo Direct presentation, regional costings have since popped up on Nintendo's country-specific websites, leading to the realisation that the cheapest way to own Nintendo's new hardware is to be Japanese.

As highlighted in a cheeky tweet from Duolingo — the education app that teaches a range of languages, including Japanese — Japan is selling two different Switch consoles: a multi-language version, which sells for 69,980 yen (around $477), and a Japanese language-only edition for 49,980 yen (about $341).

Gamers, learn Japanese to save $133! https://t.co/misNmSstIf

— Duolingo (@duolingo) April 3, 2025

As Japan is the only country in the world offering a mono-language console option for a cheaper price, this means players content to play in Japanese can save over $100 compared to the system the rest of the world has to buy, which is selling for $449.99 in the U.S.

In some experts' opinions, the inflated international price may well be a result of U.S. president Donald Trump's recently announced international tariffs.

"Nintendo probably factored in possible tariffs, the current inflationary climate in the world and the $700 Sony dared to charge for the PlayStation 5 Pro last year," said Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games.

It may also be because Japan is "a key market for Nintendo," with the country accounting for a quarter (24%) of the Nintendo Switch installed base in 2024, compared with just 2% for Xbox Series X/S and 9% for PlayStation 5.

"If Switch 2 pricing in Japanese Yen was aligned with the U.S. Dollar price, it would dramatically weaken Nintendo's position in Japan, representing a doubling in the list price over the classic LCD Nintendo Switch model," explained James McWhirter, analyst at Omdia. "Yet if Nintendo continued to rely on region-specific pricing that is significantly cheaper in USD terms, they would face an issue with grey imports to other territories."

Even if you do happen to be fluent in Japanese, however, there are still barriers to getting hold of the cheaper system.

"The Japanese-Language System (Japan only) is designed for use in Japan only," states Nintendo's own website. "Only Japanese is available as the system language, and only Nintendo accounts with the country/region set to Japan can be linked to this system."

With these further limitations, coupled with the fact the Japanese-only variant is only available from the Japanese My Nintendo Store, Nintendo is essentially region-locking the console to keep costs down for Japanese players.

For more on why the Nintendo Switch 2 and its games are so expensive, check out our deep dive as we talk to industry experts.

For more on Nintendo Switch 2, you can catch up on everything shown at this week's Nintendo Direct right here.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

There’s no denying the excitement of a new console reveal, and Nintendo certainly delivered when it came to the new graphical capabilities of the Switch 2. Despite still no sign of a new 3D Mario game (it’s been almost eight years since Super Mario Odyssey, why must my pain continue?), we got the open-world Mario Kart World, the return of Donkey Kong to the limelight, and a pseudo-successor to Bloodborne in the shape of The Duskbloods. But one aspect of the reveal has overshadowed everything – the price. Not necessarily just the console itself – $449.99 isn’t an outrageous cost for a piece of new technology in 2025 – but the amount of money it will take to buy the games and accessories to enjoy Switch 2 to its fullest. So is the price of admission to Nintendo’s new toys really too high? Let’s take a look.

Many headlines have been written about the $80 price tag of Mario Kart World. It’s certainly an eye-opener in an age when we’re so used to $60 or $70 being the norm. The knee-jerk reaction is to say that it’s too much and Nintendo is squeezing us for every penny as it knows it’s the one game everyone will want at launch. Throw in another set of joy-con if you want to play with friends and family and that’ll be another $90. Want people from across the world to join you? A non-inexpensive Nintendo Online membership is required. It all tots up and when the reveal trailer was so focused on 24-player co-op and the ability to roam around its world with friends, taking advantage of the new GameChat and photo mode features, it’s hard not to think it's all a bit cynical.

Of course, the counterargument is that it presents good value for money in terms of dollars to hours of enjoyment. World will likely be the only Mario Kart game to be released on the Nintendo Switch 2 if Mario Kart 8’s decade-long lifetime is anything to go by. Is $80 a reasonable amount to charge for a game that will likely provide many years of enjoyment? In an age where free-to-play games such as Fortnite are now the norm, have our perspectives of value for money been skewed? I imagine someone who puts as many hours into Fortnite over a five-year period as a Mario Kart player will likely spend $80 on battle passes and skins. Yes, these examples are apples and oranges, but in a time when a cinema trip for the whole family can easily cost $80 for two hours of animated slop, a decade of Mario Kart doesn’t seem too bad.

Granted, Donkey Kong Bananza is listed at a cheaper $69.99 price, so maybe this is a case of Nintendo knowing they can ask what they want for Mario Kart, one of the planet’s most popular game series. But it does set a worrying precedent, and with the Switch 2 versions of Kirby and the Forgotten Land and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom both also costing $80, the strategy is a little baffling. For a company like Nintendo, which has also appeared player-first and generous in its offerings, it raises the question of whether other game publishers will follow in the footsteps of these inflated game prices. GTA 6, we’re all looking at you. It also turns the attention to how generational leaps between consoles will go in the future when it comes to the cost of upgrading older games.

PlayStation has been doing this for years, consistently offering $10 upgrades to some of its PS4 games making the jump to PS5, with Days Gone doing exactly that later this month. The price for enhanced versions of Switch games on the Switch 2 is yet to be revealed though; if it’s the same as Sony charges then I doubt there’ll be much of an outcry – $10 for a superior frame rate, greater resolution in 4K, and even extra gameplay additions isn’t a bad deal. But if it’s $20 or $30, I’m not sure I’ll be investing in many of these upgrades.

For example, you can currently buy Tears of the Kingdom on Amazon for $52, a whole $28 less than the Switch 2 edition will cost. Surely the upgrade won’t be quite that much? The difference is even starker in the UK, where it’s currently £45 for the Switch version, but £75 for Switch 2. The MSRP for the original Switch version of TOTK is $70, so does that mean the upgrade will be just $10? If that’s the case, why not just buy a Switch copy from Amazon and then get the upgrade pack for another $10, saving yourself almost $20 in the process?

Of course, this is all speculation but the only indicator we have so far is the enhanced versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom being available as part of a Nintendo Online + Expansion Pack membership, of which the cost is currently $49.99 a year. Assuming that the price doesn’t get raised in the next two months (I wouldn’t be hugely surprised if it does at some point though, Netflix currently charges me $4 million dollars and the soul of my firstborn just to watch Love is Blind), an upgraded Zelda as part of that isn’t the worst deal in the world. But what happens if I cancel my membership? Do I have to go back to playing 1080p, slightly framey Zelda until I resub? These are all questions that need answering.

Finally, we have perhaps the most baffling choice of all: the decision to charge for Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. This virtual exhibition littered with minigames reeks of hardware pack-in energy and is the sort of thing you’d expect to be greeted with when loading a new console up for the first time. Astro’s Playroom came free with all PlayStation 5s and was an incredibly generous platformer that both evoked Nintendo’s brand of invention and celebrated PlayStation history while welcoming the new addition to its console family. It felt like Sony learned the right lessons from Nintendo and Wii Sports, whereas Switch 2 Welcome Tour feels like Nintendo taking pages out of the borderline arrogance Sony displayed during its expensive PS3 launch.

I don’t think the Switch 2 will be a step backward for Nintendo like Sony’s jump into the high-definition generation was though. It has enough forward momentum and goodwill from the original Switch, not to mention its frankly absurd library of games, to falter massively. The Switch 2 console itself looks like an impressive if not slightly safe improvement on what’s come before. The games we’ve seen so far largely look great too, with many more to come I’m sure (Mario, come on, mate). I just hope Nintendo doesn’t get too greedy and learns from the instant backlash of the cost of some of its launch offerings. No one wants $80 to be the new standard price of video games, so let’s hope Nintendo doesn’t make that a reality.

Does the cost of the Switch 2 and its accompanying games, upgrades, and peripherals completely overshadow the reveal? Not quite for me. But it certainly didn’t result in it being the universal success that Nintendo hoped it would be.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

It’s all kicking off in the Tekken community. This week IGN reported on how Tekken 8 players had reacted in anger to the Season 2 update because of big changes it made to the way the fighting game played.

Patch notes revealed an across-the-board buff to character damage potential and offensive pressure, which caused some within the community to complain that Tekken 8 has strayed too far from the classic Tekken experience.

The backlash got so bad that some pro Tekken players threatened to ditch the game, while others took to Steam to leave angry negative reviews.

In response, the Tekken development team at Bandai Namco issued a statement acknowledging the furore, and confirming an “emergency patch” would be released this month to address Paul and Jack specifically, with more balance changes to come.

Fighters,

we are aware of the current community feedback regarding #TEKKEN8 Season 2.
We are carefully reviewing the balance of the game; expect more information about these changes soon.

In addition, an emergency patch will be released in April to adress the following issues👇 pic.twitter.com/Gvet0IOISu

— TEKKEN (@TEKKEN) April 3, 2025

Now, Tekken development chief has waded in, tweeting one person’s complaint that the Tekken community had gone too far in directing its anger at specific staff on social media.

“In any case, it is clear to me that the result is a disconnect between what the community wants and the tuning results,” Harada said.

“I understand that whatever words I may be accused by the community about it, that is not the essential issue and it is not the time to worry about it.

“We have our Battle & Tuning team working around the clock to read through all the feedback logs from the community and work on future policies and changes for the better.

“Thanks.”

Tekken characters in Season 2 pic.twitter.com/n6UTHsSswn

— K-Wiss 🉐 (@KungFuKobi) April 3, 2025

It seems unlikely that Harada’s comment will calm the angry responses from the Tekken community, or stem the tide of negative user reviews on Steam. Recent reviews there are now ‘overwhelmingly negative’ after thousands of negative reviews were left in the last week.

“I am baffled,” reads the current “most helpful” user review. “I never seen devs so out of touch with the community.

“New season dropped and they made every character into a braindead easy mix up machine without a single buff to defense. From the start of Tekken 8 players were vocal about the prominence of easy mix-ups and the glaring nerfs to defense compared to past Tekken games and yet they do a huge patch with lots of new moves that emphasise on every aspect the players disliked about the game.

“No-one, literally no-one asked for these changes, even new players never asked for more offense in a game that clearly lacks defensive options and is easy to mash button and win like in most Tekken games.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

With Mario Kart World cruising its way onto store shelves at $80, Nintendo fans who were otherwise stoked about the promise of the Nintendo Switch 2 have spent the last 24 hours balking at the prospect of doling out that many coins, even for a game they feel is a must-have.

We wrote earlier today about why Mario Kart World, as well as the Nintendo Switch 2 itself and many of its accessories, are so dang expensive. But knowing the “why” of it doesn’t really ease the pain on the wallet. What’s more, we learned just this morning that a number of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, will also be $80. And with the AAA game price increase from $60 to $70 still firmly within recent memory, fans are now worried that more and more games, Nintendo or otherwise, are going to start getting more and more and more expensive.

So what does the future hold? Are $80 games the new Nintendo normal?

As usual, rather than speculate ourselves, we went and found some expert analysts to tell us what they think is going to happen.

A New Nintendo Normal

NYU Stern professor and author of SuperJoost Playlist, Joost van Dreunen, believes Nintendo is using Mario Kart World as a “test case for premium pricing,” and will evaluate consumer response before applying this more broadly. Spoilers: the response hasn’t been great so far! But sentiment is not the same as sales, and Nintendo will likely measure success by how well Mario Kart World actually sells.

“If the $80 price point succeeds, Nintendo will likely extend it selectively to their most valuable franchises rather than making it standard across their first-party lineup. Franchises that could potentially justify the premium pricing include:

• The Legend of Zelda - the next mainline entry following Tears of the Kingdom could command $80 given the series' prestige and the expansive scope these games typically offer.
• New 3D Mario adventures - for major releases in the vein of Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo could position these as premium products.
• Super Smash Bros. - the next installment of this franchise would be a strong candidate for premium pricing due to its extensive roster and competitive staying power.

“Games that likely wouldn't justify the premium price include smaller-scale entries, remasters, and series with more niche appeal. Nintendo will probably maintain a tiered pricing strategy, with their tent-pole franchises at $80, mid-tier releases at $60-70, and smaller titles at traditional price points.”

Rhys Elliott, games analyst at Alinea Analytics, had a similar take, pointing to the top 10 best-selling Nintendo Switch games as a guide for what we might see get an $80 price tag in the future. “I could see Nintendo pricing mainline Pokémon games, mainline Zelda games, and the inevitably imminent 3D Mario and Animal Crossing games at $80 physical (but $70 digital still).”

And James McWhirter, analyst at Omdia, added a suggested hypothetical Splatoon 4 to the list of possibilities, along with another thought on future monetization:

“For titles that do not adopt the $80 base price, Nintendo could lean in more heavily in alternative forms of monetisation, including those it has so far refrained from using, such as tying paid early access to higher value editions of its games.”

Grand Theft, Grand Price?

That covers Nintendo, but what about other games? Earlier this year, we covered a flurry of speculation on one specifically: Grand Theft Auto 6. At the time, we were responding to rumors and discussion that Take-Two might price the sequel to the over 200 million selling blockbuster at $80, $90, or even $100. Analysts suggested that the high end of this was rather unlikely, but what about now? Will Grand Theft Auto 6 cost $80... or even more?

Tiago Reis, market analyst at Newzoo, certainly thinks so. “For sure. Big hits that are highly anticipated (e.g., GTA 6, new CODs) can get away with it due to franchise recognition. Most people are not going to stop buying these games because they are $10 more expensive. If consumers are willing to wait, they can get it at a discount a couple of months after release. But by then, these companies have already extracted max value/price from the people who are less price sensitive.”

Reis’ colleague Lauren Universe, client services manager at Newzoo, added: “Frankly, I expect base GTA to be at least $80, with multiple options of various increased prices (like Civ 7) that include expansions, DLCs, and ‘early access.’”

Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, agreed, and even expanded on who might be interested in raising prices beyond just Take-Two. “I do believe there is a chance that companies like Microsoft or Sony could feel encouraged to raise their prices now. Would you be shocked if Take-Two now thought to themselves: ‘If Nintendo can charge $80 for a Mario Kart game, we can do the same for GTA 6 - a title thousands of people have been working on for 12 years?”

Nuno Domingues Marques, also a market analyst at Newzoo, similarly brought up Sony and Microsoft as possible candidates for price hikes. “I am unsure if Sony/Xbox will wait for their next generation to make the push or if they will adjust post-Switch launch, but certainly, it seems like the way forward. Third-party publishers will jump on it as soon as they feel it is justified, which is likely ASAP. Not all exclusive games will cost $80, in my opinion though. Games like Ratchet & Clank or other smaller niche experiences are likely to keep lower price points.”

But Elliott pushed back a bit on the idea that Mario Kart World could have opened a higher pricing floodgate. He pointed out that at least in the UK and Europe (U.S. price discrepancies are still unconfirmed), Nintendo is charging more for the physical edition of Mario Kart World than digital in an effort to push more consumers toward the digital edition. But he suspects that because the other two console platforms are far more digitally-oriented than Nintendo (something he discussed in more detail in our other piece on the Switch 2 pricing), this would be a tougher sell for other publishers.

“While I believe Take Two could charge over $70 for GTA 6, I maintain that it is a bad idea for three reasons. [One,] the real cash cow is GTA Online and its recurring revenues, so limiting the total addressable audience at launch wouldn't be smart. There’s also a cost-of-living crisis happening globally and GTA appeals to everyone – rich and less fortunate.

"[Two,] Rockstar needs to move players from GTA 5, and a higher floor for the switching cost would limit the GTA 5-to-GTA 6 player acquisition. Players not budging from GTA 5 is probably one of GTA 6's biggest threats, one GTA hasn't really faced before. After all, live services are mostly zero-sum in today's oversaturated attention economy. GTA 6 isn't just competing against competitors' games, it's competing with TikTok, Netflix, and even its predecessor.

"[Three,] Rockstar can easily charge $100 or more for an edition of GTA 6 with a week of early access, maybe with a shark card thrown in. Players with disposable income will pay for it. This is the best of both worlds for Take-Two. This is pretty much the norm for AAA games these days.”

Elliott concluded that even with all that in mind, GTA 6 nonetheless stands a better chance than any other game at withstanding a price hike with its consumer base intact. So ultimately, the question of GTA 6’s pricing remains an impossible one to answer up to the point where Take-Two finally announces it.

Living in Interesting Times

I’ll end on a hopeful note, though, which I got from both Mat Piscatella, analyst at Circana, and a couple of analysts at Newzoo. These folks told me that while we’re likely to keep seeing games get more expensive (and, as Piscatella points out, have already been for a while via Collector’s Editions and similar), we may also see them get cheaper in certain ways.

“Other Nintendo games will certainly follow suit,” said Brett Hunt, market analyst at Newzoo. “It could, however, open the door for Nintendo to have an adjusted discounting strategy for the Switch 2.”

Marques agreed. “Maybe we will see a bigger window of pricing as well, as seen from the Donkey Kong game. Creation of space for multiple different-sized games; games that cost $49.99, $59.99, etc., having distinct content depth and breadth expectations. I agree that maybe a new discounting strategy is coming from Nintendo.”

And as Piscatella put it, Nintendo may not be the only company that sees the need to break with $70 convention in more than just one way. “We certainly could see other publishers try and establish even higher base prices for some of their new games. But we could also see more significant price promotion and discounting as well.

"With all of the uncertainty in the market, we're at a point where both publishers and consumers will have to figure out where things go next. These are, after all, interesting times."

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

If you're looking for Blox Fruits codes, IGN has what you need! In this article, you'll find all the latest and working Blox Fruits codes in April 2025 that you can redeem for free rewards and bonuses, including 2x EXP for a set time, a title, and stat resets.

Active Blox Fruits Codes (April 2025)

Below, you'll find all the active and working Blox Fruits codes in April 2025 and the rewards you get for redeeming them:

• KITT_RESET: 1x Stat Refund
• Sub2UncleKizaru: 1x Stat Refund
• SUB2GAMERROBOT_RESET1: 1x Stat Refund
• fudd10_v2: $2
• Fudd10: $1
• Bignews: "Big News" in-game title (speak to The Title Specialist under the Cafe in the Second Sea)
• SUB2GAMERROBOT_EXP1: 2x EXP for 30 minutes
• Sub2Fer999: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• TantaiGaming: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• kittgaming: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Enyu_is_Pro: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Sub2CaptainMaui: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Magicbus: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Sub2OfficialNoobie: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• TheGreatAce: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• JCWK: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Bluxxy: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Axiore: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Starcodeheo: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• StrawHatMaine: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Sub2Daigrock: 2x EXP for 20 minutes
• Sub2NoobMaster123: 2x EXP for 15 minutes

Expired Blox Fruits Codes

Here are all the expired Blox Fruits codes that are no longer working in April 2025 and can no longer be redeemed:

• ADMINFIGHT
• BANEXPLOIT
• NOMOREHACK
• FIGHT4FRUIT
• WildDares
• BossBuild
• GetPranked
• EARN_FRUITS
• NOEXPLOITER
• DEVSCOOKING
• REWARDFUN
• ADMIN_STRENGTH
• THIRDSEA
• JULYUPDATE_RESET

How to Redeem Blox Fruits Codes in Roblox

To redeem Blox Fruits codes and get free rewards in Roblox, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Blox Fruits Roblox experience.
2. Click on the blue gift icon on the left-hand side above the Compass to open the Reward Codes menu.
3. Enter the code in the "Enter code here" box.
4. Double check it's inputted correctly and then click "Redeem!" to redeem the code.

Why Isn't My Blox Fruits Code Working?

If the Blox Fruits code you're trying to input isn't working, it's likely due to one of two potential reasons:

• There's a typo in the Blox Fruits code.
• The Blox Fruits code is expired.

When entering a code into Blox Fruits, ensure it's spelled correctly (for example, capital O and not 0 and vice versa) and that there are no accidental spaces before or after the code. The best way to ensure there are no errors is to copy and paste directly from our article.

If the code still isn't working, then it is probably expired and no longer working.

How to Get More Blox Fruits Codes in Roblox

The best way to get more Blox Fruits codes is to join the Roblox experience's Discord server. While we do check for new codes and update this article regularly, joining the Blox Fruits Discord ensures you'll be notified in real time whenever there's a new one for you to redeem. Additionally, new codes are often posted to the Blox Fruits YouTube channel by the developer.

What is Blox Fruits in Roblox?

Blox Fruits is a Roblox experience inspired by the popular pirate anime One Piece, and is available on PC, console, and mobile devices. In it, you sail the seas as either a Marine or a Pirate to undertake various quests and find Blox Fruits that give you supernatural powers.

Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she's not working, you can find her adventuring around Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV or making miniatures.