Pokemon Pokopia might be the sleeper hit of the year, but it's a game that you'll have to shell out a little bit extra for if you're planning to grab it through Amazon. With the game in high demand, Amazon temporarily hiked the price on the physical edition of Pokemon Pokopia up from $70 to $80, but at the time of writing, it has dropped back down to $70--possibly due to some bad press and people complaining online. Still, Amazon could have set a worrying precedent for the future.
What makes the situation even stranger is that Pokemon Pokopia is a Game-Key Card release--that means there's no game on the cartridge, as it's essentially an authentication key that you can use to download the game directly to your Switch 2 console and play it so long as it remains inserted. Third-party studios have largely embraced this format for a wide variety of releases, but Pokemon Pokopia is the first Nintendo exclusive to adopt this physical format, which has raised questions amongst video game preservationists about the future of their purchases.
Amazon is also offering a digital download code for Pokemon Pokopia at its MSRP for $70, but what's really worrying here is that the company could kickstart a new trend with game releases. After all, if the largest online retail platform can get away with charging more than the listed MSRP, what's to stop other retailers from doing the same? Back when we started to see video game prices increase from $60 to $70 starting in 2020 for standard editions, the industry quickly shifted to this new pricing status quo, and we've even seen Nintendo launch games like Mario Kart World for $80.
Currently, it looks like the line in the sand is at $70, but if Amazon can put on its scalper hat and convince people to chip in an extra $10 for a new game, it likely won't hesitate to do so again with the next popular release. For now, stores like Best Buy, Walmart, and Target haven't copied Amazon's sales strategy. After all, an MSRP is a recommended price. Retailers are more than capable of selling something above its intended price, albeit with the risk of losing out on sales when the competition offers it at a lower price. But if everyone is hiking prices for new goods? Then that's a reason to be concerned for the future of physical game releases, especially when some retailers believe that video game prices need to go up to maintain the overall stability of a market that tariffs and component shortages have rocked.
Of course, Pokemon Pokopia might be an anomaly. If the game had a low print run, that might have been be a tactical decision by Nintendo to push more people toward the digital edition--which costs the same and doesn't require Nintendo to balance the physical-edition costs with the expenses related to releasing a physical edition of the game like printing cover art or manufacturing boxes--and not have to worry about handing over some of the profits to a middleman retailer. Either that, or the company didn't expect Pokemon Pokopia to blow up on the sales chart, originally.
So, should you still play Pokemon Pokopia? Absolutely, if you're into a chill mix of cozy crafting and Viva Piñata vibes. As Amazon's brief experiment has shown, the real question might be your choice of format when you're ringing up your purchase.
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What makes the situation even stranger is that Pokemon Pokopia is a Game-Key Card release--that means there's no game on the cartridge, as it's essentially an authentication key that you can use to download the game directly to your Switch 2 console and play it so long as it remains inserted. Third-party studios have largely embraced this format for a wide variety of releases, but Pokemon Pokopia is the first Nintendo exclusive to adopt this physical format, which has raised questions amongst video game preservationists about the future of their purchases.
Amazon is also offering a digital download code for Pokemon Pokopia at its MSRP for $70, but what's really worrying here is that the company could kickstart a new trend with game releases. After all, if the largest online retail platform can get away with charging more than the listed MSRP, what's to stop other retailers from doing the same? Back when we started to see video game prices increase from $60 to $70 starting in 2020 for standard editions, the industry quickly shifted to this new pricing status quo, and we've even seen Nintendo launch games like Mario Kart World for $80.
Currently, it looks like the line in the sand is at $70, but if Amazon can put on its scalper hat and convince people to chip in an extra $10 for a new game, it likely won't hesitate to do so again with the next popular release. For now, stores like Best Buy, Walmart, and Target haven't copied Amazon's sales strategy. After all, an MSRP is a recommended price. Retailers are more than capable of selling something above its intended price, albeit with the risk of losing out on sales when the competition offers it at a lower price. But if everyone is hiking prices for new goods? Then that's a reason to be concerned for the future of physical game releases, especially when some retailers believe that video game prices need to go up to maintain the overall stability of a market that tariffs and component shortages have rocked.
Of course, Pokemon Pokopia might be an anomaly. If the game had a low print run, that might have been be a tactical decision by Nintendo to push more people toward the digital edition--which costs the same and doesn't require Nintendo to balance the physical-edition costs with the expenses related to releasing a physical edition of the game like printing cover art or manufacturing boxes--and not have to worry about handing over some of the profits to a middleman retailer. Either that, or the company didn't expect Pokemon Pokopia to blow up on the sales chart, originally.
So, should you still play Pokemon Pokopia? Absolutely, if you're into a chill mix of cozy crafting and Viva Piñata vibes. As Amazon's brief experiment has shown, the real question might be your choice of format when you're ringing up your purchase.
Source