Nintendo confirmed earlier this year that there would be a price difference between digital and physical first-party releases on Switch 2. But third-party retailers either didn't get the memo or are refusing to comply. That's because Amazon and Walmart continue to price match Nintendo's digital prices for upcoming pre-orders.
Nintendo now has plenty of calendars lined up for the remainder of 2026 thanks to Tuesday's Direct. We already knew that Star Fox would be coming to Switch 2 before the end of June, and Splatoon Raiders in July. Additionally, release dates for other Switch 2 exclusives have now been confirmed, including Orbitals and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave. Both will be released in September.
Amazon and Walmart don't apply the extra $10 to actual games.
You can pre-order one of these games now through Nintendo, and all four are getting a physical release along with their digital versions. However, you will be charged $10 more for a physical copy. That is, unless you pre-order the game through Amazon or Walmart instead.
Star Fox is a $50 game. Unless you want a physical copy, at least it's a $60 game if you buy it directly from Nintendo. Amazon and Walmart are refusing to differentiate on price and are charging the same price for digital copies of Star Fox as they are for physical copies. Star Fox pre-orders are $50 at both retailers, regardless of which version you purchase.
In most cases, you won't see the price until the game is added to your cart.
The same goes for Fortune's Weave. Nintendo is charging a $10 tax on physical first-party games, so it's joining the growing library of $80 titles. This is also evidence that, despite how Nintendo framed its new pricing system when it was announced, it was more of a price increase for physical games than a cost reduction for digital games.
Nintendo's website may be the only place Fortune's Weave sells the $80 game. Because like Star Fox, there is no price difference between the physical and digital versions at other major retailers. The same applies to Orbitals, which costs just $40. From what we've seen of the game so far, it looks like a steal.
The resistance to adopting the $10 Nintendo system lasted longer than we expected.
Sometimes Walmart sells games at a discount, like Splatoon Raiders. While that approach hasn't been applied to all of the Switch 2 games mentioned above, it's technically true that the price has been reduced by $10. This could potentially mean that the price will eventually rise to the new Nintendo standard for physical games after launch.
This isn't the first time a retailer has decided not to charge different prices for physical and digital versions of the same Switch 2 game. Walmart did not change its prices immediately after Nintendo's announcement. There were suggestions at the time that this may have changed once Nintendo sold all of their stock and new pre-orders began. These most recent listings not only suggest otherwise, but that both Amazon and Amazon will continue to undercut Nintendo's prices for physical versions of its own games.
- brand
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nintendo
- original release date
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June 5, 2025
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$449.99
- operating system
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ownership
- solve
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1080p (portable) / 4K (docked)
- HDR support
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yes
