Mario Kart Worldcaused quite a scene when it was announced for the Nintendo Switch 2. There was nothing wrong with its gameplay, and many liked the introduction of an open world andMario Kart World’sexpanded roster. The issue didn’t lie with the game itself, but rather its price. That’s becauseMario Kart Worldis the very first triple-A $80 game, something that shocked fans quite considerably, and may have even made some reconsider picking up the Switch 2 at launch. However, when put into context, it may not seem as bad.
A lot of games nowadays cost more than they feel like they should, but when looking back at older titles, like how muchGTA 6costs versusGTA 1when adjusted for inflation, we get an interesting glimpse into whether games have increased cost while delivering less value, or vice versa. Several other factors contribute to the reactions fans had specifically toMario Kart World’spricing, which should also be taken into consideration. It’s a nuanced topic, butit’s always worth comparingMario Kart Worldto the other games in the series to gauge whether it’s priced fairly.
Mario Kart World Stirred Up Controversy For Costing $80 At Launch
It Was The First $80 Triple-A Game
Mario Kart World, for all intents and purposes, is a pretty good game.MK World’sglowing reviewspoint to a pretty stellar launch title for the Switch 2, and the fact that it was packaged in with a slightly more expensive, yet still better value, bundle made it all the more appealing. However, despite the kind words from critics and even fans,it has proven hard for many to shake its $80 price tag, not least because, in the eyes of many, while it is still a phenomenalMario Kart Worldgame, it doesn’t live up to that price point.
When Nintendo first announced thatMario Kart Worldwould not only be the first Nintendo game to cost $80, but the first triple-A game ever made to cost $80 for the standard edition,people across the world were genuinely shocked. Now, with the announcement of other triple-A games, especially first-party Xbox titles, hitting that price point, it definitely feels like$80 games are sticking around. There are a lot of factors that go into that, from rising production costs, global events, the never-ending woes of tariff changes, and general inflation.
Of course, while a lot of those issues do apply to the everyday person, with the cost-of-living crisis still affecting people worldwide and wages not increasing to meet inflation,$80 for a game suddenly seems extortionately expensive.Mario Kart World, a game that more or less takes the perfected formula fromMario Kart 8 Deluxeand adds some extra features, doesn’t, in the eyes of many online, do enough to justify that increased price tag. That is especially true when you consider thatMK Worldis missing features, many of which fans would have loved to see.
How Much Other MK Games Cost Compared To MK World
It Is More Than You Think
Of course, it is interesting to look back onpreviousMario Kartgames, and how their cost at launch has changed with inflation. That way, we can see whether games have actually increased beyond inflation or whether they’ve mostly stayed the same. $80 certainly seems like a lot more, especially when less than a decade ago we were paying $60, but when put into perspective with otherMario Kartgames specifically, it isn’t actually that high, withotherMario Kartgames, at least adjusted for inflation, costing significantly more.
Of course,there is plenty of nuance around this topic, as while the cost may have adjusted fairly based on inflation, a large percentage of people’s wages haven’t, thus leading to a lot of everyday essentials and hobby-related items feeling more expensive than ever before. The goal should always be to strike a balance between what the developer and publisher need in order to recoup costs and avoid going bankrupt, thus allowing them to continue producing games for our entertainment, and what the consumer can actually afford in the contemporary economic climate.
By using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’inflation calculator, we can see how much everyMario Kartgame fromSuper Mario Kartfrom 1992, all the way toMario Kart World’spredecessor - and arguably thebestMario Kartgame-Mario Kart 8 Deluxefrom 2017, would cost today, based on how much they cost when they released. This is all based on USD and inflation in the US. Below you’ll find a table of everyMario Kartgame, when they launched, how much they cost at launch, and how much they cost adjusted for inflation today.
$54.99
$125.11
$59.99
$120.83
$44.99
$81.48
$104.52
$34.99
$56.92
$49.99
$74.81
$39.99
$56.96
$81.06
$78.87
As the launch costs for earlierMario Kartgames can be hard to source, these were retrieved from historical data.Super Mario Kart’sprice was found in the 1993 Electronics Boutique catalog scanned by the websiteHuguesJohnson.com.Mario Kart 64’scost was sourced from an Australian catalog from the time that was uploaded to the Australian 90s 00s NostalgiaFacebookpage, and then converted to USD. Finally,Super Circuit’sprice was found in a Sears catalog from 2001 that was uploaded to the websitechristmas.musetechnical.com.
What’s The Most Expensive Mario Kart At Launch, When Adjusted For Inflation?
It Is The One You’d Think Would Be The Cheapest
The most expensiveMario Kartgame, when adjusted for inflation, isSuper Mario Karton the SNES. However, there’s a good reason for that, as games in the early 90s cost significantly more to produce and distribute than they do now. The cost of each cartridge and the distribution of the profit per sold unit meant that games had to be priced higher, as seen in this breakdown uploaded toVGJUNK. Gaming was also not as widespread, which called for bigger and more expensive marketing campaigns. There were also no digital platforms from which to cheaply distribute digital products.
When factoring in production costs and the increased popularity of gaming at the time,Double Dashis the most unreasonably expensive game in the series when adjusted for inflation
However,Double Dash, which was on the GameCube, also comes in at quite a high cost when adjusted for inflation. GameCube games were produced on Nintendo-created optical discs, which were significantly cheaper to produce than the cartridgesMario Kart 64andSuper Mario Kartwere on. Realistically, then,when factoring in production costs and the increased popularity of gaming at the time,Double Dashis the most unreasonably expensive gamein the series when adjusted for inflation, although that’s no surprise considering thebest GameCube gamesare still extortionately priced today.
The cheapest are naturally theMario Kartgames released for the Nintendo DS and 3DS, which were sold at a significantly lower price than traditional console games. That was the case with all games released on Nintendo’s older handheld devices, so they naturally come in at a lower cost when adjusted for inflation. However,the rest of theMario Kartgames all come in around $80, which makesMario Kart World’scost seem a tad more understandable.
Again, none of that accounts for the fact that wages haven’t increased, meaning that $80 seems more expensive than $60 did in 2017, even if those two figures are now roughly the same when adjusted for inflation. Regardless, it is interesting to see just howMario Kart Worldstacks up against otherMario Kartgames when it comes to cost.Mario Kart Worldmay not be the best first-party Switch 2 game, but it is still a great game and a welcome entry in the series, and one everyone interested should check out when they deem the price affordable.
