Former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has bodyslammed his way into the discussion around Switch 2 pricing with a string of posts on social media highlighting his decision during the Wii era to make Wii Sports a free pack-in game.
Posting on X last night, Fils-Aime did not mention the Switch 2 specifically, but the timing and content of his tweets – a series of clips from an IGN video interview discussing pack-in game initiatives he spearheaded – made his meaning clear.
As a reminder, Switch 2’s announcement livestreams from Nintendo were met with a constant stream of comments demanding the company drop the console’s price – and that was before Nintendo paused its pre-order plans in the US and Canada in the face of tariffs that could push the cost of the system even higher.
There has been criticism for Nintendo’s decision to charge £75/$80 for Mario Kart World – a new high price point for the company, though one it has subsequently defended as being justified by the game’s content and example of new “variable pricing” for its games.
And finally, many fans have said Nintendo should pack-in Switch 2 Welcome Tour, a game experience I played last week and can best describe as a mix of interactive instruction manual and string of throwaway tech demos. In the US, Nintendo has confirmed the game, which will only be available as a digital download, will cost $10. Here in the UK, Nintendo is yet to set a price.
Should Switch 2 Welcome Tour be a pack-in game? Fils-Aime reignited the debate last night by tweeting “The story of Wii Sports pack in…” and then a clip where he makes clear that the decision to include Wii Sports with the Wii console was an initiative that came from him alone.
“It’s an understatement to say Mr Miyamoto pushed back,” Fils-Aime says during the interview, highlighting that his idea was not universally beloved (thanks, IGN).
“I proceded to piss Mr Miyamoto off again by suggesting we bundle Wii Play with the Wii Remote,” Fils-Aime says in a second clip. “And he was not happy about that either.”
“And the results,” Fils Aime then posted, with a third clip that contains the following recollection by himself:
“In the Americas and Europe, Wii Sports was packed in, with the Wii proposition. It was not in Japan, which created a bit of a test market. And it was obvious that in the markets where Wii Sports was packed in that Wii became much more of a phenomenon, Wii Sports itself became much more of a phenomenon. And we did pack the Remote with Wii Play and I think it became the fifth-bestselling piece of software in the history of Wii.”
“A mix of instruction manual, developer blog and collection of mini tech demos, this game lets you answer quizzes, test out the Joy-Con 2’s cursor controls and rumble, witness the console’s HDR and rumble features and even play a mini-game where you have to try and guess an object’s frame-rate,” I wrote about Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour during my hands-on time with Nintendo Switch 2. For this, and DragxDrive, pricing will absolutely be key.