Indie Game Rime Costs More on the Switch

The developers of Rime, a third person adventure, and puzzle game recently announced that they will be launching the game on May 26th for Xbox One, PS4, PC. They also confirmed their plans to release Rime on the Switch later this year, although you'll have to spend $10 more for the Nintendo version of the game. Is this the start of a Nintendo tax? Regardless if this will become a common practice, it has owners and fans of the switch relatively worried.

Rime was originally supposed to launch as a PlayStation exclusive until Tequila Works (developers) got the rights from Sony, and decided to turn it into a multiplatform game. Rime will be releasing at the price of $30 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC, while it will be coming to the Switch in the near future for $40. While explanations have been given by Nintendo and the Rime publishers for the increase in price solely for the Switch, they are rather vague and somewhat suspicious.  

A representative of Grey Box (Rime publisher) told Kotaku that We set prices for our products based on the costs of development and publishing for each specific platform,. The representative of Grey Box also admitted that the cost of manufacturing is definitely a factor in their Switch copy of the game being more expensive. While people are debating the cost of cartridges vs Blue Ray, it seems rather unlikely that this is the reason for the steep increase in price for the Switch's copy. When the Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime was asked about why games cost more on the switch, he responded saying that they are not involved in the pricing whatsoever and that the third party publisher is solely responsible.

When you see those differences in prices, call up that third-party publisher and ask them.

Hopefully, this practice of overpricing games on the Switch does not become common solely because of the Switch's worldwide popularity. Regardless, this is not a good sign at all.