Rime Can't Lower Physical Cost Without Losing Money On the Switch

It turns out that porting a game over to the Nintendo Switch can turn out to be fairly expensive. For example, Tequila Works' Rime was initially announced at a $10 price increase on the Switch and people didn't receive that news relatively well. At first glance, it may seem like a cash-grab due to an immensely popular new console but publisher Grey Box actually brought up a factual reason. Grey Box is lowering the digital cost of Rime to $29.99, but they can't afford to lower the physical copy's price.

They explained that they simply can't match the $29.99 price tag of other platforms due to the the additional development, manufacturing, and publishing costs involved with porting over to the Switch. Due to the high cost of manufacturing cartridges for the Switch, Grey Box is forced to sell Rime at $39.99 on the Switch. Although fans of the game may not be happy about this, Grey Box is including a copy of Rime's soundtrack ($10 retail value) with the physical copy of the game in the hopes of adding more value to the package.

Grey Box seems to be doing their absolute best to please fans while at the same time still make a profit. It seems like porting games over to the Switch may not be as simple as some developers/publishers initially anticipated, and this example will definitely be kept in mind for future Switch ports.