Skyrim: Anniversary Edition is the first major $70 title on the Switch

[mongeese]

What just happened? Skyrim: Anniversary Edition debuted unexpectedly on the Nintendo Switch last week at the sky-high price of $70. It claims the dubious honor of being the first AAA title to break the $60 barrier on the handheld device, and it's also the most expensive edition of Skyrim to come out in recent memory.

Skyrim on the Switch has always been an oddball. It launched on November 17, 2017, and, apart from the addition of some trinkets borrowed from Breath of the Wild, is a straight port of the original game. Yes, the original game — not the Special Edition from 2016 or the Legendary Edition from 2013.

Bethesda released the Anniversary Edition on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on November 11 last year to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the original game. It cost $50 outright but was also available as a $20 upgrade for Special Edition owners. Many players deemed it too costly, and Bethesda discounted it to $30 on consoles by December.

Now Bethesda expects some of those same fans to pick it up for even more on the handheld? Kotaku theorizes that Bethesda chose the $70 price point because they didn't want to discount the base game, which still costs $60.

Who would have thought Skyrim would be the game to show up with the 70 dollar price point on Switch. pic.twitter.com/u78HJZbuDT

— Spawn Wave (@SpawnWaveMedia) September 29, 2022

The point is that charging $70 for the title now is almost comical. It's also --once again --available as a $20 upgrade for owners of the base game, which is a slightly better proposition. But at the end of the day, it amounts to an unreasonable levy imposed on the game's most diehard fans.

There are titles in the Switch store that cost more than $70 and similarly come bundled with DLC and other bonus content. Skyrim aside, no major release has jumped from the $60 price point that has held steadfast for about fifteen years to the looming $70 standard. It's only a matter of time until other publishers join Bethesda.

Take-Two was the first to announce that it was slowly increasing its prices to account for the swelling costs of production. Ubisoft, Activision, Sony, and Square Enix have all adopted the $70 entry point on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. I'd wager that The Elder Scrolls: VI will also cost $70.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96173-skyrim-anniversary-edition-first-major-70-title-switch.html

 

[RudyBob]

OH Boy! LOL

 

[yRaz]

Games went from $40 to $50 and then $50 to $60. Now, in pure Bethesda fashion, they're going to raise the price of new games. Not only did they create microtransactions(horse armor) they're now going to raise the base price of games. Not with a new game, but one that is 11 years old and many of us own multiple copies of ANYWAY.

We don't purchase the game, we purchase the right to play it. So, frankly, if we purchase the right to play it on one platform we should have the right to play it on any platform

 

[brucek]

The Bethesda PR team may not be working over the weekend, so I'll suggest a PR blurb for them: "With game development costs having gone up substantially for new technologies such as 4K graphics*, and living expenses having recently risen for our developers**, we needed to reflect these costs in our games starting with the one we finished 11 years ago."

* 4K graphics not included in this game nor supported on the Switch.
** We do not mean to imply we are paying our developers any more.

 

[Edster]

Games went from $40 to $50 and then $50 to $60. Now, in pure Bethesda fashion, they're going to raise the price of new games. Not only did they create microtransactions(horse armor) they're now going to raise the base price of games. Not with a new game, but one that is 11 years old and many of us own multiple copies of ANYWAY.

We don't purchase the game, we purchase the right to play it. So, frankly, if we purchase the right to play it on one platform we should have the right to play it on any platform

You know is funny, because along with Horse Armor, Oblivion also had at the time the best (at least one of) DLC ever created for a standalone game; the Shivering Isles. It was basically a brand new map that is a third of the vanilla map, with genuinely good amount of content in terms of story and new abilities; it was good as a sequel because you can use what you grinded and use it have a blast there.

Bethesda presented the template of both good and evil way of doing DLC. Turns out they chose neither, and decided to just re-release a game. I won't even bat an eyelash, mainly because I probably I would be dead, if we get Skyrim: Centurion Edition as it celebrates a re-release at its 100th birthday.

 

[Kam7r]

Glad to ride the high sea...

 

[Jrfeimst2]

Games went from $40 to $50 and then $50 to $60. Now, in pure Bethesda fashion, they're going to raise the price of new games. Not only did they create microtransactions(horse armor) they're now going to raise the base price of games. Not with a new game, but one that is 11 years old and many of us own multiple copies of ANYWAY.

We don't purchase the game, we purchase the right to play it. So, frankly, if we purchase the right to play it on one platform we should have the right to play it on any platform

What world did you live in where games were 40 bucks? I paid 55 bucks for SNES games in the early 90s. 50-60 dollars for games have been the norm for the past 30 years. The 70 dollar mark is new and honestly understandable. Sorry if it’s too much for you but game pricing in general hasn’t gone up in over 30 years.

 

[dumptruckster]

Bahahahah! This will go well.

 

[Eldritch]

What truly baffles me is the number of people (bots?) claiming they own 4-5 copies of Skyrim. Why would you do that? What even is the point?

Edit : This had been sold for $13 on Steam earlier. Skyrim price history. Great value to buy it at $70!

 

[merikafyeah]

GOG currently has the Anniversary Edition for $24.99 right now!

I've actually never played Skyrim before so I figure now is the perfect time to jump in now that it's DRM-free.

 

[yRaz]

What world did you live in where games were 40 bucks? I paid 55 bucks for SNES games in the early 90s. 50-60 dollars for games have been the norm for the past 30 years. The 70 dollar mark is new and honestly understandable. Sorry if it’s too much for you but game pricing in general hasn’t gone up in over 30 years.

I remember paying $40 for PC games in the 90's. Part of me wants to think that I was paying $40 for n64 games but I could be remembering that wrong. However, I do distinctly remember paying $40 for physical copies of games in the 90's.

 

[enemys]

Yes, the original game — not the Special Edition from 2016 or the Legendary Edition from 2013.

Erm, what? First of all, Legendary Edition isn't actually a separate version of Skyrim, it's just vanilla Skyrim bundled with all DLCs. Secondly, Switch version is just a visually paired-back Special Edition port. The mention is now gone, but a news piece regarding Bethesda games on Switch said that the port is based on SE. Regardless of that, Switch version has multiple features NOT present in old Skyrim, e.g. quicksaves (missing on PS3/X360), new water flow system, improved assets, precipitation occlusion (I think, not sure about this one)... And if you've got a modded Switch, it can run any SE mods except SE-specific animations (seems like one of cut graphical features) after file format conversion. Plus if it wasn't the Special Edition engine, Anniversary Edition release wouldn't be feasible, as old Skyrim doesn't support Creation Club content.

 

[R00sT3R]

Well, the disturbing aspect to this isn't the price, their product, they can ask whatever they want for it.

No, the truly disturbing part is that there will be fools out there willing to pay $70 for it.

 

[captaincranky]

No, the truly disturbing part is that there will be fools out there willing to pay $70 for it.

The exorbitant price will will be written off as inflation, and ultimately blamed on Joe Biden. At least by anyone dumb enough to buy a Nintendo "Switch" to begin with.

Not being a gamer myself, for me, the most epic part of Skyrim is the music it has inspired.

A heavy metal anthem by Dragonforce, "The Last Dragonborn"

The original theme, "The Dragonborn Comes", performed by lyric soprano Sabina Zweiacker, backed by a full symphony orchestra:

 

[Jrfeimst2]

I remember paying $40 for PC games in the 90's. Part of me wants to think that I was paying $40 for n64 games but I could be remembering that wrong. However, I do distinctly remember paying $40 for physical copies of games in the 90's.

50-60 was the norm for new games. Some were more. Some were less. Just like how indie games are less nowadays. Mario 64 had a msrp of 60. https://techraptor.net/gaming/features/cost-of-gaming-since-1970s

 

[Uncle Al]

Doubtful that I will be willing to spend that kind of scratch on 1st generation / 1st year video games. Just wait until they fall to a more reasonable price range.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

50-60 was the norm for new games. Some were more. Some were less. Just like how indie games are less nowadays. Mario 64 had a msrp of 60. https://techraptor.net/gaming/features/cost-of-gaming-since-1970s

Yep.

NES actually had some games that were going upwards of $70 upon release, but usually they were $40-50.

People have been willing pay over $70 for games for decades, physical copy or digital.
Folks drop extra money for those "collector editions".
Slap on inflation jumps the past year.
Slap on shareholders expecting the gaming and hardware industry to keep record breaking sales even though anyone with a brain could see it was something that would end after the shithole lockdowns.
We've shown the developers for years we're willing and able to afford more expensive games by simply ponying up the higher prices for some of these games.
Prices are going up.

 

[RudyBob]

What world did you live in where games were 40 bucks? I paid 55 bucks for SNES games in the early 90s. 50-60 dollars for games have been the norm for the past 30 years. The 70 dollar mark is new and honestly understandable. Sorry if it’s too much for you but game pricing in general hasn’t gone up in over 30 years.

Too snarky Dude

 

[wiyosaya]

GOG currently has the Anniversary Edition for $24.99 right now!

I've actually never played Skyrim before so I figure now is the perfect time to jump in now that it's DRM-free.

I was going to mention this, too. Though it's no longer on sale. I also picked it up (having never played it, though I wanted to but not at that price) over the weekend for $24.99 so I had a chuckle to myself to see this $70 price as if it was news.

 

[defaultluser]

What world did you live in where games were 40 bucks? I paid 55 bucks for SNES games in the early 90s. 50-60 dollars for games have been the norm for the past 30 years. The 70 dollar mark is new and honestly understandable. Sorry if it’s too much for you but game pricing in general hasn’t gone up in over 30 years.

only if you were paying the ROM chip overhead did games cost that much - I bought a copy of master of Orion for 40 bucks!

cd console games went for about the same - they only jumped to fifty after ps2 with DVD jumped rpgDev costs

 

[Ohnooze]

Bethesda has really fought hard for the title of "dbag developer".

 

[Geralt]

Maximum price I pay is 30 dollars for new games (not this remastered thing). If the game costs more than 30 dollars, I crack it. Simple.

 

[kira setsu]

What world did you live in where games were 40 bucks? I paid 55 bucks for SNES games in the early 90s. 50-60 dollars for games have been the norm for the past 30 years. The 70 dollar mark is new and honestly understandable. Sorry if it’s too much for you but game pricing in general hasn’t gone up in over 30 years.

PS1 games were 40 bucks, no clue about pc games during that time since I wasnt a pc gamer then.

 

[texasrattler]

What world did you live in where games were 40 bucks? I paid 55 bucks for SNES games in the early 90s. 50-60 dollars for games have been the norm for the past 30 years. The 70 dollar mark is new and honestly understandable. Sorry if it’s too much for you but game pricing in general hasn’t gone up in over 30 years.

$70 actually isn't new. SNES street fighter came out in the US for $69.99. It was after that, that prices stabilized around the $50-$60 range. Some games were around $40 over the years. Over the last 15 years we have also seen $70-$100 games for deluxe/ultimate editions which imo have never been worth it.

 

[RudyBob]

I played Skyrim. When game times comes I want to game not study so I did not play much