Pretty much, they're just stepping into the water(customers pockets) and seeing how deep it is. Unfortunately I think MK World will sale enough for Nintendo to be happy with their $80 price decision.

Nintendo = the Apple of games, just about.. and charging more for lesser hardware, that's been an Apple staple for most of how long they've been around too.

Mario Odyssey was anywhere between 20 to 50+ hours unless you were going out of your way to rush it. I have no idea why you are guessing that it will be 7h.

Most Nintendo platformers, even the easier ones, are like 15-20h to do most of what they offer.

There are plenty of actual negative discussion points to be had about this variable pricing model without going out of your way to make up stuff

It's not about being a "hater"—Nintendo themselves mentioned variable pricing. That statement alone opens the door to an important conversation.

What concerns me is how quickly prices are climbing. It took over 15 years for the industry to move from $59.99 to $69.99, yet only three years later, we’re now seeing $79.99. That’s a steep increase in a short time, and while Nintendo may genuinely intend to apply this higher pricing only to games that offer exceptional value, we all know how quickly other publishers can latch onto that.

Think about companies like EA, Take-Two, and Ubisoft—publishers already known for aggressive monetization. Variable pricing gives them the perfect excuse to push prices even higher, and justify it under the same banner of "value," even when the content might not back it up.

And let’s not forget that this is Nintendo we’re talking about—famous for charging full price for last-gen ports with minimal updates. So when people defend these practices without scrutiny, it feels like defending billion-dollar corporations that historically have prioritized profit over consumer fairness.

All I’m saying is, we should remain critical and cautious. Trusting that publishers will act in our best interests has rarely worked out well for gamers