Hotly anticipated Nintendo Switch exclusive Paper Mario: The Origami King finally has a price for India. And as our headline suggests, it’s far from ideal. With first-party exclusive Nintendo Switch games finally available in India after a couple of months of no stock due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, some retailers have started listing upcoming titles for pre-order. One of them, Bengaluru-based PrepaidGamerCard.com has the Paper Mario: The Origami King priced at Rs. 5,499. This makes it the most expensive standard edition release in India, even more than 2K’s PS5 and Xbox Series X price hike for NBA 2K21 or yearly Call of Duty entries.
In the past, its listings have been far from accurate putting The Last of Us Part II Special Edition up for pre-order for Rs. 6,999 (instead of the Rs. 5,999 it eventually retailed for) and The Last of Us Part II Collector’s Edition for Rs. 13,000 (rather than at the MRP of Rs. 10,990 Sony has mandated).
However this time around, several credible sources in the supply chain have confirmed that this is due to a higher buy price (cost of retailer buying goods from the supplier before putting it on sale for customers) for Paper Mario: The Origami King, putting it in the range of Rs. 4,899 to Rs. 4,999, more so that what we have observed with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition which are priced at Rs. 4,999 and Rs. 5,299 respectively for customers.
Previously Nintendo Switch games had a higher price due to them being official imports ensuring customers would get a bill and some form of after-sales support. This saw the likes of Super Mario Maker 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, sporting Rs. 4,999 prices which eventually saw a discount to Rs. 4,299 a few months later.
To put it into perspective, most PS4 games are available between Rs. 3,500 and Rs. 4,000 with frequent price drops. Previously, EA thought it was a good idea to charge Rs. 5,199 for Battlefield 1 on PS4 and Xbox One before quietly reducing it to a more affordable Rs. 4,299.
That said, Games The Shop and MCube Games have yet to put Paper Mario: The Origami King up for pre-order and it will be interesting to see if it ends up having the same price on either site. With a July 17 release date for the game, it’s just a matter of time before other retailers follow suit.
