Nintendo charging $10 for the Switch 2 Welcome Tour is so stupid

Summary

Nintendo announced the Switch 2 Welcome Tour recently, a paid tutorial game for the console.
The Switch 2 Welcome Tour will cost $10, significantly cheaper than the $80 price tag for Mario Kart World.
Nintendo charging for the Switch 2 Welcome Tour is wrong, and instead they should promote their own games in it.

Last week, Nintendo fully unveiled the Switch 2 at its Direct event, highlighting hardware enhancements like its 7.9-inch 1080p display and docked 4K support, and new features such as GameChat. The company also announced over 50 upcoming games for the console, featuring a blend of first-party and third-party titles.

Since the Switch 2 Direct, there has been significant debate surrounding the console’s pricing and the cost of games. Economic instability, fueled by the Trump Administration’s global reciprocal tariffs, has impacted the situation. Initially, Nintendo set the Switch 2’s price at $450, but this has become uncertain as the company has postponed pre-orders exclusively in the US to assess the effects of tariffs.

The pricing of games is also being scrutinized; for instance, Mario Kart World, a launch title, is expected to retail at $80, representing a $10 increase from the average $70 price point of Switch 1 games. It’s not only $80 games that are giving Nintendo fans pause either. During the Switch 2 Direct, Nintendo announced a new title, the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which will launch alongside the console on June 5, 2025.

Astro’s Playroom is free. The Switch 2 Welcome Tour is not, which is prompting a lot of backlash from fans and rightfully so.

The game is a guided tour of the Switch 2’s features, such as showing you how the Joy-Cons work. The idea is very similar to Astro’s Playroom on the PS5, which also acts as a tutorial for the console. However, there is one key difference between the two. Astro’s Playroom is free. The Switch 2 Welcome Tour is not, which is prompting a lot of backlash from fans and rightfully so.

Nintendo Switch 2

4K Capability: Yes
Brand: Nintendo
Screen: 7.9-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution LCD, HDR, 120Hz refresh rate (4K/60fps 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution when docked)
Game support: Switch 2, Switch 2 Edition, Switch
Storage: 256GB (microSD Express cards)
CPU: Unknown

The Switch 2 Welcome Tour costs $10

You want to learn about the Switch 2 you just bought? That will be $10 please

Nintendo

When the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour was announced, Nintendo stated, “it will launch as a paid digital-only game the same day as the Nintendo Switch 2.” Now, thanks to IGN, the game’s price has been revealed: it will cost consumers $10.

People are already concerned about the higher price of the Switch 2 compared to the Switch 1 at launch, and charging $10 for a tutorial feels like a slap in the face.

While this is obviously significantly better than the $80 price tag for Mario Kart World, it is still $10 too much. The game serves primarily as a tutorial for the Switch 2’s functions. That’s all it is. Players can walk around an interactive world featuring the Switch 2 console and interact with various parts of it to learn about them, such as how the Joy-Con’s mouse control works. There are also mini-games that allow you to test various functions of the Switch 2 to help you understand them before you jump into your first game.

All this sounds great on paper, and during the Switch 2 Direct event, it looked cool and helpful for any first-time gamers and consumers who purchased the console without much knowledge about it. However, I think charging $10 is still unfair. Here’s why.

Trump’s tariffs force Nintendo to delay Switch 2 pre-orders

Nintendo has delayed Switch 2 pre-orders in the US due to concern over tariffs.

Tutorials should be free

It’s akin to charging for an instruction manual

Nintendo

The major complaint I have about this whole situation is that Nintendo is charging $10 for the Switch 2 Welcome Tour. It truly baffles me. People are already concerned about the higher price of the Switch 2 compared to the Switch 1 at launch, and charging $10 for a tutorial feels like a slap in the face. I understand that many factors contributed to the Switch 2’s steep $450 price tag (potentially even higher due to tariffs). But knowing you also have to pay just to learn about it? What is Nintendo thinking here?

…when you pay $450 for a console, you shouldn’t have to pay $10 for a gamified instruction manual.

In an interview with IGN, Bill Trinen, Nintendo of America’s Vice President of Product and Player Experience, mentioned that the Welcome Tour was an “interesting product” and that “for some people, I think there are people who are particularly interested in the tech and the specs of the system and things like that, for them I think it’s going to be a great product. It’s really for people that want more information about the system rather than necessarily a quick intro to everything it does.”

I recognize that work went into creating the game, and I’m not questioning that; it seems like a fun, well-crafted experience. But when you pay $450 for a console, you shouldn’t have to pay $10 for a gamified instruction manual. PlayStation invested a lot into Astro’s Playroom too, yet that is free. With the game costing $10 how much is Nintendo really going to make off it anyway? They should be including an ad for Mario Kart World and a couple of their other first-party games in the experience, showcasing how much fun you could have with the console’s features in those games instead of charging $10 for it. Hopefully Nintendo reverses course on this before the launch of the Switch on June 5, 2025.