Nintendo is making sure the Switch 2 games lineup isn’t just full of titles you want to play, but games you can only play on the $450 Switch 2. Hades II, the sequel to studio Supergiant Games’ extraordinarily popular Hades, is going to be a timed exclusive for the first Switch and Nintendo’s upcoming handheld. If—as a PlayStation or Xbox gamer—that makes you annoyed, just know that’s long been Nintendo’s strategy. What’s changing is now Nintendo can’t be gamers’ “second console” anymore. A timed exclusive with PC may be the first chance Nintendo has to eat up a market already dominated by other, similarly priced gaming machines.
In Nintendo’s latest “Creator’s Voice” series showing off developers working on Switch 2 games, Supergiant declared Hades II will be “launching first for consoles on Nintendo Switch 2.” Supergiant later clarified that the “godlike roguelike” will still sell on PC through Steam and Epic Games Store, but those who hoped to play exclusively on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S will be left in the cold until a later date.
“We really, really, really want our games to perform at 60 frames per second, and with the extra power of the Nintendo Switch 2, we know we can push some of the graphical features with the extra power,” said Amir Rao, Supergiant’s studio director, in the Creator’s Voice video. You would be forgiven if you heard that and think it sounds like something a developer would say five to 10 years ago about a console that’s far more powerful than the Switch 2. Nintendo’s new handheld console is reported to be equivalent in performance to the last generation of consoles, particularly a PlayStation 4. With the help of DLSS upscaling from the Switch 2’s Nvidia-designed chip, the system is able to achieve 4K resolutions and still maintain 60 FPS in all supported games.
The sequel Switch is stacked with exclusives, and not just from its in-house studios. Launch title Mario Kart World will be first on the list, but this summer we’ll hopefully get to experience ape antics in Donkey Kong Bananza. Kirby AirRiders—the sequel to the GameCube’s Kirby Air Ride developed by Super Smash Bros. lead Masahiro Akurai, should be out some time in 2025. But other than franchise spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, there’s a new, curious trend of Switch 2 exclusivity focused on third party games. FromSoftware’s first multiplayer-centric The Duskbloods is set to arrive on Switch 2 in 2026. Hades II is still in early access, but fans expect the game to arrive in full sometime this year. This timed exclusive with PC deal is one of the first Nintendo has ever inked. It seems like Nintendo wants to make this year all about its new handheld (unless tariffs get in the way).
Nintendo is prone to do things its own way, and it—ostensibly—doesn’t care a lick if that means it seems out of step with the rest of the industry. Microsoft’s entire strategy with Xbox has been to put its once-exclusives on as many platforms as possible through Game Pass subscriptions. Meanwhile, Sony and PlayStation have ballooned sales of its once-exclusive games by bringing them to PC. Nintendo’s not likely to ever offer PC gamers a taste of Mario, but the company has every reason to want the PC gamers to know those flashy, third-party games are also on Switch 2.
Market research firm DFC Intelligence posted its latest survey showing that most PC gamers’ secondary gaming device is, most-reliably, a Nintendo Switch. Part of that may be due to the $300 price point of the Switch, but PC gamers are normally the more affluent gamer market. If they’re willing to drop more than $1,000 on a gaming PC, they won’t hesitate as much to splurge on a handheld. Those gamers chose to get a Switch simply because they want to play Nintendo’s exclusive games.
The $450 asking price of the Switch 2 is a larger barrier to its secondary console status. There’s even more concern among gamers Nintendo may raise the price of the Switch 2 to $500 or more due to Trump tariffs after the company pushed preorders back to an unknown date (Canadians will also need to wait for preorders as well). DFC indicated the Switch maker could set up a 20% increase, pushing the Switch 2 $530 for its new console in the U.S.
Nintendo is setting a new standard for game prices too, exemplified with the $70 asking price for Donkey Kong Bananza and $80 for the digital version of Mario Kart World. Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser told The Washington Post that game prices are “variable” and will depend on factors as esoteric as whether a game has “durability over time and repeatability of gameplay.” While Nintendo can justify its own prices, it needs other, cheaper games that people are actually excited to play. Hades II is currently $30 on Steam.
Nintendo is keen to flex its market power thanks to its legion of fans rabid for the next installment of the company’s tentpole franchises, but it can’t exist on its fanbase alone, not with these prices. DFC said it expected Nintendo to sell 15 million Switch 2 units shortly after launch. It’s less than the 17 million the firm anticipated pre-tariffs even if its still set to break records. The higher costs necessitates Nintendo justify its price, or—if it can’t do that—incentivize people to justify their console purchases with good old FOMO, or fear of missing out.
