Technologies

Switch 2 Pricing Shift: Nintendo Says Its Physical Games Will Cost $10 More

Gaming is about to become even more expensive.

Nintendo made an unprecedented move Wednesday by changing up its pricing scheme for its digital and physical Switch 2 games. Starting in May, it’s going to cost more to buy a physical game instead of a digital copy, and the current memory shortage could be the culprit.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, set to release on May 21, will be the first Nintendo Switch 2 game that will have two separate MSRPs, Nintendo said in a statement on Wednesday. The digital version will cost $60 while the physical copy will retail for $70 at Nintendo’s online store, and Switch 2 exclusive games that follow will have a similar pricing scheme to the digital format, costing less than the physical.

Nintendo did not give a reason as to why the prices will be different. It did say that its games «offer the same experiences whether in packaged or digital format, and this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format and offers players more choice in how they can buy and play Nintendo games.»

It’s unclear how retailers will respond to this change. Nintendo says retailers can set the prices as they see fit for either version.

Which Switch 2 game will have the new pricing scheme?

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will be out on May 21.

What will be the price difference between physical and digital?

As of right now, physical copies will cost $10 more. It’s unclear whether this will be the same across the board for different games, but it will be the norm for Nintendo’s Switch 2 exclusive games.

Why did Nintendo make this change?

The most likely reason is that the storage for the games themselves was costing Nintendo too much money. In its statement, Nintendo says the change «reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format.» Nintendo already broke pricing norms for games with Mario Kart World and its retail price of $80, the highest price for a new game.

In the case of Switch 2 games, since the newer console is more powerful and can produce better visuals, that means the Switch cartridges require more storage. Switch 1 games ranged from 2GB to 32GB, while Switch 2 games can start as low as 4GB, but they have double the file size of the older Switch games, with Split Fiction taking up 73GB. Cartridges with large storage sizes are more expensive to produce, especially during the current global shortage of memory happening across the globe. It would that Nintendo wants to pass along those extra production costs to gamers as it did with Mario Kart World.

What will retailers do about the Switch 2 game price change?

Retailers were arguably the biggest reason publishers like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo didn’t price their digital versions of games lower than the physical copies. It’s been rumored that when the Big Three game companies began offering digital sales of games via their respective platforms, it was retailers who advised that if digital copies undercut physical versions, they would stop stocking those physical versions on store shelves. This rumor hasn’t been verified, but over the year, it does appear that there is an agreement to keep both versions of a game at the same price regardless of its physical or digital format.

The thing is, digital sales of games have been increasing over the years while physical sales have dropped tremendously. In January 2025, Matt Piscatella, senior director and video game industry advisor at Circana, posted on Blue Sky that sales of physical games media have dropped by more than 50% since 2021 and more than 85% since its peak in 2008. Part of that reason is how retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy and Amazon also sell digital codes for a game, which gives consumers more outlets to purchase from.

As retail stores are allowing less space for physical media, it’s likely that they will not oppose this change by Nintendo. If there is one store that could feel the effects the most, it would be GameStop and other video games-focused retailers, but it’s not doom and gloom for them. While most of the gaming public will continue to purchase digital versions of games, especially when prices are lower, a growing number of game collectors have shown a willingness to pay a premium for physical copies. There’s also a push by some gamers to avoid digital media out of fear that publishers could turn off servers, making digital copies obsolete.

What will other game publishers do about the Switch 2 game price change?

Publishers of Switch 2 games, such as EA, Ubisoft and Bandai Namco will be the ones who have the toughest decision on this matter of pricing. Lowering the price of digital versions of their games is an immediate revenue hit for them, especially since many of the games they publish and develop have large budgets surpassing those of many Nintendo games. If they don’t change the pricing for games across the board, these publishers might make changes to their midrange titles, where it would be an easier pill to swallow.

It’s also unlikely that Sony and Microsoft will follow suit, as both have been adjusting their plans to deal with the current downward trend in gaming.

Technologies

McDonald’s KPop Demon Hunter Meals Include Bright Purple Nugget Sauce

The Derpy McFlurry mixes popping boba pearls and berry sauce into a soft-serve dessert.

McDonald’s has seen success with themed combo meals, including its holiday Grinch Meal. Now, the fast-food chain is capitalizing on Netflix’s Oscar-winning animated film, KPop Demon Hunters, with new upcoming menu items and both a breakfast meal and a lunch/dinner offering. Let’s hope you like the color purple.

The HUNTR/X Meal, named for the K-pop girl group in the movie, is a 10-piece chicken McNuggets meal that includes a medium drink and three special menu items.

Ramyeon McShaker fries come with a small bag of soy, garlic, sesame and spice seasoning, along with regular McDonald’s french fries. You sprinkle the seasoning into the provided bag, dump in the fries, shake it all up and eat.

The meal includes two new sauces for the fries and nuggets. Hunter sauce is a sweet chili sauce mixing notes of chili, garlic and pepper. But my favorite item on this new menu is Demon sauce, a bold mustard sauce with some heat and a bold purple color. There’s just not enough dark purple food out there.

There’s also a new dessert, the Derpy McFlurry, which blends creamy vanilla soft serve with berry-flavored popping boba pearls, served with a swirl of wild berry sauce. McDonald’s named it for the supernatural feline, Derpy Tiger, from the movie.

If breakfast is your bag, the new morning meal is the Saja Boys Breakfast Meal, named for the movie’s boy band.

It includes a Spicy Saja McMuffin sandwich, which is a sausage McMuffin with egg and a spicy Saja sauce, hash browns and a small drink.

Both meals come with a photocard for one of the bands and a Derpy card. The Derpy card includes a QR code you can scan to unlock online content about the film.

The full KPop Demon Hunters menu should be available at participating McDonald’s beginning March 31.

The McDonald’s Grinch meal (and its accompanying patterned socks) sold out quickly, so KPop Demon Hunters fans may want to mark their calendars and nab a meal when they are released.

Technologies

Melania Trump Escorted by Talking Humanoid Robot at White House Tech Summit

The first lady shared the spotlight with the robot to promote the use of artificial intelligence in education.

An unexpected guest escorted Melania Trump at the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit on Wednesday: a Figure 03 humanoid robot.

During the event, the first lady pitched a future where AI-powered humanoid robots — presented as an idealized educator named «Plato» — provide students with personalized and instant access to human knowledge, including philosophy and art.

The Figure 03 robot is made by Silicon Valley-based robotics company Figure AI, which introduced its third-generation humanoid robot in October last year. The Figure 03 robot costs around $25,000, according to Forbes.

Figure 03 was designed for people to use in their homes, with demo videos showing it folding laundry, lifting eggs from a carton, using a washing machine and delivering drinks to its owners lounging by the pool. It was also shown in corporate use cases as a receptionist and a package deliverer. Using a proprietary AI engine called Helix, it can autonomously perform these tasks and respond to your voice commands.

The humanoid was seen walking slowly down the red carpet at the tech summit and then delivering opening remarks.

«I’m grateful to be part of this historic movement to empower children with technology and education,» the Figure 03 humanoid robot said. It then said «welcome» in various languages.

The first lady later said that AI-powered humanoid robots could exist in children’s homes as an aid to their education to «boost analytic skills and problem solving and adopt in real time to a student’s pace, prior knowledge and even emotional state.»

The two-day summit is hosting leaders from 45 nations and 28 technology organizations, and is intended to «empower children through education and technology,» according to a White House statement. Guests included representatives from tech giants such as Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and AI data analytics company Palantir.

The summit is part of the first lady’s Be Best: Fostering the Future initiative, which aims to help children learn using advanced technology. It was introduced in 2018 as an awareness campaign aimed at combating cyberbullying and helping children affected by the opioid crisis.

US Education Secretary Linda McMahon spoke about AI being one of the Department of Education’s main priorities on the first day of the summit.

«If we’re able to scale these resources effectively by investing in AI infrastructure and training, we can offer expert instructions across countless fields, to hire volumes of people at a fraction of the cost,» McMahon said Tuesday at a round table meeting.

According to McMahon, the Department of Education has already dedicated millions of dollars in grants to support the use of AI in schools.

The event follows criticism of the Trump administration’s 2025 executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. While the Department of Education hasn’t been officially abolished, it has undergone significant policy changes, funding cuts and workforce reductions.

The introduction of a humanoid robot at the summit sparked significant backlash among many who are wary of the technology’s role in the classroom. Critics took to social media to voice concerns that these machines could eventually replace teachers, stripping the education system of essential human connection, and leading to increased layoffs and cost-cutting.

On one Huffington Post Instagram post featuring the robot, commenters expressed deep skepticism, with one user sarcastically noting, «Nice, getting rid of educators in favor of a robot,» while another flatly rejected the concept, stating, «No, I don’t want to imagine a world with emotionless robots educating our children.»

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Technologies

Nintendo Dropped a Switch 2 Update With a New Mode You’ll Want to Turn On Immediately

This new feature is one of the best yet.

A new firmware update hit the Nintendo Switch 2 last week. Among the multitude of small changes is a new feature that will give Switch 1 games a notable upgrade.

Version 22.0.0 for the Switch 2 went live on March 16 and is available for download to the console. The big new feature in the update was Handheld Mode Boost, which will give Switch 1 games a visual upgrade when played on the Switch 2 in handheld mode.

[Nintendo Switch 2 System Update]
Version 22.0.0 adds «Handheld Mode Boost». This will make Switch 1 games think that they are in TV mode even when in handheld.
Games can run at higher resolutions in TV mode, taking better advantage of the Switch 2’s 1080p screen. pic.twitter.com/aXOKWosFAw

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) March 17, 2026

What does Handheld Mode Boost do?

Even though the Switch 2 supports backward compatibility with almost all Switch 1 games, there was an issue. The Switch 2 has a higher resolution screen: 1080p versus the older hardware’s 720p. When playing a Switch 1 game on a Switch 2 in handheld mode, the graphics looked blurry and jagged.

When enabled, Handheld Mode Boost makes a Switch 1 game act as if it’s docked, so it displays 1080p at 60 frames per second. This will give the visuals an immediate upgrade.

How do you enable Handheld Mode Boost?

Handheld Mode Boost has to be turned on to see the effect, and it takes a few steps:

Select Systems Settings from the Home menu
Select System
Select Nintendo Switch Software Handling
Enable Handheld Mode Boost

Is there a downside to enabling Handheld Mode Boost?

A user on Reddit tested the mode to see how it affects the Switch 2’s battery life. The test used Doom Eternal for the Switch 1 with and without Handheld Mode Boost. The test showed that the battery life decreased from 5 hours, 5 minutes to 3 hours, 43 minutes. That’s a 27% drop and should be taken into account when using Handheld Mode Boost.

How do I upgrade my Nintendo Switch 2?

If you have Software Auto-Updates enabled on your Switch 2, a pop-up window should come up whenever you start a game. If not, head to System Settings and choose to update the console from the menu.

What other features were added in version 22.0.0?

Handheld Mode Boost was the main star of the new firmware update, but there were a slew of other changes.

Changed the on-screen text and animations when you load a virtual game card in the HOME Menu.

Added the ability to save notes about friends on your Friend List. The note content is not displayed to friends.

Added the ability to invite friends to GameChat rooms you’re participating in. Some friends may not be able to be invited, such as supervised accounts.

Friends who haven’t finished GameChat’s initial setup can now be invited to GameChat. Some friends may not be able to be invited, such as supervised accounts or those who haven’t used a Nintendo Switch 2.

Added the ability to rewind 10 seconds/advance 10 seconds with the ZL and ZR Buttons when watching a full-screen video in News or Nintendo eShop.

Added the option to add the following data to «Automatic Uploads» from Album.

Text-to-Speech, under Accessibility, can now read the text in Album and during first-time setup.

Added the ability to see the breakdown of storage capacity by data type for the system memory and microSD Express card.

Added the ability to perform an audio test when «Linear PCM 5.1 Surround» is selected for TV Sound in Audio.

When Airplane Mode is activated, the previously set preferences for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC while in airplane mode will be saved and applied.

Added the ability to individually enable or disable Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC during Airplane Mode from the Quick Settings.

Added the ability to see a notification in the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls smart device application when the Parental Controls PIN is input successfully on the console. This can also be set up to be a push notification to your smart device.

General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.