One of the titles revealed during Nintendo’s Switch 2-centric Direct last week was Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. However, unlike other tech demo-styled games that tend to be available on their respective consoles for free, the Switch 2 Welcome Tour caught everyone off-guard when it was revealed that it has to be purchased from the eShop for $9.99.
Speaking to IGN, vice president of Product and Player Experience at Nintendo of America, Bill Trinen, spoke about how the company believes that the $9.99 price tag for Welcome Tour is not an exorbitant one. Rather, the title offers more than people might expect, and that it is a “robust piece of software.”
“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,” said Trinen. “It’s really for people that want more information about the system rather than necessarily a quick intro to everything it does.”
“And for that reason and just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, ‘Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you’re getting out of the product.'”
Trinen also believes that players will be more receptive to the price tag for Welcome Tour once they actually get to see the game in action through an upcoming Treehouse Live event.
“It’s an interesting product,” Trinen began. “We’re actually getting ready today, we’re going to be doing some Nintendo Treehouse Live segments and covering a lot of games in detail. That’s one of them. And I think people will be able to see through Treehouse Live probably a little bit more maybe than you were able to see on the show floor. It’s a pretty robust piece of software. There’s a lot of great detail in there.”
Welcome Tour will allow players to understand all the various features of the Nintendo Switch 2 by allowing them to explore the console with a miniaturised avatar. During their exploration, players will come across various kiosks and signs that will reveal more details about specific features, depending on where on the console they are. The game will also feature some mini-games that will allow players to get more familiar with some of these features.
An example of the mini-games that was shown during the Switch 2 Direct had a player making use of the Joy-Con 2’s mouse-like capabilities through a mini-game dubbed Speed Golf. Through this, players can learn how to use the Joy-Con 2 as a mouse, as well as letting players angle their shots by making use of the controller’s built-in accelerometer.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will be available on the console as one of its launch titles on June 5. The company has also been seeing a bit of controversy with regards to the console’s pricing, as well as the pricing of some of its other games. Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser believes that players that can’t afford a Switch 2 should instead look at other products in the Switch line-up.
