How Nintendo Makes Its Games Appear Cheaper in Japan

It looks like Nintendo is doing funny stuff on its official website with price listings to make its games look riches888pg cheaper. Via Hachima, here is the official Nintendo Japanese site: Okay, so as people are pointing out online in Japan, Nintendo is listing the “tax not included” prices for its games. In Japanese, “tax not included” is “zeibetsu” (税別).(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); But! The prices for all the third party games on Nintendo’s Japanese Wii U page are “tax included.” In Japanese, “tax included” is “zeikomi” (税込). Obviously, Japanese people know the difference between “zeibetsu” and “zeikomi,” but if you are scanning through the page, it makes Nintendo games look cheaper. Splatoon is listed as 5,700 yen (tax not included), next to Dragon Quest X (tax included), which is 4,104 yen. And next to that is Xenoblade Chronicles X for 7,700 (tax not included). There is an eight percent sales tax nationwide in Japan, so tax will certainly impact the final price and, in turn, how Nintendo’s pricing is seen. If Nintendo was listing the prices fairly and including tax for all of them, the listing would be: Splatoon for 6,156 yen, Dragon Quest X for 4,104 yen, and Xenoblade Chronciles X for 8,316 yen. What’s odd is that, as My Game News Flash points out, third party game companies write their prices without tax on their official sites. On the official page for Wii U title Monster Hunter Frontier G7, it says 5,800 yen plus tax. But on Nintendo’s Wii U page, it says 6,264 yen (tax included). The same is true for Dragon Quest X, which Square Enix lists “without tax” on the official site. Nintendo lists it “with tax.” Ditto jinda44 for Rodea: The Sky Soldier. Kadokawa Games lists the title without tax for 7,200 yen, while Nintendo’s official site has it plus tax at 7,776 yen. This isn’t only for the Wii U. Nintendo is doing the same kind of crap for the Nintendo 3DS. On Nintendo’s official Japanese page, third party games are shown priced with tax: While Nintendo games are priced without sales tax: Is it me or is this messed up? Makes me worried about how they’ll approach e19 mobile gaming. To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter@Brian_Ashcraft Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.