The Resident Evil Switch re-releases are outrageously expensive
£30 a pop for 0, 1, and 4
Now, I try not to complain about the price of games too much. For one thing, developers deserve to get paid for their work, and I don't buy into the idea that small indie games should charge less than AAA games and all that nonsense. But these Resident Evil re-releases have definitely gone a bit far.
Listings for Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil HD, and Resident Evil 4 have cropped up on the Switch eShop, setting the price at £29.99 a pop. They don't have a price in the US yet, but you can probably expect them to be around $39.99 each.
A quick history lesson - Resident Evil HD launched on the GameCube in 2002, the same year as Resident Evil 0. Resi 4 came a bit later in 2005. All of these games have seen multiple re-releases across many consoles over the last decade or more, including on current-gen consoles.
So, if you were looking to buy one of these re-releases, you could quite easily get them on a PS4, for example, for about £16. That is not a joke - Capcom has nearly doubled the price for playing a 17 year old game on Nintendo's console.
Why exactly this is the case is anyone's guess. Releases on Switch do tend to be a bit more expensive than on other consoles, owing to the fact that physical editions of the games cost more to produce. But that's why the majority of games on Switch don't have physical releases, right?
Ah well. Hopefully Capcom has a rethink before the games launch and drops the price accordingly - Resi 4 remains one of the best shooters ever made, even if it is 14 years old at this point. But in all likelihood, you can expect Resident Evil 0, 1, and 4 to cost £30/$40 when they launch on Switch on May 21st.
