While the Nintendo Switch is a great system, one of the biggest shortcomings has to be the eShop. In addition to being slow and difficult to navigate, certain tabs – like the bestsellers page or great deals page – were often notoriously full of questionable games of varying quality. Those games only became visible as developers found out that if you get games at a pittance, you can manipulate the system and top the charts, regardless of quality. After all, what should potential buyers lose if a game only costs a cent?
Well, things seem to be changing – and have been for a while, according to a recent report in Simon Carless’s GameDiscoverCo newsletter. According to Carless, Nintendo has previously allowed games that cost one cent to be on the bestseller list. Indeed, when Polygon checked Thursday afternoon, there were only games that cost at least $ 1.99 and above on the Nintendo Switch eShop’s Bestsellers tab.
There are also changes underway for the great deals tab, which is usually populated by well-known games or discounted titles that also cost at least $ 1.99. Nintendo did not immediately comment. Granted, $ 1.99 is still extremely cheap for a video game, but at least if you have a bar for what qualifies, you can stop some shenanigans.
A stopgap solution has apparently also been put in place to prohibit developers from giving 100% “discounts” to players who already owned a game from their catalog, the report notes. Given the Nintendo Switch’s continued sales success and the number of games released each week, it’s no wonder game makers are looking for every advantage they can get.