Walmart is currently selling physical preorders of Splatoon Raiders for $49.94, putting the cartridge version roughly in line with Nintendo’s $49.99 digital price ahead of the game’s July 23 launch.
That matters for Switch 2 owners who want a box and a cartridge without paying Nintendo’s new physical-media premium. Nintendo said in March that some Switch 2 games would cost $10 less digitally than on cartridge. For Splatoon Raiders, that means the standard physical price is $59.99 while the digital copy is $49.99.
Walmart’s listing is the current exception. Amazon previously matched the lower preorder pricing, but its listing now shows Splatoon Raiders at $59.99. Amazon’s preorder pricing policy says customers pay the lowest price offered between the time they order and release, so buyers who order there are tied to whatever the retailer does before launch.
Nintendo has used similar preorder pricing gaps before. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book and Star Fox both had preorder periods in which their digital and physical versions were sold at the same price, despite Nintendo’s broader plan to price some Switch 2 downloads below cartridges.
Splatoon Raiders is a Switch 2-exclusive entry with a single-player focus, according to Nintendo’s product positioning. It also includes co-op multiplayer for as many as four players, either locally or online. That makes it a different pitch from the mainline Splatoon games, which are best known for competitive multiplayer built around ink-slinging territory fights.
The practical read: Nintendo has created a $10 spread between bits and plastic for certain Switch 2 releases, but retailers can still muddy the math during preorders. For now, Walmart is the place showing the lower cartridge price for Splatoon Raiders; Amazon is not.
Other current retail promotions
Gruv is taking preorders for a 28-disc 4K Blu-ray limited edition set of The Sopranos, scheduled for December, at $149.99. Gruv lists a 15 percent first-order code, FIRSTGRUV15, which brings the price to $127.50 for eligible new customers.
Amazon lists the CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro at $69, down from $99. The over-ear wireless headphones include active noise cancellation, app-adjustable equalizer settings through Nothing’s software, and an “energy slider” for shifting the sound balance between treble and bass.
Wellbots is offering 13 percent off selected discounted products through the rest of Thursday, July 16, using the code BDAY13. One listed example is Boox’s Palma 2 Pro, a compact color e-reader with phone features, dropping from $399 to $348 with the code. The sale also covers some Dreame robot vacuums, DJI drones, Xgimi projectors, and other products.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
