Are Switch Games More Expensive in Canada? Not After the Exchange Rate: We Priced 50 Games, and 33 of 34 Nintendo Titles Matched the US Price Within 1%

In Canadian dollars, yes; at the exchange rate, no. On November 15, 2026, 24 Nintendo games cost $59.99 in the US eShop and C$84.99 in the Canadian one, and 8 more cost $69.99 and C$99.99. At the European Central Bank rate of November 13, 1.4258 Canadian dollars per US dollar, C$84.99 is $59.61 and C$99.99 is $70.13: 0.6% below and 0.2% above the US price. Of the 34 Nintendo games we priced, 33 were within 1% of the US price at that rate, and Mario Kart World was 3.6% below it. Third-party games were cheaper than the exchange rate in Canada in 15 of 16 cases. None of the 34 Nintendo games was on sale in either country that day. Each country's prices came from one POST /api/v1/nintendo/prices call on Scavio's Nintendo eShop API, 1 credit for up to 50 games.

The question comes from r/nintendocanada, where a player posted screenshots of Canadian eShop prices, noted that Splatoon 2, a 2017 game, costs close to $90, said they had never seen a Nintendo game on sale, and asked: "Is this just a Canada thing or it's everywhere?" The thread drew 114 upvotes and 207 comments in two days. The top reply guessed that Nintendo simply converts the US price at the exchange rate. That is checkable, so we checked it, and priced the same games in 41 other eShops to answer the second half of the question.

How we compared

We picked 50 games: 34 published by Nintendo, from Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza to Splatoon 2 and the Wii-era Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, and 16 third-party games from Hollow Knight to Cyberpunk 2077. Canada and the US share the Americas eShop ids, so one prices call with the 50 ids and "country": "ca" and one with "country": "us" priced them all, at 10:22 UTC on November 15, 2026. We compared regular prices, the price outside any sale, and converted with the ECB euro reference rates of November 13, 2026 (1.5758 CAD and 1.1052 USD per euro), the latest published on the day of the capture.

Both countries list eShop prices before sales tax, which is added at checkout, so C$84.99 and $59.99 compare like for like.

What the prices show

• Nintendo's Canadian prices are the US price at today's exchange rate, rounded to .99. The top reply in the thread had it right. $59.99 times 1.4258 is C$85.53, listed at C$84.99; $69.99 is C$99.79, listed at C$99.99. The Wii-era games in the thread's title follow the same rule: Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 is $69.99 and C$99.99.
• Third-party publishers price Canada lower. 15 of the 16 third-party games cost less in Canada than the exchange rate implies, and the median third-party game was 7.7% below it: Hollow Knight C$16.99 against $15 and Stardew Valley C$16.99 against $14.99, about 20% below; Hogwarts Legacy C$79.99 against $59.99, 6.5% below. Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition, C$99.99 against $69.99, was 0.2% above.
• Nothing Nintendo-made was on sale. None of the 34 Nintendo games had a sale price in Canada or the US on November 15. Celeste was the one discounted game in our set: C$6.12 instead of C$24.51 in Canada and $4.99 instead of $19.99 in the US, 75% off in both, from November 9 to November 30.

Is it just a Canada thing?

No: it is a price set in US dollars and converted, and other countries land above or below it. Here is the median Nintendo game's list price in each eShop, converted to US dollars at the same ECB rates, against the US price:

Read this table with taxes in mind: European, UK, Australian and New Zealand eShop prices include VAT or GST, while US and Canadian prices do not, so a Canadian pays sales tax on top of C$84.99 and a German's €59.99 already includes it. And exchange rates move: at a different rate, Canada's 0.6% could become a tie or a small premium. In the euro eShops, every game cost the same in every country that sells it, with one exception (Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, €39.95 in Finland). The best Nintendo eShop regional price APIs has the full 50-game, 39-eShop comparison, where the median game cost 73% more in its dearest eShop than in its cheapest.

Are there any sales?

Not on November 15 for Nintendo's own games. Nintendo of America announced a sale on select digital games on the Nintendo eShop and the Nintendo Store website that "starts Nov. 19 through Dec. 2 at 11:59 p.m. PT", and $20 off physical copies of games including Donkey Kong Bananza and Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 at US retailers from November 22 to November 29. That announcement is for the US; we did not find a Canadian announcement in our sources, so we make no claim about Canadian sale dates. When a game goes on sale in a country, the prices endpoint returns its sale_price, discount_percent, sale_start and sale_end for that country, so checking the 34 games in Canada again on November 19 costs 1 credit.

What this cannot tell you

This is one reading, November 15, 2026, and 50 games we chose, weighted toward Nintendo's best-known titles. It compares list prices, not what you pay after sales tax, gift cards or retailer discounts on physical copies. It says nothing about why Nintendo sets a price; it shows that the Canadian price sits at the converted US price. And it is not buying advice: Nintendo's account terms tie purchases to the country of your Nintendo Account.

Run the comparison yourself

import requests

API = "https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/nintendo"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_SCAVIO_API_KEY"}
CAD_PER_USD = 1.5758 / 1.1052  # ECB reference rates, November 13, 2026

# Americas eShop ids (the same in Canada and the US): Mario Kart World,
# Donkey Kong Bananza, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2
ids = ["70010000095431", "70010000096809", "70010000000529", "70070000030770"]

prices = {}
for country in ["us", "ca"]:  # 1 credit each, up to 50 ids per call
    d = requests.post(f"{API}/prices", headers=HEADERS, timeout=120,
                      json={"ids": ids, "country": country}).json()["data"]
    prices[country] = {p["nsuid"]: p for p in d["prices"]}

for i in ids:
    us, ca = prices["us"][i], prices["ca"][i]
    ratio = ca["regular_price"] / us["regular_price"]
    print(i, us["regular_price"], ca["regular_price"], f"{(ratio / CAD_PER_USD - 1) * 100:+.1f}%",
          "on sale until " + ca["sale_end"] if ca["sale_price"] is not None else "")

That is 2 credits for up to 50 games. On November 15 it printed 79.99 and 109.99 (-3.6%) for Mario Kart World, 69.99 and 99.99 (+0.2%) for Donkey Kong Bananza and Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, and 59.99 and 84.99 (-0.6%) for Splatoon 2. To find a game's id, search the Americas store and read the product, as how to get Nintendo eShop prices by country shows step by step.

Try the Nintendo eShop API free, 50 credits, no card, enough to run this comparison 25 times, or run a prices call in the playground.

Reference: Nintendo eShop API overview · prices docs · product docs · deals docs · the best Nintendo eShop regional price APIs · how to get Nintendo eShop prices by country · is IKEA cheaper in Germany? · best Target store inventory APIs