Let's Build a Zoo found great success on the Nintendo eShop thanks to "price tourism"

Publisher No More Robots recently had a wild discovery relating to their zoo simulator game Let’s Build a Zoo. The game was released on the Nintendo eShop just a few months ago. In North America, its cost is $19.99. However, different regions with different economies sometimes price games at much lower rates. This has led to a practice known as “price tourism”, in which Switch owners change their region in their Switch settings in order to get a game for cheaper from another country’s eShop.

In the case of Let’s Build a Zoo, customers were able to purchase the game from Argentina’s eShop for only $1.50. Mike Rose of No More Robots discovered a big wave of purchases coming from Argentina, and at first was dismayed by the amount of money they were losing on each sale. Surprisingly though, things ended up working out in their favor.

eShop sales from Argentina are included in the “Americas” region for Nintendo Switch. This means that because so many people were buying the game at a cheaper price from a false Argentina account, Let’s Build a Zoo was rapidly moving up the eShop charts for users set in the US. Being suddenly very high up in the Best Sellers and Great Deals listings, the game got a lot more eyeballs on it than it normally would have. This led to more people paying the proper price, and ultimately helped No More Robots make a well earned profit on the game’s Switch version!

While this story had a happy ending, it’s certainly not indicative of the norm. For the most part, “price tourism” is harmful to publishers, but this is one unique case in which it was beneficial. It’s an interesting quirk of the way the Nintendo eShop works, and a fascinating instance of how tricky it can be to publish games in the modern era. Check out Mike Rose’s full Twitter thread for his first-hand account of what happened, and find Let’s Build a Zoo on the eShop now!