There's a lot of uproar around the Nintendo Switch 2 and the prices of the console and the games. One particular sticking point is the price of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, a tech demo that features a few mini-games and a hub area that explains new features in the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware. It's like how Astro's Playroom takes players through what's new about the PS5, except Astro's Playroom was free and a full-blown 3D platformer with its mini-tech-demo games weaved into a few incredibly designed platforming levels. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour doesn't look nearly as clever in its setup, nor do the mini-games look as good as the levels you get in Astro's Playroom. So why is Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour not a free pack-in game with the console? Former Nintendo of America head Reggie Fils-Amié seems to have weighed in on why players are being asked to spend $10 USD on the title, referencing a specific point in his time with Nintendo. Fils-Amié shared a few seemingly pointed clips from an interview with IGN in 2022 when he released his book Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo. Fils-Amié shared three clips from the nearly 50-minute long interview that centered around how, during the development of the Nintendo Wii, Fils-Amié had to fight for Wii Sports to be a free pack-in game at launch. When he first suggested to Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto that Wii Sports be a free game, Miyamoto pushed back against the suggestion. Fils-Amié goes even further than to say that Miyamoto just 'pushed back,' emphasizing how upset the suggestion made Miyamoto. "It's an understatement to say that Mr. Miyamoto pushed back," Fils-Amié began. "Literally, when I first made this suggestion, Mr. Miyamoto said,' Reggie, Nintendo does not give away software for free. You don't understand how hard our developers work to create compelling content like this.'" Fils-Amié knew that wasn't true because he knew he got free software with his SNES growing up. He continued to argue his case about why he believed Wii Sports should come free with the console, and after its success, he made the same suggestion again with Wii Play, which upset Miyamoto again. Even after the success of Wii Sports being free, he was still very resistant to giving any software away for free alongside hardware. So is Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour a paid title because Fils-Amié wasn't there to convince the rest of Nintendo, Miyamoto included, that they shouldn't charge for it? That's the kind of question we'll never know the answer to. Still, the fact that Fils-Amié chose to share this now three-year-old interview when players are debating and complaining about the cost of everything Nintendo Switch 2, including Welcome Tour, seems to explain the thinking that went into making Welcome Tour a paid title. It also seems to be Fils-Amié pointing to a time when he was right about Nintendo making a piece of software free with the hardware. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour would have likely benefited the Nintendo Switch 2 by being free, instead of its cost being another addition to the list of complaints players have about Nintendo Switch 2.