Retail pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 will begin on April 24, 2025. At launch, the price for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will remain as announced on April 2 at $449.99, and the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle will remain as announced…
Prices for accessories will be increasing to compensate for tariffs.
… It’s using modern hardware, with specs that are entirely reasonable for being a handheld. The fuck are you expecting, a ps6 that you stick in your pocket for $200?
Then what exactly are you expecting?
The market for new consoles is currently:
Switch 2: $449
Xbox Series S: $299, less resolution/less fps, less powerful than the switch 2
Xbox Series X: $499, more expensive, same resolution/fps, more powerful (tflops) than switch 2, 15.7x the size
PS5: $499, more expensive, same resolution, more fps, more powerful (tflops) than switch 2 but less so than series x, 24x the size
The switch 2 was positioned, and announced, as a portable console capable of similar power levels as one console generation ago, and it overdelivered- the common comparison is that it’s more powerful than a PS4. For a handheld, that is absurdly good, and the price is certainly in line with the rest of the market. The literal only outlier is the Series S being significantly cheaper, which tracks considering the switch 2 is more powerful than it, while being a handheld.
Series S is $299 here, unless you’re getting used.
PS5 digital is hardly apples to oranges, considering the Switch 2 isn’t offering a cartridgeless version.
I also like your arguement about the switch 2 somehow being lesser because it’s going to get scalped, very pointedly ignoring the PS5-shaped scalper elephant in the window. I guess I spoke too soon in the other post- you didn’t manage to delete all examples of cutting Sony and MS a break, you’ve got one right here!
As for the price, sony and microsoft charge $70 for a standard edition game, but also often incomplete and requiring extra money from ‘DLC’ or ‘premium/deluxe’ editions to actually be properly playable/have the baseline plot/lore, which nintendo doesn’t do.
It’s the fault of people that bought the Switch 1 from scalpers. It basically showed to Nintendo that people were willing to pay a lot more and that they could’ve charged a lot more. The Switch 2 will also be in short supply and Nintendo rather wants that a buyer pays them $500 than a scalper.
people buy them for the motion sensors and the games. the tech is irrelevant. The NES was ancient tech when it came out.
Most of the games on PS are too hard and/or inappropriate for children.
The hardware really isn’t dated though. Remember this is a handheld, not a console, and it’s using a newly designed custom Nvidia chip. Mainstream audiences aren’t going to be deeply analyzing the specs. They’re just going to look at the games. And the games look very good and are running at 4K.
Indeed I should have said “up to 4K” and of course that is usually going to require using Nvidia’s excellent DLSS tech. But at the end of the day, the results are a visual treat. Again, mainstream consumers don’t think about stuff like this. It’s a solid upgrade over Switch. Thing is going to sell out instantly and be hard to get for a year just like the original regardless of what we think.
It’s only “outrageously” priced compared to its predecessor, and only if you don’t think about it too much. Considering under the hood it’s basically a phone or tablet, it’s very fairly priced considering the specs.
The Switch 1 is basically a tablet from 2017 being sold for $300. It never received a price drop despite it using 8 year old technology, it actually received a price increase with the OLED model. An iPad 5th Gen from 2017 sells for $50 on eBay, for comparison purposes. Not like for like as that has a way higher res screen and less RAM, but it’s fairly close.
As it’s a new chip with an expected 10 year lifespan, it’s likely on 3nm process which means it has to fight for manufacturing time with TSMC because they’re the only ones who can fab that sort of chip.
All that, plus the expectation that they will be absorbing some tariff costs for now means it will likely never see a price drop, and honestly doesn’t seem that bad in terms of pricing. It’s the cheapest console on the market with the exception of the very underpowered and useless Series S, and it’s competitively priced in terms of the tech under the hood.
So if it will be the cheapest console of its generation, is already cheaper than its ancient competition, is cheaper than a mid range GPU by itself, and is cheaper or comparably priced with similarly specced devices, then how is it so overpriced?
The only argument I’ve heard yet has been “consoles are sold at a loss because the games are expensive” but that hasn’t been true for the industry since the PS4 era, and it’s literally never been true for Nintendo consoles, they always make a profit right out of the gate. So I honestly don’t get it.
I agree with most of what you said, I don’t think the price is as high as people make it out to be, but:
So if it will be the cheapest console of its generation
Cheapest version of the Steam Deck is still cheaper for very comparable hardware, and while generations don’t align I think the Deck is closer to the Switch 2 than to the switch 1, and a Deck 2 would be miles ahead of a switch 2.
While the Switch 2 has better hardware, that’s only a tiny piece of the value proposition. The Deck is leagues better in value. I guarantee it will be able to play new release games for another 10 years. You can’t say that for the Switch 2. It won’t be able to play all of the new releases, sure, but thousands more than the Switch 2.
And that’s not to mention the tens of thousands of games the Deck can play now that the Switch 2 will never be able to play.
The truth is that hype and FOMO are powerful drugs that push gamers to constantly shell out their hard earned money to chase the newest things.
And, to an extent, I get it. There is something to be said about playing games when they come out and experiencing that moment with other gamers. There’s a sort of fraternal feeling about it.
But if you can step back from that and be patient, you can play all the games you have time for and not play into their trap.
The reason I think it’s astroturfing is because there’s a lot of people who are critical of Nintendo, while simultaneously giving Sony and Microsoft a free pass for doing the exact same thing, or even just making things up outright to bash Nintendo, like your claims that it’s ‘hardware that is long in the tooth at launch.’
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Hell yeah brother, sign me up for that Mario Kart bundle.
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$50 in 2007 is $77.62 in 2025. The outrageous thing is how little the working class has been given to compensate for it.
Lmao outrageously priced. It’s higher than it was, yes, but I remember the PS3 announcement.
Now THAT was outrageously priced!
$950 for the 60gb model after inflation!
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… It’s using modern hardware, with specs that are entirely reasonable for being a handheld. The fuck are you expecting, a ps6 that you stick in your pocket for $200?
deleted by creator
Then what exactly are you expecting? The market for new consoles is currently:
Switch 2: $449
Xbox Series S: $299, less resolution/less fps, less powerful than the switch 2
Xbox Series X: $499, more expensive, same resolution/fps, more powerful (tflops) than switch 2, 15.7x the size
PS5: $499, more expensive, same resolution, more fps, more powerful (tflops) than switch 2 but less so than series x, 24x the size
The switch 2 was positioned, and announced, as a portable console capable of similar power levels as one console generation ago, and it overdelivered- the common comparison is that it’s more powerful than a PS4. For a handheld, that is absurdly good, and the price is certainly in line with the rest of the market. The literal only outlier is the Series S being significantly cheaper, which tracks considering the switch 2 is more powerful than it, while being a handheld.
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Series S is $299 here, unless you’re getting used. PS5 digital is hardly apples to oranges, considering the Switch 2 isn’t offering a cartridgeless version.
I also like your arguement about the switch 2 somehow being lesser because it’s going to get scalped, very pointedly ignoring the PS5-shaped scalper elephant in the window. I guess I spoke too soon in the other post- you didn’t manage to delete all examples of cutting Sony and MS a break, you’ve got one right here!
As for the price, sony and microsoft charge $70 for a standard edition game, but also often incomplete and requiring extra money from ‘DLC’ or ‘premium/deluxe’ editions to actually be properly playable/have the baseline plot/lore, which nintendo doesn’t do.
It’s the fault of people that bought the Switch 1 from scalpers. It basically showed to Nintendo that people were willing to pay a lot more and that they could’ve charged a lot more. The Switch 2 will also be in short supply and Nintendo rather wants that a buyer pays them $500 than a scalper.
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I don’t think $500 for a Switch 2 and Mario Kart World is outrageous at all.
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Just an FYI, Sony is raising the price of the PS5.
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people buy them for the motion sensors and the games. the tech is irrelevant. The NES was ancient tech when it came out. Most of the games on PS are too hard and/or inappropriate for children.
deleted by creator
The hardware really isn’t dated though. Remember this is a handheld, not a console, and it’s using a newly designed custom Nvidia chip. Mainstream audiences aren’t going to be deeply analyzing the specs. They’re just going to look at the games. And the games look very good and are running at 4K.
deleted by creator
Oh so you don’t like it when other people seem to pull arguments out of their ass but then it’s ok when you go ahead and do it?
Ok, please describe your playtesting experience with 4K games on Switch 2.
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Indeed I should have said “up to 4K” and of course that is usually going to require using Nvidia’s excellent DLSS tech. But at the end of the day, the results are a visual treat. Again, mainstream consumers don’t think about stuff like this. It’s a solid upgrade over Switch. Thing is going to sell out instantly and be hard to get for a year just like the original regardless of what we think.
It’s only “outrageously” priced compared to its predecessor, and only if you don’t think about it too much. Considering under the hood it’s basically a phone or tablet, it’s very fairly priced considering the specs.
The Switch 1 is basically a tablet from 2017 being sold for $300. It never received a price drop despite it using 8 year old technology, it actually received a price increase with the OLED model. An iPad 5th Gen from 2017 sells for $50 on eBay, for comparison purposes. Not like for like as that has a way higher res screen and less RAM, but it’s fairly close.
As it’s a new chip with an expected 10 year lifespan, it’s likely on 3nm process which means it has to fight for manufacturing time with TSMC because they’re the only ones who can fab that sort of chip.
All that, plus the expectation that they will be absorbing some tariff costs for now means it will likely never see a price drop, and honestly doesn’t seem that bad in terms of pricing. It’s the cheapest console on the market with the exception of the very underpowered and useless Series S, and it’s competitively priced in terms of the tech under the hood.
So if it will be the cheapest console of its generation, is already cheaper than its ancient competition, is cheaper than a mid range GPU by itself, and is cheaper or comparably priced with similarly specced devices, then how is it so overpriced?
The only argument I’ve heard yet has been “consoles are sold at a loss because the games are expensive” but that hasn’t been true for the industry since the PS4 era, and it’s literally never been true for Nintendo consoles, they always make a profit right out of the gate. So I honestly don’t get it.
I agree with most of what you said, I don’t think the price is as high as people make it out to be, but:
Cheapest version of the Steam Deck is still cheaper for very comparable hardware, and while generations don’t align I think the Deck is closer to the Switch 2 than to the switch 1, and a Deck 2 would be miles ahead of a switch 2.
While the Switch 2 has better hardware, that’s only a tiny piece of the value proposition. The Deck is leagues better in value. I guarantee it will be able to play new release games for another 10 years. You can’t say that for the Switch 2. It won’t be able to play all of the new releases, sure, but thousands more than the Switch 2.
And that’s not to mention the tens of thousands of games the Deck can play now that the Switch 2 will never be able to play.
The truth is that hype and FOMO are powerful drugs that push gamers to constantly shell out their hard earned money to chase the newest things.
And, to an extent, I get it. There is something to be said about playing games when they come out and experiencing that moment with other gamers. There’s a sort of fraternal feeling about it.
But if you can step back from that and be patient, you can play all the games you have time for and not play into their trap.
Honestly I just have to wonder if it’s not astroturfing, or the results of astroturfing.
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The reason I think it’s astroturfing is because there’s a lot of people who are critical of Nintendo, while simultaneously giving Sony and Microsoft a free pass for doing the exact same thing, or even just making things up outright to bash Nintendo, like your claims that it’s ‘hardware that is long in the tooth at launch.’
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I can’t, because you went and deleted it lmaooooo
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