shoryukens
Member
250 USD sounds like a great price to me.
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First placeholder price for Nintendo Switch - $329CAD (~$245 USD)
- Thread starter mdubs
- Start date
Bjoern the Smexy
Member
It's sad to experience the trend of people only wanting to pay peanuts for Nintendo products first hand.
Listen guys, your perception of what a new console should cost is super fucking broken.
Even when you compare the power of the Switch to other current gen consoles $249 would be a fucking steal. $299 would be an even more realistic (and definitely not too expensive) price actually.
If you seriously think that this should or even could be any cheaper than $249 then you might as well have lost all sense of reality.
Listen guys, your perception of what a new console should cost is super fucking broken.
Even when you compare the power of the Switch to other current gen consoles $249 would be a fucking steal. $299 would be an even more realistic (and definitely not too expensive) price actually.
If you seriously think that this should or even could be any cheaper than $249 then you might as well have lost all sense of reality.
Lionel Richie
Member
Very very good price if true, but please don't make like a zillion confusing different SKU options Nintendo, please.
You're forgetting that it's in a portable package as well...it's powerful for the size and that comes at a cost.
EventHorizon
Member
If they are the only ones thinking the $250 price is right then that would suggest otherwise. That's why I'm wondering how many people who didn't buy the Wii U now thinks the Switch is a good deal at $250.
outunderthestars
Banned
To be fair, the Wii U is still $300, the same price as a ps4 or xbox one.
DerekOfTheDykes
Member
This is on the bottom end of what I and most others considered to be a realistic price spectrum ($250-$300), and is also the price point I personally expected based on some (extremely amateur) manufacturing cost speculation.
I also wouldn't get my hopes up for a pack in game. Don't set yourself up for disappointment.
I also wouldn't get my hopes up for a pack in game. Don't set yourself up for disappointment.
Bjoern the Smexy
Member
Have you read this thread? People are setting themselves up for disappointment because they expect the price to be EVEN LOWER!
-Mutsukki-
Member
What are you even expecting. $199? That's absolutely unreal.
third parties aren't gonna be on it and the specs will be somewhere between wii u and xbone
$200 is possible but I'm expecting $250
EventHorizon
Member
That cost is a problem. It reduces the size of the market the Switch can target. If you are someone who is perfectly fine carrying your phone around, and don't intend to use the mobile features of the Switch, then that extra cost does not get you anything. That makes it a disincentive to buy the Switch.
Nintendo's idea was to unite the console and mobile market into one larger one. Unfortunately due to price, the Switch doesn't compete well as a console. In the end that makes the Switch only a mobile device.
Goldenmoney
Member
250 makes sense as it was the wii launch price. It would be pretty bad if they launch it above current ps4 and xbox one prices.
not even basic stuff like fifa, CoD Ubisoft games? Not asking for anything crazy like Red Dead Redemption 2 or anything
How low are you wanting it within realistic expectations for a home console system that can also be used on the go?
The absolute closest you have to this that is similar is the Nvidia Shield which is $200. Nintendo is using their technology inside which is highly likely very, very similar to that.
I am looking at the market. I kept calling out posts saying they were okay with $300 and above, and looking how people react to Nintedo's systems when it comes to price. $200-$250 I feel is the absolute lowest Nintendo can go for this device and not many seem to object to that price in comparison to something like the Wii U or 3DS which were gimped in power and sold high.
But if you treat it as a handheld, is it priced competitively enough for the mass market to pay? The 3DS took a hit when launched at $250, and the Vita wasn't making an argument for a handheld at $250+ price either.
I still have doubts that this is something parents will be giving to young children.
Elfforkusu
Member
$300 seems the most likely, $250 would be a pleasant surprise.
EventHorizon
Member
Not if Nintendo made a console only version that didn't have to include the cost of the screen and battery, and also didn't have to fit everything into such a small space. Assuming the Switch goes for $250, $199 would be the upper end for such a product, and I could see it going for less.
You are definitely not being realistic.
outunderthestars
Banned
I think $250 is the ceiling in terms of price.
LordOcidax
Member
$249.99 is my predicted price from the beginning, this thing is going to sell like hot cakes if happens.
But the tablet is the console and the entire brain itself.
GhostTrick
Banned
250 dollars is a decent price but still too expensive for a handheld.
NurseRedHeart
Member
That is... quite acceptable, even if it doesn't have a pack-in game.
we don't know for sure yet but probably not
or maybe for the first year, then when no one buys them on the nintendo system they won't release them again the second year
EventHorizon
Member
If the Switch was just being marketed as a tablet then I might buy that argument, but it is being marketed to the console audience too. For that audience a $250 price point is a failure considering the competition from Xbox and PlayStation.
PadWarrior
Member
250 too good to be true. I'm expecting 299.
DerekOfTheDykes
Member
I've read those reactions, but I would say that's frankly an unrealistic standpoint. I could THEORETICALLY see $230, but that's assuming an absurd price point on the SoC... that or being woefully underpowered compared to even conservative expectations.
Well, that's an opinion you have - and quite possibly share with many gamers.
Nintendo is taking a big risk, hoping that a lot of people want to take a home-console-like experience on the go when they so choose.
If you don't care for Nintendo games and only want to play in front of a single TV at home without an ease of moving around you have the choice to save your money.
Bjoern the Smexy
Member
Well, the New 3DS and PS Vita both cost $249 at launch.
Even if the Switch was primarily marketed as a handheld (which it isn't btw), $249 would most definitely not be too much to ask for.
I don't expect it to be lower, but I don't expect it to sell well with a $250 price point.
The other consoles are already hitting that low and have built a library of enticing games, and a $250 handheld has yet to be proven to sell.
The 3DS had to 35% price drop a few months later as it didn't sell, and we all know how the Vita turned out, disowned by Sony.
Fantastical
Death Prophet
$250 is the ceiling I think. If they can keep it at that or lower they can set themselves up very nicely if the software is there.
Davey Cakes
Member
It was too expensive for the 3DS, yes.
But for the Switch? That remains to be seen. It's a handheld, yes, but also serves as a console when hooked up to the TV. That sort of functionality could have all sorts of implications towards consumer interpretation of the Switch in general.
If Nintendo's new system is marketed well and people actually want a console experience on the go (which also incorporates any handheld-centric experiences inherited from the 3DS developer mindset) then $250 might actually work this time around. The launch lineup is key, however. I really hope that, after all this time, Nintendo has some good shit lined up. And I'm not just talking purely about Wii U experiences ported over but actual handheld-oriented games transferred from the 3DS ecosystem as well.
They could even do something like that...down the line...but what would be the point? Too similar to PS4/XBONE and only 720 at this day and age.
At least the Switch as we know it, is something different. It has a fighting chance.
DerekOfTheDykes
Member
For what it's worth, I can actually agree that $250 is probably too high a price point for a dedicated handheld.
The thing is, I don't think it's fair to regard Switch as such. It's a handheld at heart, but the featureset takes it well outside of that category.
Switch is a hybrid, and doesn't neatly fall into either handheld or console territory, so trying to hold it to specific standards of either category isn't realistic.
Also, while it's true (as many have pointed out) that the Switch could sell better at $200 than $250, that may not even be possible depending on manufacturing cost. MSRP is a balancing act between covering the cost of manufacturing/R&D/logistics and shaving it down as low as possible to attract customers.
EventHorizon
Member
I just had an epiphany. The Switch isn't trying to compete as a console AND a mobile device. The Switch is Nintendo's retreat from the home console space in a face saving manner. It is a mobile device that throws a bone to console users, but that's it. I'm not sure how well that strategy will work with the competition in the mobile space from phones, but it does make Nintendo's marketing strategy make some sense.
Switch as a $250...
Switch as a $250...
- Mobile device: Properly priced if it has the advertised power
- Home console: A poor value
Hey_Blinkin
Member
I kind of feel like my "sweet spot" for the price will be determined by the launch window line-up. If there's 5 or 6 games I want to play within a few months of launch I'll probably pay upwards of $350 without thinking much of it. But if there's a Xenoblade game anywhere near launch that logic goes out the window. That's all I need. Afterall I spent $300 on a Wii U just to play Xenoblade Chronicles X.
GhostTrick
Banned
New 3DS launched at 169 dollars and the XL at 199 dollars. It was the first 3DS that launched at 249 and saw it's priced sliced by 40% in 4 months, to 169 dollars. As for Vita... It bombed hard.
No matter what Nintendo calls it, it's still a handheld. And 250 dollars for a handheld is the equivalent of 350 dollars for a home console from Nintendo.
Unless Nintendo are smart about the marketing. They're trying to position it as more "elite" than just a handheld toy so maybe they can manage to justify a $250 price. Don't forget pay much more than that for iPads and other handheld devices.
Lord of Ostia
Member
If it's $250 I will buy one at launch for sure. I'm going to get one eventually no matter what, but $250 is a solid price for what it is, especially if it has a game bundled.
MegaManTrigger
Banned
That doesn't make sense at all. How can you disregard that it is a hybrid console just because of the tablet? It has the capability to play both as a handheld and as a console. Not Nintendo's fault that you're narrow-minded in how you view the console, especially when they can market it as both (like someone here said, people pay more for an iPad/Phone).
Yeah???
I do gotta wonder where you've been. I was once a naysayer of the hybrid talk and brought up the many compromises it would take for making on. What's done is done. I'm still ver excited for it, and the benefit of this is all of Nintendo's studios will only be making games for one device instead of two with different architectures. Which will also reduce redundancy titles and could make way for more new IPs and revivals.
And the lack of big gimmicks means that Nintendo will do more innovating from within a game instead of thinking of ways to implement something unnecessary like what happened with Star Fox Zero (though I still enjoy the game).