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Nintendo switch UK price £279.99

KAL2006

Banned
If Switch fails to meet sales expectations. Can we expect to see a price drop or a good bundle by holiday.

I wonder how the margins are on this system. I remember when 3DS released the margins were good which is why they could drop the price. However with Wii U the margins were not so great so they couldn't drop the price on that.
 

weekev

Banned
If Switch fails to meet sales expectations. Can we expect to see a price drop or a good bundle by holiday.

I wonder how the margins are on this system. I remember when 3DS released the margins were good which is why they could drop the price. However with Wii U the margins were not so great so they couldn't drop the price on that.
From what the Japanese devs were saying I'd be surprised if there was a huge margin.
 

Terrified

Member
Every piece of hardware and expensive CE I got through them charges a week beforehand, including PS4 Pro and PSVR recently.

Wait, I specifically asked Amazon customer services when the charge would be applied as I don't get paid till the 28th. They advised the charge would be applied on March 2nd. I know there's a chance that customer services could be pulling this date out of their arse, but it's a very specific date which led me to believe it would be right...
 

jonno394

Member
If Switch fails to meet sales expectations. Can we expect to see a price drop or a good bundle by holiday.

I wonder how the margins are on this system. I remember when 3DS released the margins were good which is why they could drop the price. However with Wii U the margins were not so great so they couldn't drop the price on that.

Wii u was sold at a loss iirc, whereas this will be sold at a profit from day one. As long as it sells decently then i think this will enable them to do a price drop or bundle around Christmas without losing money due to economics of scale, I'm imagining a Mario kart 8 deluxe bundle rather than a price cut.
 

KAL2006

Banned
Wii u was sold at a loss iirc, whereas this will be sold at a profit from day one. This will enable them to do a price drop or bundle around Christmas, I'm imagining a Mario kart 8 deluxe bundle rather than a price cut.

Well I personally think they need to aim for a £200 price drop or a £250 bundle by holiday for this system to succeed.

A Pokémon Stars bundle with some sort of local multiplayer with 1 game and 1 switch would also give the Switch a good boost in sales.
 

jonno394

Member
Well I personally think they need to aim for a £200 price drop or a £250 bundle by holiday for this system to succeed.

A Pokémon Stars bundle with some sort of local multiplayer with 1 game and 1 switch would also give the Switch a good boost in sales.

A £250 bundle sounds doable by then but i can't see them bundling one of their big holiday games at a discount. A Pokémon bundle would likely be sold at a premium
 

jts

...hate me...
Does anyone think this charger charges the Nintendo Switch fast enough?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01C89H12K/

While I would probably know for sure if I just wait and see, I think some people are up to speed in these USB charging standards which I'm not at all.

And I'd like to have a bedside charging solution for the Switch ready, which would be the purpose of this (charge the Switch and all my other USB shit). Don't want an additional brick just for that, already use an Anker multicharger which is awesome. Just updating it to have a higher power USB-C port in there too.
 

KAL2006

Banned
A £250 bundle sounds doable by then but i can't see them bundling one of their big holiday games at a discount. A Pokémon bundle would likely be sold at a premium

Sorry I meant to say

£250 bundle of a old game
Zelda Bundle
Mario Kart Bundle
Splatoon 2 Bundle
Arms Bundle

Pokémon Stars and Mario Oddyssey can be sold separately.

To be fair I've seen some great Pokemon Sun and Moon bundles when that game launched here so I don't see why they can't do the same for a remaster.
 
Just checked Game.co.uk, it cannot possibly be £339 for the Switch + Zelda right? How do they expect to sell in the UK.

It is, unfortuantely. You've been able to shave 10-20 off that if you grab discounted (potentially mispriced) deals, but that's what the switch is priced at. The console is £280 and the "new console tax" on the game is putting BOTW at more than £40 in a lot of places, typically hovering near £50, and GAME gonna GAME , so there's a extra £10 charge there.

How Nintendo expects to sell the Switch with the pricing for the console and accessories anywhere outside of maybe Japan is a question I can't answer yet
 

KAL2006

Banned
It is, unfortuantely. You've been able to shave 10-20 off that if you grab discounted (potentially mispriced) deals, but that's what the switch is priced at.

How Nintendo expects to sell the Switch with the pricing for the console and accessories anywhere outside of maybe Japan is a question I can't answer yet

This may sound bad of me to say but this is why I am hoping the Switch is a massive sales flop which forced Nintendo to drop prices. In the US Switch is the same price as a PS4 RRP. In the UK PS4 RRP is £250 and Switch is £30 more expensive. It should have at the least launched at £250.
 

jonno394

Member
Sorry I meant to say

£250 bundle of a old game
Zelda Bundle
Mario Kart Bundle
Splatoon 2 Bundle
Arms Bundle

Pokémon Stars and Mario Oddyssey can be sold separately.

To be fair I've seen some great Pokemon Sun and Moon bundles when that game launched here so I don't see why they can't do the same for a remaster.

Ah ok. I think Mario Kart makes the most sense as it epitomises what the switch is about, a multiplayer handheld out of the box!

This may sound bad of me to say but this is why I am hoping the Switch is a massive sales flop which forced Nintendo to drop prices. In the US Switch is the same price as a PS4 RRP. In the UK PS4 RRP is £250 and Switch is £30 more expensive. It should have at the least launched at £250.

£250 was always the price i was hoping for. I blame brexit and the weakening of the pound. In days gone by it likely would have been £250.
 
This may sound bad of me to say but this is why I am hoping the Switch is a massive sales flop which forced Nintendo to drop prices. In the US Switch is the same price as a PS4 RRP. In the UK PS4 RRP is £250 and Switch is £30 more expensive. It should have at the least launched at £250.

PS4 with a game is £250 in a lot of places, so it's even worse. Before it was properly announced, I was expecting them to shoot for original Wii pricing in almost all regions. And the sales period over christmas had loads of £200 or less PS4s with a game. I have no idea how they ended up with the plan being to be a more expensive option than base ps4/xbone as well as the most expensive handheld they've released when overpricing the handheld bit them so solidly in the ass with the 3DS, but it is what it is, I suppose. I can wait.
 

jts

...hate me...
This may sound bad of me to say but this is why I am hoping the Switch is a massive sales flop which forced Nintendo to drop prices. In the US Switch is the same price as a PS4 RRP. In the UK PS4 RRP is £250 and Switch is £30 more expensive. It should have at the least launched at £250.
Really?

If it's a massive flop it won't get 1/3 of the library, and thus value, that it can get if it's a success. For £50. Smart.

Luckily it won't flop.
 
Really?

If it's a massive flop it won't get 1/3 of the library, and thus value, that it can get if it's a success. For £50. Smart.

Luckily it won't flop.

That only works if you believe significant amounts of third party support and massive sales are going to magically appear on Switch that wouldn't have simply existed elsewhere.

It's Nintendos problem and not mine if they can't sell millions of switches; third parties will just make games on Ps4/PC/Xbone instead, and I'll play them there instead.
 

jonno394

Member
This may sound bad of me to say but this is why I am hoping the Switch is a massive sales flop which forced Nintendo to drop prices.

Remember when the Wii U flopped and Nintendo permanently lowered the price to extremely competitive levels? I don't.

Edit - just realised I've quoted this message twice now, sorry.
 

KAL2006

Banned
PS4 with a game is £250 in a lot of places, so it's even worse. Before it was properly announced, I was expecting them to shoot for original Wii pricing in almost all regions. And the sales period over christmas had loads of £200 or less PS4s with a game. I have no idea how they ended up with the plan being to be a more expensive option than base ps4/xbone as well as the most expensive handheld they've released when overpricing the handheld bit them so solidly in the ass with the 3DS, but it is what it is, I suppose. I can wait.

I think £250 is reasonable for launch. I was comparing to RRP which is £250 for a PS4. Of course those older consoles will have deals etc as they are old consoles and I'm sure Nintendo will have deals on Switch in a year or 2 whether it's official or unofficial. What I'm saying is the should have released Switch at £250 which is reasonable for a hybrid console. And it would have been inline with the US pricing which is $299 where the PS4 also costs $299.

Let's see how long Nintendo can hold out on this ridiculous price, one things for sure, 3DS, Xbox One and Vita all dropped in price or had great bundles officially or unofficially within the first 6 months. So I'm holding out. I'd let the day 1 adopters he the Beta testers, gives us who hold out more information on things like Virtual Console, games support, Apps support, voice chat, account system and etc.
 

KAL2006

Banned
Remember when the Wii U flopped and Nintendo permanently lowered the price to extremely competitive levels? I don't.

Edit - just realised I've quoted this message twice now, sorry.

That's one console

We shall see, remember when 3DS dropped in price

Remember when Xbox One dropped in price
 
At first £279 felt like a lot but i've warmed up to it, for what you get they should have bundled a pack-in title of some kind even if it was a tech demo, but there's been a hell of a lot worse launches over the years (ps3 £425)
 

KAL2006

Banned
3DS I'll give you, but Xbox isn't Nintendo. .

It doesn't matter my point is it's normal for companies to lower prices when things don't sell as expected. The Wii U was an exception. In fact after the Wii U flopping so hard not certain Nintendo would want to make the same mistake again by holding out on dropping prices.
 
Remember when the Wii U flopped and Nintendo permanently lowered the price to extremely competitive levels? I don't.

It's a different situation here though. If it bombs, they can't just pull a Wii U and let it die while they focus on their more successful platform because now the Switch is their only platform.
 

jts

...hate me...
That only works if you believe significant amounts of third party support and massive sales are going to magically appear on Switch that wouldn't have simply existed elsewhere.

It's Nintendos problem and not mine if they can't sell millions of switches; third parties will just make games on Ps4/PC/Xbone instead, and I'll play them there instead.
You are more than welcome to go ahead and do it, I will also play some 3rd party games on the PS4, especially if they don't make it to the Switch, but necessarily only in that situation either.

And yeah I do believe that 3rd party support will come with good sales, that's usually how it works.

But I'll compare the value proposition with the PS4 when the PS4 is a fully autonomous device with an HD IPS display, a battery, and a controller that can be split in 2 for instant fun quirky multiplayer.
 

Polygonal_Sprite

Gold Member
I preordered, cancelled and preordered again. If you think it'll still be £279 at Christmas for Mario (when I originally thought to buy in), then why not jump in early and play the games as they come along? Spreads the cost so you don't have 3-4 games to buy at once (at Christmas when there are a ton of other games vying for attention and time too), and in the downtime you'll probably have plenty of other things to play from other platforms.

These are my exact thoughts on Switch. If you're planning on buying one in 2017 then you might aswell just get it at launch.
 

KAL2006

Banned
Not to be a party pooper for all the people who are buying day 1. But people who buy day 1 should calculate if it's with it to pay a extra £30 to £80 to have a Switch now instead of later. To many people having a item day 1 is worth the extra money. In fact I wouldn't care and I would have bought a Switch day 1 even if the rocker goes down. The only reason I haven't is because I just bought a PS4 Pro and have a backlog of games to play.
 

KAL2006

Banned
These are my exact thoughts on Switch. If you're planning on buying one in 2017 then you might aswell just get it at launch.

Not really. Anything can happen between now and Christmas. It can be the same price. Or it can be lowered to £200 by Christmas. Who knows?

Also some of the 3rd party games would drop in price by then. I'm sure games like Bomberman and 1 2 Switch could potentially be like £10 by then.
 

sammex

Member
12Switch is first party, it's unlikely to drop much as nintendo titles tend to hold their price. Also expecting an £80 price reduction in the first year of the consoles life is silly. The 3ds dropped quickly because they were leaking former DS players to mobile platforms and needed to get them back on the train, they had a big audience they were trying to sell to then. Also as the 3ds is still out there and there's not a massive nintendo home console market to attract they're going to keep the price high for the early adopters and I'm guessing at Christmas there will be a bundle with a game but the same £280. The Wii U remained at almost the exact price throughout it's lifespan despite poor sales.

You know retailers set the prices here right?
 
You know retailers set the prices here right?

Nintendo has in the past avoided setting a price because of that one time they got in trouble with the EU for price fixing.

However not having a public RRP doesn't mean there isn't one. The Nintendo store, for instance, sells it for £280. And Nintendo has to sell the console to the various retailers at some price decided between them. And the complete lack of competition for extra sales makes me suspect it's quite close to the asking price, though that's speculation obviously.

Functionally, it's RRP is £280.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
Also expecting an £80 price reduction in the first year of the consoles life is silly. The 3ds dropped quickly because they were leaking former DS players to mobile platforms and needed to get them back on the train, they had a big audience they were trying to sell to then. Also as the 3ds is still out there and there's not a massive nintendo home console market to attract they're going to keep the price high for the early adopters and I'm guessing at Christmas there will be a bundle with a game but the same £280. The Wii U remained at almost the exact price throughout it's lifespan despite poor sales.

You know retailers set the prices here right?

Wii U was selling at £199 within 6 months from launch.

Last 2 Nintendo launches saw huge price drops at retailers soon after launch.
 

TannerDemoz

Member
I still can't believe people are moaning about the price of the hardware unit. Are we all remembering the launch RRPs of the PS4 and XB1?

The only injustice here is they haven't bundled in a free game (Wii Sports/Wii U Party style) to focus on the benefits of the hardware.
 

jonno394

Member
To me, £280 for the privilege of owning day 1 is worth it because i want to play Zelda asap and I don't own a wii u. Buying a wii u for it feels like a waste of money considering its a dead system now plus i have interest in a lot of games coming out on switch in the early months as well as in the long run.
 

sammex

Member
Wii U was selling at £199 within 6 months from launch.

Last 2 Nintendo launches saw huge price drops at retailers soon after launch.

That price drop lasted a week before it shot back up to £250. Wii U also had a massive drought of games during that time, the Switch doesn't. They also messed up the marketing for Wii U and never generated the interest that the Switch has garnered.

£300 at launch to £250 when it's discontinued is not a huge drop. Like I said expecting a £80 drop in the first year is silly. It's very unlikely.
 

jts

...hate me...
To me, £280 for the privilege of owning day 1 is worth it because i want to play Zelda asap and I don't own a wii u. Buying a wii u for it feels like a waste of money considering its a dead system now plus i have interest in a lot of games coming out on switch in the early months as well as in the long run.
I even own a Wii U but don't want to buy Zelda for a dead system, when it's also coming out in a console with life ahead. Regardless of graphical differences, or even the possibility of going portable. Factor those in and... yeah.
 

sammex

Member

Great more temporary drops that lasted a week if that. Rest of my point still stands.

Tell you what KingSnake, if it drops £80 permanently by Christmas you can tell me I was wrong all you like (but I won't be).
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
Great more temporary drops that lasted a week if that. Rest of my point still stands.

Do you have any proof that they lasted a week? Because I linked you to a lot of sources while you are throwing around statements without any backing.

Wii U could be found at £199 in 2013 if you wanted it. Since March to December (as my links prove). In 2014 summer was again the same situation. It extended actually all over Europe where a Wii U was as cheap as 225 euro.

And I bought a Wii U at launch and I've been invested in it.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
The 3DS was overpriced because Nintendo got cocky with the E3 feedback. They thought they could charge more on top of what they initially planned. It didn't work so they ended up having to go with the more reasonable price.

Wii U is a world of its own. Much like people dismiss the Wii as an exception, I think we can dismiss the Wii U as one too. I don't see the Switch doing as badly as that even on the simple basis that not once has anyone had to explain the main concept of the Switch since its so easy to understand. On the other hand, people are still trying to work out what the Wii U was about to this day. Though it is kind of funny that those who waited too long and didn't jump on those initial bomba deals have ended up buying the Wii U for basically the same price as day one purchasers.

I'm seeing some bundles come Christmas time, Mario Kart DS being the most likely candidate, maybe a tenner off the price, but I'm not expecting a massive price drops this year.

You might be able to get a PS4 for less, but the Switch is this year's new hot console for Christmas. If Nintendo is smart, they can leverage that to their advantage. Newness sells.
 

DagsJT

Member
It's 59p App Store games again. Everyone sees something cheaper and believed other stuff should be the same price. Baulking at £5 for a mobile games and believing all games should be 59p or whatever prices are for the cheapest mobile games now.

Nintendo aren't going after Sony or Microsoft so their consoles prices have no effect.

They're not going to give the console away. PS4 and Xbox One have been around for years, and yet people expect Nintendo to make a loss on the brand new Switch to make consoles whose prices have dropped over the years?

If a saving of £30 so you can get one for £250 at Christmas is what you want then fine. But £30 over 9 months isn't a huge amount and means I get to play the games as they come out. £280 isn't a bad price point compared to previous console release prices.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
but the Switch is this year's new hot console for Christmas. If Nintendo is smart, they can leverage that to their advantage. Newness sells.

You know that there's another newer console coming out between Switch and Christmas, no? I don't believe it will sell too well, but the same arguments could apply to that console too.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
You know that there's another newer console coming out between Switch and Christmas, no? I don't believe it will sell too well, but the same arguments could apply to that console too.

Scorpio? Well I was thinking new new, rather than New 3DS new, but I suppose you're right.

It will be interesting to see how MS approaches it. Sony took the interesting decision of focusing all their advertising on the Slim. I don't think I saw a single advert for the Pro. I guess they see their market for the Pro as the enthusiast market, which doesn't really need advertising since they'll seek out the information for themselves.
 

SuperSah

Banned
Contacted GAME - it is true. Those who have a confirmed preorder will be emailed '7 days' before for payment.

I asked over Twitter and received this response;

GAME said:
Hey,

You'll receive an email around 7 days before its due to be shipped to you and the payment will be taken just before its ready to be shipped and will be a day or two earlier.
 

Roxas

Member
I realise this may have been answered many times over but are there still places online to buy the neon console for day 1?
 

Betty

Banned
This just reafirms my decision to wait it out

An almost year long wait though, but yeah it's up to the individual.

I just wish Mario Kart 8 was at launch but at least it's coming about a month later.

Amazon and Game both still have launch day stock. I'm sure there are more too.

Glad to hear, I wasn't sure that Game would be able to deliver my order at launch.
 
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