Topic: Is The Switch 2 Worth It???

yes

@JaxonH @FishyS
Yea, it would be helpful. Whenever I talk price, I always make sure to mention I’m talking about the U.S.

I'll usually quote Australian prices in dollarydoos.

Still, it is mostly just Americans failing to realize that other countries exist and have their own currencies, which isn't much of a problem in the rest of the world.

Who cares? I’m just saying I think the games and hardware are overpriced, and theres little on it which screams “MUST HAVE” to me. Sure, I’d like to play Prime 4, and Bonanza, but for $60 on a system I’ve bought for other games.

My time is limited. As Is space, no point buying something to gather dust

@Matt_Barber
… there are other countries?!

@rallydefault @Matt_Barber
I don't think it's so much Americans failing to realize there's other countries as it is a conditioning of America being the focus in many discussions, so the natural assumption is USD. Which to be fair, I typically assume unless stated otherwise, or context dictates otherwise (obviously a $99.99 game isn't in the US, but it still leaves the question open of whether it's Canada or Australia, or some other dollar-denominated country). Most aren't familiar enough with pricing in countries they don't live in, especially with all the changes brought about recently in games' MSRP.

It gets even more confusing with Europe, where MSRP is rarely the listed price.

It's only really confusing for the (mainly 3) countries on these forums which use the the term 'dollars' for their currencies. But... most people stick their countries in their profiles so it's not really confusing even then.

I would argue it's also slightly confusing (or at least misleading) in the US where MSRP is often the listed price but not usually the price we actually pay, depending on region.

Well, and for what it’s worth, the U.S. is Nintendo’s biggest market, and we’ve discussed how other markets may suffer a bit for them to avoid driving things up too much over here.

Not the biggest factor by a long shot, but I would wager it’s part of their calculations and strategies.

@rallydefault
Was that you that mentioned the pricing of other consoles in relation to NS2, pointing out how it will be the cheapest option moving forward? I think that was you.

Consider the following:

• $500 digital-only PS5
• $550 PS5
• $750 digital-only PS5 Pro
• $400 digital-only Xbox Series S
• $600 digital-only Xbox Series X
• $650 Xbox Series X
• $550 Steamdeck OLED
• $450 Nintendo Switch 2

Now. With the next generation Xbox being a PC, that's irrelevant to the console market beyond enthusiasts. Xbox is out. Steam Machine will also be a PC, irrelevant to the console market beyond enthusiasts. Steamdeck 2, same thing. Valve is out.

That leaves Sony. Assuming they release 2 models- a PS6 and a PS6 Portable, the question is how much will they cost? I can't see it being $750. They'll drop the price of the Pro to $600 permanently I think, and the PS6 will be $649.99, digital-only. The hybrid handheld I expect to be $499.99 digital-only. I could be off here, but that's what I expect.

• $650 digital-only PS6
• $500 digital-only PS6 Portable

Now. The PS6 Portable will be the most closely priced to the NS2, and will offer similar hardware features. However. The prices mean most won't opt for both a PS6 and a PS6 Portable. For most, it'll be an "either or" proposition. Meaning, it likely won't draw in that many new customers, but rather, siphon off sales from the PS6 console. The fact it's likely going to be digital-only will be a sticking point for the key-card hating enthusiasts who are Nintendo fans, meaning the largest potential audience it could draw from will be handicapped from the jump. And those who don't care about physical, many likely own PS consoles also and would have otherwise purchased the PS6 console, so it's just swapping sales from the right hand to the left.

Now.

I am curious if that format will prove popular enough for Sony to eventually phase out the console with PS7, or if they'll continue a dual approach. I would hope they adopt the hybrid fully like Nintendo, but they have a bad habit of not fully backing secondary hardware. It would, however, benefit from 3rd party games optimizing for NS2 anyways. But without compelling 1st party, and more 3rd party coming to NS2 than ever before, combined with Nintendo's exclusive lineup, how appealing will it really be?

I could see them developing all their 1st party for the handheld also. But their Steam sales indicate there isn't much mass appeal beyond those who are already PS fans. And since I doubt it'll have detachable controllers with tabletop mode, we're talking a device that's strictly a handheld with an optional dock purchase similar to Steamdeck.

I see that as the most compelling potential alternative to NS2, though I personally would never choose such a device over NS2. And with prices for hardware higher than ever, Idk how many would buy both a NS2 and PS6P. I think most casual gamers who are into PS prefer the home console experience with as much graphical fidelity as possible, and won't want a next-gen PS that's weaker than their base PS5.

So, really the alternatives to NS2 thin out pretty fast. If Nintendo can continue to offer Mario Kart bundles each Christmas and discount them to $450 that'll be a hard purchase to resist for many, I think. Especially as the library fills out with Gen10 Pokemon, new Fire Emblem, new Splatoon, new 3D Mario, new Smash Bros, etc.

Another factor that confuses the dialog: taxes. Or more precisely, whether a given country uses a VAT that comes "included" in the price, versus a Sales Tax that isn't. At least some of the inevitable "games are ridiculously cheap in the US" outcry comes from apples-to-oranges comparisons where the foreign price includes VAT lumped in, while the US price conveniently or accidentally leaves out sales tax.

Lesson for everyone whose not a US resident: US retail prices don't include taxes. Why? Because sales tax varies by state and even municipality, and thus can't be a part of a standardized retail listing. However much you might be used to one standardized tax rate applied across your entire country, that is not how its done in the US, or even how it ever could be done.

@metaphysician
That's true. And some states, like Montana, have no sales tax.

In Wisconsin where I live, it's 5.5% for state sales tax. Basically $5 on every $100 spent. Or to be exact, $3.84 on a $70 game.

FWIW I always put AUD when talking about Australian pricing on forums and often will currency exchange to USD because of the USD defaultism. Although admittedly the conversion has been a bit wonky as of late, naturally

But yeah, as @metaphysician said different regions, countries, territories treat taxes differently. In Australia sales tax is always included in the price. So when I said on the other page the Switch 2 Mario Kart bundle is currently $715AU an American might freak out. But that's technically equivalent to an American seeing a Switch 2 with Mario Kart for $436US ($715AU - 10% GST -> $650AU -> $436US)

I could be wrong but I remember in the UK Switch 1's being in absolute huge demand, constantly out of stock for their first Christmas. I seem to remember it came out early in the year and despite all that time before Christmas to manufacture enough they couldn't do it, it was constantly out of stock and just getting a Switch 1 felt like an achievement. Contrast that to Switch 2 and we are seeing heavy discounting, bundling and every retailer has stock. I've noticed CEX have been reducing some prices too on secondhand models. However again this is from a UK perspective but sounds like a similar story in many other European countries. From what I understand though the original Steam Deck LCD has now been discontinued because Valve can't make it for that price which shows how component prices are increasing. Consumers are resisting the high pricing in Europe of Switch 2 but Switch 2 surely must be getting more expensive to manufacture in the long term. In the short term Switch 2's were likely manufactured with contracts with much lower RAM and Storage prices but when those manufacturing contracts end and need to be re-negotiated, how much more will the Switch 2 cost to manufacture, 10-30% more? I honestly feel the Switch 2 (In Europe) is struggling a bit to get a strong foothold but we shall see. It feels like the Switch 2 is selling at about 6x the rate in Japan compared to Europe, based on their sales and the European population being about 750 million and Japan being 120 million.

@BonzoBanana For what it's worth, in Norway it's the same: Vast surplus of Switch 2 units (including the Mario Kart bundle) at every retailer. There's no shortage. There was for Switch 1, for over a year. That was one reason I got Switch 2 at launch; I expected it to be unavailable for a long time if I didn't.

It's also permanently discounted. At launch and for the next two months the MKW bundle cost ~7249 NOK (give or take 200). Now it's ~6000 NOK, same bundle.

There seems to be a massive difference between European markets and the US / Japan, among others. Anecdotally I have a lot of friends and colleagues who have considered it and opted out because so far most games are also on Switch 1 and they're in no rush. Two bought the MKW bundle on the recent Black Friday sales for ~5500 NOK. So this thing is not flying off any shelves over here, that's for sure.

@BonzoBanana @OmnitronVariant
Do you remember that Nintendo made it rather public how they produced and made available a huge, huge number of Switch 2s for launch? Perhaps multiple times over the number of Switch 1s they had available at launch.

@rallydefault Why is it permanently and heavily discounted then? That’s the bit that’s telling me this isn’t selling well over here. If it were, the retailers wouldn’t slash their price permanently by 16%. That’s a lot of money. And further discounts during sales. I’m not saying I know why it isn’t selling. Maybe there’s just vastly more stock than demand? But that’s irrelevant to the main point: It’s overstocked and already heavily discounted. Combined with second hand consoles going for 3000 NOK on resale marketplaces (50% off current permanent reduced retail price) and the picture is pretty clear for Norway at least.

I’ve never seen this with other Nintendo consoles except Wii U.

@BonzoBanana Where in the UK is Switch 2 heavily discounted?

@OmnitronVariant
In the U.S. I’m assuming they’re discounting it at the moment because they want to sell through the rest of their initial stock quickly. I think specifically they’re trying to clear out the MK World bundles (as they stated).

(Side note: anyone else find it funny that we complain about how much the console costs, yet here we are also bemoaning apparently “permanent” price cuts lol)

@rallydefault I'm not bemoaning it, I'm just observing. I don't know many people that bought one. I feel like the narrative by Nintendo must be based on consoles sold to retailers, not to actual end users. It costing less is overall a good thing regardless of reasons.

In hindsight I wish I'd waited to get mine, but that's irrelevant now and I've learned my lesson.

@OmnitronVariant
Well, I don’t know what to tell you anymore, my friend. You seem smart enough to me to understand that anecdotal evidence doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, so I don’t know why you keep going back to that. I could counter with my own anecdote that I’ve only seen a couple stores around me with Switch 2s in stock this holiday season, and l’m a notorious last-minute holiday shopper lol