Topic: Is The Switch 2 Worth It???

Retailers gotta compete when PS is selling PS5 consoles for $100-150 discounts. I think this is direct evidence of the benefits of competition. It drives prices down. Everybody wins when that happens.

Without Switch 2, people would be paying $100-150 more for their PS5, as Sony would have no reason to discount in a monopoly. Without PS5, people wouldn't be seeing those $50 discounts on Switch 2.

Neither are official price drops. Both are retailer driven. I'm ok with someone interpreting a price drop as an indication a console isn't selling well, but BE CONSISTENT.

If you're gonna say discounts are evidence Switch 2 is struggling, then you have to say they're evidence PS5 is struggling. You can't just single out one platform while sticking your head in the sand like an ostrich concerning the rest.

My take? NEITHER the Switch 2 nor the PS5 is struggling. The discounts are to compete for holiday shoppers and get consumers to buy other things. Why? Because they're not driven by Sony and Nintendo. Could it be they're just not selling? Sure, in theory. But look at the scoreboard, Buddha. Switch 2 is outpacing Switch 1, which is the best selling console of all time, and PS5 is on track to land in the same ballpark as PS4. So... the evidence just doesn't support that theory.

Maybe we should all wait and see the official 2025 Switch 2 sales numbers at the Feb 3 investor meeting before continuing to circle the 'is it selling well enough' drain.

Switch 2 has seemingly sold well so far and PlayStation has said that this is their most successful generation surpassing PS4.

Really the odd one out right now is Microsoft.

@FishyS
I get what you're saying, but there's nothing to wait for, tbh. There's simply no argument that it isn't doing fine.

Original projection was 15 mil by March 31st, then revised upward to 19m. It was at 10m by Sept. 30th. It'll be right around 15m at this moment. Unconfirmed reports it hit 15m about 2 weeks ago, but lets just go with "as of end of year".

Next quarter only needs to do 4m to hit that 19m stretch goal. But even if it fell 1-2m shy due to a soft holiday across the board, it would still be 10-20% ahead of their original projection.

There's just no scenario where it isn't doing fine. It matched NS1 performance its first November, and did that in spite of being $150 more expensive and the softest spending in November in 30 years for the industry. It's blowing out every other console and remains the fastest selling of all time, until evidence proves otherwise. And that will eventually change I think, but simply "not being the fastest of all time" doesn't constitute a cause for concern or failure.

But ya, all this is off topic anyways. I say let it ride. When the numbers come out in Feb and NS2 is sitting around 15m as of Dec. 31st, I wonder how far the goalposts will shift this time. It outperformed Wii U lifetime sales in 6 months... 6 months! There's no scenario in which NS2 has anything to worry about. Even if it did half as well as NS1, it would still land in the ballpark of Xbox 360 and PS3. And at the end of the day, all that matters is doing well enough to attract 3rd party support. Beyond that, who cares unless you're a shareholder.

Which, to note, if you assume a 5% sales tax ( which is pretty middle of the road ), a $450 Switch 2 would sell for about $475 at the register. Which means that "outrageous" price is actually cheaper than the seemingly-low US price ( and that's with me simplifying and ignoring the bundle price ). Except even that is incomplete, because currency conversion rates don't capture the reality of Buying Power Of A Paycheck vs Cost of Living. . .

Its a legitimately complex issue, which is why I get very aggravated by how often people make ridiculously deceptive arguments like "Nintendo is greedy for charging $90* for games!", either out of ignorance or malice. And I don't really credit ignorance when the error about interpreting international pricing always 'somehow' lands in the direction of advancing their agenda.

I'm not entirely sure why people are so hung up on this "this is how many units I see on shelves" bit. As if it's a negative. It's kinda strange really, especially given the level of leaking we had before launch in addition to their statements made it very clear they were going out of their way to make sure they had a HUGE supply. It's pretty clear that the reason why there would be more units on shelves is because, you know, they produced more units. Empty shelves is not a sign that a product is selling well, it's a sign that it's selling more than they anticipated. They clearly anticipated high sales

But if we're doing anecdotes on sales performance to push (gestures) whatever doom narrative this is? It's worth noting the Australian early adopter experience for both Switch 1 and Switch 2. We never really had stock shortages for the Switch at launch. I pre-ordered mine so I could get it on day 1, I helped my sister pick one up about 4 months later. She got a bundle deal that didn't exist on day 1 and we just walked into the shops and got it. No queues, no pre-order, just grabbed one from the stack. I picked up a Switch Pro controller and I could just walk into the shops and grab one. And early on I was the only person I knew who had a Switch. It was selling well sure, but it wasn't an immediate phenomenon like the Wii was for example

The Switch 2? It was immediately sold out and on back order for the first few weeks. Obviously you can now just walk into the shops and pick one up but that's usually how these things play out in Australia for Nintendo stuff (we are a small, dedicated region). The Pro Controller was also out of stock, I ended up ordering mine directly from the Nintendo online shop. Anecdotally I would say it was actually a bit tighter than it was for Switch. If I was to put a "feel" of the market for Switch 2, I would say it was the most supply constrained launch of a Nintendo product I've seen in Australia since.... probably Amiibo... certainly the tightest for a Nintendo console since Wii... (PS5 probably "wins" this battle but COVID logistics was a different game entirely)

Also anecdotal but, I would say I know more people with a Switch 2 now than I know had a Switch in 2017. Yes, sure, I know some people who got a Switch near launch who are yet to get a Switch 2. But I also know people who got a Switch later on who already have a Switch 2 and I also know one person who has picked up a Switch 2 who never had a Switch. Remember, the Switch did not sell 150mill units on day 1

Honestly, I see little reason to doubt the success of the Switch 2. Especially when we have official reported sales figures which suggest it's selling incredibly well. I have no idea what people get out of denying this reality but..... it's pretty weird.... and ultimately, I will say once more, entirely inconsequential to the point of discussion in this thread anyways. If your enjoyment of a gaming console is based on how many units are sitting on the store shelf? It is my belief that you are doing it wrong

Edit: I would also note software sales charts. Mario Kart World, DK Bananza and various Switch 2 Editions dominate all of the software sales charts. I don't know how you can square that with this supposed vast conspiracy

@skywake
Remember gatorboi? The infamous, "Switch is only selling well because of diehard Nintendo fanatics- as soon as it hits 10m it'll fall off a cliff!"

[hits 10m]

"As soon as it hits 20m it'll fall off a cliff! Nobody cares about this console- literally everyone I know laughs at it. It got outsold all year by a 4 year old console."

[hits 20m]

"Soon as it hits 30m it's toast. Idk why people are so hell bent on denying it's just a bunch of diehards padding out the sales."

[hits 30m]

never heard from him again

@JaxonH
This whole bit reminds me of a comic from the mid-00s. I forget where it was from (Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Penny Arcade maybe?) but the bit was that the PS3 character was lecturing the Wii character about how they need to create an artificial scarcity. That the key to success was to make people think your product is popular by making it hard to buy

...... and in the last panel they pan out to show the PS3 character all smug about himself while a queue of people buying the Wii while the Wii character counts their money

The suggested selling price of Switch 2 when launched was £396 and £430 with Mario Kart. You can look on hotukdeals etc for the deals currently and expired but really we are only days after Christmas. I think the cheapest deal I saw right up to Christmas was £360 for the Switch 2 with Mario Kart so about 15% off. I think the cheapest a month or so ago was £300 with Mario Kart but from Aliexpress and use of vouchers, it was the Hong Kong version. All these deals can be seen on hotukdeals. Obviously the big discounting is post Christmas when many retailers have stock to clear and of course Switch 2 returns sold as refurbished etc. Lets not forget the original Switch had pretty much no discounting on its first Christmas because stock was difficult to find. It's fairly easy to find Switch 2 with mario kart for £390-410 which is a £20-40 saving on a brand new console meant to be selling huge numbers over Christmas and in high demand. However I strongly believe will will get far more aggressive discounts than even 15% soon as is typical of over-stock situations post Christmas. Probably the most aggressive discounts I've seen were in the August to September period and prices recovered somewhat as we moved closer to Christmas.

Of course post Christmas we will see sales figures and get a general idea of the market. We already know that in November in Europe the PS5 outsold the Switch 2 by over 4:1 and it will be interesting to see if that ratio continued into December or the Switch 2 recovered somewhat. For November just over 450,000 units were sold for a market of 750 million people compared to about 2 million PS5s.

They just want it to fail because they don't like the prices.

None of us "like" the prices. It would be great if everything was free lol

@BonzoBanana Hmmm okay. I did manage to find a deal on Switch 2 + MKW bundle for £368, which is a pretty good 15% discount. But this was a single deal from a single retailer before Christmas, which seemed to last only a few days. No equivalent deals exist at this moment as far as I can tell.

I can't find evidence of the AliExpress deal (when I look now, prices are actually higher than RRP) - but you say this is for the Hong Kong version so I think not really relevant to the UK in particular.

A boxed, used Switch 2 at CeX is £375...very close to RRP.

A quick look online and most retailers have the base console for around £385.

IDK, my takeaway from this isn't "heavily discounted".

Sure - it's clearly easier to get ahold of one this year, and maybe at a marginal discount c/w RRP. But as mentioned by others we've known for ages that Nintendo's strategy has been to produce as much as possible to avoid stock shortages.

I don't think you have made much effort to look. Looking at hotukdeals there has been loads of deals, more than I realised that have come and gone. I don't know if this link will post but will try but shows a console many retailers are discounting. I seem to remember in the past when products are in high demand they are excluded from discounting and use of coupons and vouchers. CEX often price differently instore to online, sometimes more and sometimes less. They are all individual stores with about half of them being franchisees.

The point is there has been frequent offers including your own purchase of Switch 2! but prices before Christmas are going to be a bit higher than post Christmas surely. Prices increase after Black Friday/Cyber Monday for the period before Christmas before then lowering for the January sales. However as you can see from the hotukdeals link there were still many offers throughout December for a brand new console expected to sell huge numbers at Christmas. I never claimed every retailer had huge discounts I claimed it was heavily discounted, there are always shops that maintain high price points. However there has also been many offering big discounts and clearly struggling to sell the stock they had purchased and getting worried about having too much stock left after Christmas.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/search?q=nintendo+switch+2+console...

Console never gets a discount, that gets weaponized as evidence of greed and screwing the poor consumer.

Console gets a discount, that gets weaponized as "evidence" nobody wants it.

It's a lose-lose.

Follow sales trends, not discounts or anecdotal stories about shelf stock. And by sales trends, I mean global sales, and not for a specific month but the entire picture zoomed out.

PS5 got outsold in Japan 10:1 by Switch 2 in November, and it's managing just fine. Pretty sure NS2 can handle PS5 returning the favor in other regions from time to time.

@JaxonH

> And by sales trends, I mean global sales

but then you immediately go

> PS5 got outsold in Japan 10:1 by Switch 2 in November, and it's managing just fine

Japan. Which is also heavily biased towards handhelds due to crowded living conditions and frequent commutes. But sure thing, just hand wave all the data you don't like, it's easier that way isn't it.

It was just an example of PS5 doing well globally even though it doesn't do well in all countries. Why they did poorly in some countries (e.g. liking handhelds) doesn't necessarily matter. Similarly, Switch 2 is doing well globally even though it might not be doing well in every country.

That said, it will be interesting to compare Switch 2 versus Switch 1 sales in all the individual countries we live in. But it's a bit early to be able to do that very accurately.

@OmnitronVariant
Yes, I said that to specifically demonstrate why not looking at global trends is the wrong approach

Are you just pretending to be ignorant here, or is it authentic?

It's also kinda rich to make excuses like "but that market prefers handhelds" when it comes to Japan, but not make similar excuses in Europe for Switch 2, such as "but that market prefers consoles". Be consistent.

At the end of the day, Switch 2 doesn't perform as well as PS5 in Europe, and that's just what it is. Doesn't matter why. At the end of the day, PS5 doesn't perform as well as NS2 in Japan, and that's just what it is. Doesn't matter why. At the end of the day, both PS5 and NS2 are doing just dandy regardless of having weaker performance in particular regions.

I don't even think its really "about" the prices from most of them. Setting aside the purely cynical clickbait opportunism ( ie, people producing "Nintendo Bad" content purely because its the zeitgeist and they make whatever sells )? I think the driving force is mostly lingering hatred for Nintendo as a concept, for which their current pricing is just a convenient weapon of opportunity. The real "sin" Nintendo has committed is "Stubbornly insisting on being an all-ages, family friendly company". So long as Nintendo continues to make tons of bright colorful family-friendly games, Video Games will never become the Made For Grown-Ups medium that they want it to become, so that they can play games without the slightest worry that people might mistake them for kids playing with toys.

TLDR: Nintendo's "crime" is not either dying to Playstation or becoming Playstation.

Except Switch 2 is outperforming the Switch launch-aligned in all regions. Yes, the Switch 2 is performing particularly well in Japan where they tend to prefer portables especially when you compare sales directly to PS5. This is even more pronounced when you compare to previous generations because in most regions the absence of XBox boosted the PS5 while in Japan XBox was never a seller. But this was also true of the Switch

If you look at the proportion of sales by region for Switch and Switch 2 there's no significant change here. The theory that the Switch 2 is only doing well because of Japan rings hollow. At least if the point of discussion is to compare the Switch 2 to the trajectory of the Switch, a console which I think we can all agree was not a failure in any region

In any case, on the topic of the latest sales for the PS5 v Switch 2 one only needs to actually look at the numbers. This year in November we see Sony aggressively discount the PS5 in November and the Switch 2 sells 1.8mill vs the PS5's 3.6mill globally. However the same thing happened last year and also in 2017 in November. Infact since the Switch launch Playstation outsold Switch globally during November in 2017, 2018, 2023 and 2024. For the other years 2019, 2020 and 2022 were pretty close all things considered (a few 100k units between them). 2021 is really the only November where Switch stomped Playstation in November

Basically, if you look at the charts rather than just hand-waving away all of the data that's inconvenient to your narrative? PS tends to peak in sales in November while Switch tends to peak in December. Like clockwork. So effectively this argument here is based around the most cherry picked data you could possibly have

@metaphysician
I would hope that this numerical illiteracy doesn't come from a "hatred of Nintendo". Because to me the idea of people going around hating a literal toy company is a bit sad. Honestly I would prefer to believe that people just like the idea of lording their superiority over others with contrarian takes. And on a Nintendo fan forum the easiest path to that, especially when Nintendo is doing well, is to heckle the sales

........ which makes them look like fools given that:
1. Switch 2 is selling very well and you'd have to be blind not to see it
2. Gamers buy consoles to play games, so talk of sales is largely irrelevant anyways
3. Most of us grew out of console-war sales **** measuring contests

Yea, the funny (and sad) thing to me is all these people online rooting for the Switch 2 to fail.

It’s like… you do realize the console market is effectively down to two consoles now, right? And you’re rooting for one of those to fail. In a hobby you enjoy.

Makes… sense?

@rallydefault
I would argue that there already three monopolies in gaming in three different markets. Which seems like an odd thing for me to say but it makes sense if you think about it. Nintendo owns the casual, portable, family and budget market segment. Sony owns the high spec home console space. Valve owns PC gaming

They're competitors sure but they're competitors in the same way that different network infrastructure companies complete. They're competitors in non-overlapping markets within which they have a monopoly