UK Retailers Begin Switch Lite Pre-Orders With A Placeholder Price Of £200

I live in mainland Europe. 200 euros seems like a good price, considering the Lite falls into the 3ds / Vita category. Anything more though and it's much less of an attractive price.

US prices are always listed without tax.
UK prices are always listed WITH tax.
This is the main reason for the lack of "true conversion rate".

Add tax to the dollar price converted to GBP and it comes out at around £192.

£180 or bust tbh. There's close to no point if it costs £200 since a new switch on a minor sale is obtainable for as low as £230. Heck, I just checked a random retailer in Denmark and the console is permanently priced at a regular £289 which includes the Switch, a Nintendo Labo kit and a £20 voucher to the eshop.

Some other shops have the Switch + a £20 voucher for ~£260-270 (not on sale).

@aetios Except it's € 229 at most stores.

I think it's too expensive.

There is a mario maker 2 bundle of the regular switch that will cost £300 pounds. With this you get a 12 month online subscription, mario maker 2 and £30 eshop credit. That means you're paying around £200 for the actual switch unit. Which has 2 detachable controlllers (two fully functional controllers out of the box), more functionality with an IR camera and HD rumble and it doubles up as a home console and a portable.

The switch lite comes with no software and is portable only at £200. And it is limited in terms of the software it can play. Not all games will be playable.

I think it will still sell like hotcakee. But when you break it down it's not really great value.

180 is fair but the market isn’t fair

This console is a joke. It is the same price as the original Switch minus the price of a dock.

@Sidon_ZoraPrince New hardware is usually more expensive than existing hardware in a discount bundle. The Switch lite will be bundled in the future as well, most likely. Also a 300 euro / pound / etc. bundle simply lowers the store's margin which basically costs them only a marginal amount.

So no TV connection?

@WiredFire Very true. This is always forgotten

The dock alone costs 75, so take that out of the equation and the loss of features/tech and its actually really expensive. This should be 150.

Official Nintendo UK website was £199 when I checked yesterday so don't think they'll be any drop.

£200. Wow. Ok. Not for me then. I’ll see what the pro does. At this point I’m more likely to buy a second standard switch

https://m.store.nintendo.co.uk/nintendo-switch/nintendo-switch-lite.list

@YANDMAN that’s where Nintendo have made this even more complicated because they over charged for dock since day one... it’s not £75 worth of kit clearly... now they can’t make this that much cheaper because it wasn’t the dock or docking ability that forced up cost. They have cut so much off this version and they still can’t make it cheap

Yeh australians are not happy. Me being one.. Theres Going to be some "lite" sales down under nintendo

It seems to be right, yes, but someone must have failed math in the UK. If the US pricing is set at two thirds of the original Switch, it should have been £186.67.

£200 would not surprise me given that WTO terms are 40% import tax and none of us has any idea what is going to happen in the very near future. Any hike will be less and look better if the starting point is higher.

@KnightsTemplar so a standard console in australia is $399 aus.. mine came with mario oddessy... and the lite is $329.. with no games... $199 US is $284 australian... wtf nintendo

UK price includes VAT, which equates to around £195. Also, as far as I know, this is the launch price of the new 3DS XL, which was four years ago. Accounting for inflation, we’re talking £180. Value wise, it’s the same as original 3DS (2011) after the price cut.

£200 takes it beyond an impulse purchase for me,unless of course they released it in lovely SNES colourway......

£179.99 would be the sweet spot, but I think it will retail at £199.99 in the UK. I love the yellow colour way, but I have absolutely no need for it. Maybe one for the Christmas wish list.

If it’s £180 and defo has a gyro sensor with an easy way of continuing play between lite and core systems... I’ll find it hard to resist this unnecessary purchase

@sanderev I'm aware of every point you are making.

I'm simply pointing out their are better 'value' options.

There are many bundles regularly available from various stores that when broken down put the cost of the actual switch unit around £220 to £250. And with all the added functionality, two controllers, portable and tv play, wider library etc. It's just much better value.

Which is ironic when "lite" models are supposed to represent better value for money.

But in saying that i appreciate value is personal to the individual. Value can be found in the lack of joycons, your kids cant break what's not there, smaller more portable size, what looks to be a sturdier design, £200 access point even if the bundled switches get you more bang for your buck.

£200 is too expensive, needs to be £180 or £160 to succeed as this will be the sweet spot price which makes people bite. Otherwise those that would consider this will just buy a switch and this system will be redundant

@ZelthkingYoutube I would never buy a 3DS at £180, and I wouldn't buy a Switch Lite at that price either.

@sanderev Yeah, I'll have to see about that. Feels a little high. I might still pick one up if they improve interoperability between systems though, but I don't have very high hopes.

List price of £199 seems about right.
You as others have said have the addition of sales tax(similar to our vat) in the US. That makes it around £190. Companies will also be hedging their bets to allow for uncertainty around Brexit(this isn’t a statement around politics btw, just a fact that business will speculate based on regional fluctuations)

@Sidon_ZoraPrince You're right, but you could say that about any revised product. For example the driveless XBOX ONE S is cheaper than the base XBOX ONE S, but not if you count discounts.

Bundles, and commonly those made by the stores, often offer the game for "free".

The bundle price is = base price + store margin + tax = € 329.
A game = base price + store margin + tax = € 59,95.

Offering the bundle for € 329 means you can remove the sales tax from the game. Here in the Netherlands this means excluding tax the game is € 41,55

€ 329 - € 41,55 = € 287,45 for the system. Most stores these days sell the Switch for € 309. Which would mean a loss of € 21,55 in "margin" this is 6%. And the margin usually is higher.

£180 would be good but £200 seems likely... It's releasing in the run up to Christmas so will still sell well at this price. It also allows them say in 12 months drop the price to £170 for Christmas 2020.

Ideally €200 £180 would be the sweet spot
Hopefully not €220 £200

Never understood this? It’s a switch so you switch from handheld to tv. Can’t do that with the newer one

@ViewtifulJotun I’m just replying to your comment to highlight the information you shared. Everyone commenting after you is still speculating.

I also checked the official Nintendo UK Store and they very clearly have it listed for £199.

@ryancraddock FYI for the article.

@aetios £199.99 is like 230 euro....I'm afraid it will be closer to 250 in some countries depending on taxes

I've seen Like New Switches sell for £200.

$259 here in Canada (OG Switch is $379)

Nintendo always was and always will b overpriced...its just like that.

That's a very expensive Christmas present. £180 would have been better, the £200 will put many off.

Hmm I feel the UK pricing is a little higher than I was expecting. I would have thought a £160-180 price point would have seen units fly off the shelves.

its not a huge difference between the 2 models price wise but I guess it purely depends on what you want. if you dont need to play this on the tv then makes complete sense to buy this new model. I would probably buy a 2nd one if it was a bit cheaper but im not upset by this price as I already have a switch

So this SHOULD be €199 in Europe correct?

Uk will be around £170/179?

I don't need one, but I kinda want one....

As the Switch is £279 in stories, this should have been £179. I think £199 is little too much.

I'd also love to get one though. The small(er) form factor and all in one-ness of it is tempting as a device for me to use out and about.

But the question mark over whether Nintendo will cater for people with my mindset, at least at product launch, is enough to make me hold off.

And I'm normally there for every product launch and have been since the Gamecube days. Day 1 purchaser of all hardware since, and this could be the first time I'm not.

@readyletsgo 199 + tax. So between 220 - 230. It's 230 here in the Netherlands.

@electrolite77 While the $90 US price on the dock is an absolute joke, one mistake that nearly everyone makes when taking it out of the equation, by say taking it out of the box, is that a large portion of that $90 goes towards the USB-C charger, which retail for around $40 or $50 depending on the manufacturer. Though I'm sure you could buy some scary Chinese ones for less, but I wouldn't charge my Switch with one. (I use a $50 GoPro charger I picked up on clearance at Target for $18.)

So, for anyone saying - take the dock out of the $300 box and make the Switch $210 - well that's only if you also take out the charger. The Switch Lite comes with a charger. I'm assuming the same charger, don't see why they'd change that. Though it's Nintendo so who knows.

So while the dock may just be a $10 hunk of plastic it does have 2 or 3 USB ports, 2 USB-C ports, and that magic little chip that let's the Switch do TV out without bricking like the 3rd party docks. So even without the charger it would probably retail for $40. Which I think is what it cost here before it went out of stock.

https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/browse/productDetailColorSizePicker.jsp?productId=prod880075

And much to my surprise Nintendo is selling the charger - lower down the page - for $30. That's not bad.

Point is, the $90 dock, or whatever the price conversion, includes a $30 charger, which does come with the Lite.

That said, I've been doing way too much math in my head, and it does seem like Lite should be cheaper than 200 whatever.

If they sold a portable Switch, no Dock, no Grip, no HDMI cable, no Joycon straps, just tablet, Joycon and charger, what would that cost at retail? Japan has a similar "choose your own joycon color" bundle that most of us mocked as too expensive b/c it is, and it doesn't include the charger.

https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/23/nintendo-switch-second-unit-no-dock-bundle/

But what would a realistically fair price be for dropping a $40 dock, $15 Grip, $2 HDMI cable and joycon straps they sell for $8 a pair? $235? Is it worth an extra $35 for a TV out option and legit 2 player tabletop mode? Lite is nice, but why not a portable Switch option too?

Besides all the stuff they took out of the box they also took some stuff out of the joycon. 2 batteries, 2 Bluetooth antenna, those little Led lights, IR and HD Rumble, the metal connectors that let them easily slide on and off. So, they really took an $80 pair of Joycon out of the box and replaced them with probably $5 worth of buttons on the Switch tablet body. Even if the joycon aren't worth $80 and the buttons cost more than $5 there still has to be substantial savings for Nintendo by ditching all those electronics and the connecting hardware.

So, we're getting much less hardware, both internal and external, losing TV out, and losing a pair of Joycon controllers that my kids use at school, at tournaments, and with their cousin, while their Switch sits safely at home in it's dock.

$200 just seems like way too much with all that money Nintendo saves and all the functionality we lose.

It will sell, my son may even buy that Pokémon model, but it does seem overpriced for hardware and functionality by at least $30.

On the bright side, a 2nd $300 Switch with $30 eShop credit and maybe a game bundled for Black Friday, preferably Luigis Mansion 3, seems like a no brainer. Maybe that's the true purpose of the Lite (outside of Japan) sell more Switch. 😉

@electrolite77 well obviously but i'm offering a practical analysis of budled costs going on what we know from retail as that is all we know.

@electrolite77 "the lack of Joy Con is a big plus factor for some parents"

Lite is certainly geared towards parent purchasers for kid players. More will buy it than that of course, but that has to be a main draw, no Joycons to lose.

$199 is probably the right price, Id' probably choose it if I were them to make money, not sure as a consumer it's worth it though compared to the Switch. I am curios to see how it goes. Nintneod isn't big on price drops, 3DS stayed $169 after that first cut, Wii U stayed $299 while it died, they didn't even try, 3DS XL has always been $199, whether old or New. The only BUT is the 2DS. Launched at $129, $99 a year later, $79 a year later. Then $149 New 2DS XL. So it's possible Switch stays $300 forever, until it's replaced by a $300 New Switch, but Lite drops every year, $199, $169, $149, before $199 New Switch Lite.

But right now, for me, Lite isn't worth $199 either in hardware nor functionality, compared to the Switch. But I'd still sell it for that, b/c, as my kids like to say, capitalism.

@sanderev €230, yeah it's definitely not made for me lol. I'll stick with my OG switch for the the being.

@readyletsgo Here it's € 100 less than the OG Switch at launch (€ 329) and yeah I think that's fair.

@sanderev that's cool, buy not for me.

I'll wait on the pro, as this lite is not really geared towards me at the end of the day.

@readyletsgo That's okay to. Different hardware for different people, right

@sanderev that's it!

Still it looks so cool!

I'll prob end up getting on with links awakening lol. REALLY don't need it though. I'm a sucker for ninty hardware 😁

@readyletsgo Same, I've gotten all Nintendo hardware since I got my GameCube (was a handheld only player until then) I remember saving a few months for the GameCube and then playing a lot of The Wind Waker.

For me, I am fine with the OG Switch as a handheld or docked. But the Lite really looks like a great handheld experience. So, I basically can't wait.

@sanderev I loved the cube!!

I'm in the process of buying up loads of n64 games at the moment. I was a moody teen back then and missed out on it. Love what I have so far. Most games aren't as expensive.