Don't Worry, Nintendo's Thinking About Affordability With Switch 2 Pricing

Hopefully any tariffs imposed by hewhonotbenamed in the US won't affect any pricing structure.

they can want it to be as cheap as much as they want if the parts they want are expensive which they will be Nintendo will have no other option but to have a higher than usual price tag plus we know Nintendo doesn't sell hardware at a lose day one like Sony or Microsoft they want to make a profit day one

I think Nintendo will probably keep this one priced at $349 or $399 for this model. Unlikely for a $449 or $499 price-point... but I've been wrong before too. Haha.

Probably the big issue for Nintendo is that the Yen is weak at the moment. If the Switch was priced at $400 that would be around 60000 Yen. The Switch OLED costs around 40000 Yen in Japan. So if prices were equivalent that's a huge price increase for their domestic customers.

Switch OLED is $349 so it seems unrealistic that Switch 2 would only be $50 more expensive taking into account that Nintendo's not discounting the current Switch. This sounds like $449 minimum for Switch 2 but probably more like $499.

Hopefully trade war shenanigans won't raise the price. I think $399.99 would be perfectly acceptable.

I’d pay $500 for a Switch 2 over a PS5/ Xbox Series X. For me, portability beats performance.

$450 is my max, but I'd rather pay $400.

@Coversnail Nintendo usually doesn't do one to one conversions of currency for their prices. They usually price each console specifically for the region. So some regions essentially pay more and some pay less. At least that's how it was with the 3ds.

I think ~$400 USD is the sweet spot for many. Lower would be great, and I'd be willing to pay a bit higher. But not by much.

@Scarmucci "Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself."

@Scarmucci it probably won’t unless they go directly from PRC. Because Nintendo also has a factory in Vietnam iirc. So if the Switch 2’s do get manufactured in Vietnam, then it can bypass the tariffs most likely.

I remember when the Switch 1 price was announced at £279

Confidence was fairly low after the disaster of the Wii U and I tried to convince myself that it was too much to pay and that I wasn't getting one (not straight away at least)

Predictably though I ended up pre ordering one and was balls deep on day one 🤣🤣

Too many people have to lower their impossibly sky-high expectations about SW2. Nintendo has always (almost) cared about being affordable.

The biggest reason of the success of Switch is the price, no doubt! Why should Nintendo name their next console to Switch 2 and suddenly making it to a high-end console?

Too many still believes in that SW2 will be as powerful as PS4 Pro or even PS5 despite being a hybrid console. Not a chance that SW2 will be more powerful than Steam Deck while having a bigger screen and at same time costing several $100 less.

Don't forget the Project Reality and NX hype or rumors, since they in the end ended up being less than 1/10 as powerful as the hype/rumors/speculations.

£349.99 my guess.

I live in Canada so affordability is out the window. I plan on selling some Switch stuff to cover the cost.

@Member_the_game I remember £280 was a lot for Switch given that I'd only paid £199 for a Wii U bundled with 2 games!

I’ve pretty much ruled out buying a PS5 Pro or PS6 at £600+. Realistically I will eventually buy a Switch two, but how soon is dependent on price and launch lineup. I would say £300-£400 is a good price to get me to bite straight away.

Notice how they don't talk about affordability with their games or online service.

For the first time ever, everything about their new console mirrors the previous one, so I said when it was revealed that they will match the price of Switch at launch and I bet they will release a Lite and/or OLED model afterwards. The power will be equivalent to what that price means today in mobile technology. Of course, it's just my intuition, but do you remember those rumours/leaks about the prototype running Tears of the Kingdom in 1080p 60fps? Oh, and I really doubt that they will sell Switch 2 at a loss.

@chardir

Yeah £279 seems perfectly reasonable now but at the time it definitely seemed alot

£379.99 UK is my guess

Hope it drops at $420 or less

With how expensive everything is nowadays there’s no way parents are going to buy it if it’s $499. That seems way too expansive even for something like the Switch 2. I imagine it’ll be around the $400 mark but here’s hoping they can make it more affordable (they probably can, but being a corporation means they’ll probably try to nickel and dime us somehow)

@neuron123 I don't think they have to at present. PS5 and Xbox came out of the gate in the UK at £69.99 RRP. Nintendo is still below that at £49.99 RRP with only the exception of TOTK at £59.99.

@Keman

The biggest reason of the success of Switch is the price, no doubt! Why should Nintendo name their next console to Switch 2 and suddenly making it to a high-end console?

Too many still believes in that SW2 will be as powerful as PS4 Pro or even PS5 despite being a hybrid console. Not a chance that SW2 will be more powerful than Steam Deck while having a bigger screen and at same time costing several $100 less.

Don't forget the Project Reality and NX hype or rumors, since they in the end ended up being less than 1/10 as powerful as the hype/rumors/speculations.

This is exactly what I think. The success of Switch was based on being relatively cheap and portable and Switch 2 is going to follow the pattern, so it's going to be less powerful than any of the handheld PCs on the market. Switch 2 is literally conceived as a follow-up to the financial success of Switch.

£399 at most or... I get my pitchfork! Don't think it will sell as well as they hope either, if it's priced above that. People love the Switch for various reasons, but one of them is definitely the fun yet affordable angle.

Anything past £399/399€/399$ point will seem quite unaffordable I think. That's already 100 more than the original Switch's launch price, which people will probably accept as the evolution of the economy and prices. Add more on top of that and people are likely to consider whether their kid really need something that expensive to play on.

@Banjo- SD base model £349 so I think even with balancing affordability, SW2 will hit those specs

@Duncanballs Well, the price for Switch was £280, $300, €330; the cheapest Steam Deck is significantly more expensive at £350, $400, €420 and lacks the Switch gimmicks -mainly the joy-cons-, so all the budget is spent on specs. What I am saying is that Nintendo is prioritising pricing and not specs and repeating the Switch pattern. I could be wrong and Switch 2 be expensive and powerful, we'll see.

@Banjo- I'm thinking whether people like it or not, £349.99 -£379.99. Yes the Switch has more bells and whistles compared to SD with things like the Joycons but I wager that Nintendo due to volume gets components a lot cheaper than Steam does so I think even with added capability, SW2 can match SD in both terms of price and specs.

SD isn't a powerhouse by any means so aspiring to those specs is reasonable

@robotreptile $299 8 years ago is analogous to $385 today, not $499 - so I think $399 is probably where it lands. Maybe $449.

Also - too many of you thinking these are being bought by parents for kids. Some maybe - definitely not the majority.

@Duncanballs I don't get it. What do you mean by "whether people like it or not" in this context?

@Banjo- Rephrase ..... I don't think SW2 will be lower than this and some people may not like or agree with that price point.

@robotreptile @NorrinRadd The inflation is never applied equally to all goods, otherwise few people would be able to afford video games in 2025. Not just they are a "luxury" good for the masses, that you can consider art or entertainment, but they are also intangible, they are digital copies, except for the piece of plastic and optical disc/SD-like card in the case of physical copies, that are much cheaper to manufacture than a SNES or N64 cartridge.

There simply has to be an OLED model at launch. It would be ridiculous to downgrade in that area of all things.

But it would be interesting to see Nintendo achieve a middle ground with consumers by launching a cheaper Lite model alongside the main model at launch, assuming that the main model is a little more expensive than what the average joe would anticipate.

Nintendo make the money on the games and the updated Tegra chip is not an expensive part so no compelling reason that it needs to be much more expensive than Switch OG.
But ...... $70 Game Price is INCOMING

US$399 is reasonable and keeping with Nintendo ways of working, imo.

Has to be at least 400 dollars at max.

@SillyG Of course, I might be wrong, but the Switch 2 is LCD and the OLED model will come later and be more expensive. I would recommend you to wait for the OLED model.

@Duncanballs Most of the money we gamers spend on this is on video games/subscriptions rather than hardware, so it's worth getting better hardware, e.g., Series X over Series S, which means I hope you're right. What you are saying would actually be "good" for gamers, because it grants better hardware, but "bad" for Nintendo, because it means selling fewer units and potentially fewer games. As a Series X (not S) owner, I would prefer that you were right, but I doubt it. When Switch was revealed, Digital Foundry expected it to have Tegra X2 instead of 1, and it's been years, years, since we've been reading Switch players complaining about its lack of power, here on NL and everywhere else. However, financially, the cheap and weak console has been a success.

Crazy that they just confirmed the Switch 1 won't have a price drop ever.

@Scarmucci I'm with you; it's hard not to feel like we're being punished for having hobbies involving products made abroad. Sorry but no one in the US makes this product.

By keeping the switch at full price it achieves two things - 1) it stops the switch stripping sales from the switch 2
2) it show that if the switch is £280 then the new console would naturally be more

I hope they achieve a £350 uk price tag

In my opinion, the most appropriate price based on the leaked hardware is $399.

$400 CAD is probably unrealistic, but that’d be my sweet spot. With new consoles you gotta factor in so many more expenses to add on top like games, extra controllers, peripherals/adapters… I mean the Switch 1 didn’t even come with a Ethernet/LAN port smh.

Not to mention possible pending government tariffs inflating prices. I’m also probably fine with tending to my current Switch’s backlog for a while instead of upgrading at launch.

Unless I’m mistaken the Switch Lite appears to have dropped in price. On the official Nintendo shop it is listed at £179, although this is now without a power supply.
Arguably the normal Switch has too, as it is £259 (originally £279) and comes bundled with a game.
I do think the Switch 2 needs to be quite a bit lower than £399, say £349 or £379 tops.

im willing to shell out $400 for it.

@Inaroomalone The prices dropped when the version 2 "Mariko" was released in 2020 (or was it the OLED in 2021?). The price became £260 instead of £280 in UK (like you said) and €270 instead of €330 in EU, the biggest drop was in EU.

@Grumblevolcano He said they currently had no plans to drop prices, but he never said anything about dropping models.

When Sony launched the PS5 I thought for sure they would drop the base PS4 and sell the Pro at the old Pro price, but instead they stopped selling the Pro which was better and kept selling the old inferior base model.

So I think 4 Switch are too many and $199, $299, $349 and either $399 or $499 is just too many price points. They aren’t going to stop selling the Lite b/c it’s cheap for kids, which leaves base or OLED. I don’t think they’ll want a good looking OLED Switch screen next to their new inferior LCD Switch2 screen, so OLED has to go, leaving the $399 spot to go with $199 and $299 until they also stop selling the base Switch. They need that manufacturing capacity for switch 2.

I know almost nothing about international rates, prices or conversions, the above is US only. If that currency is still a thing by the time Switch 2 launches. We might be paying in Trumpcoin. 🤑

If it's $500 I wouldn't be surprised given the current economic situation. $400 at this point seems unlikely imo.

it depends on tariffs nintendo makes i read 50% or more of the switches in vietnam cheap labor..

$400 is the sweet spot, but, here in the U.S., the orange man might throw a massive wrench in that plan.

Thank you Nintendo. This is one of the many reasons your the best gaming company.

@Tyranexx Less of a fear and more like a constant migraine that refuses to go away.

I’m not buying at launch (first Nintendo launch I have sat out since being an adult) but hoping for $400. Will still buy at $500 or $600 though. But I also have several years to save for it (I only want one Switch 2 so I am holding out for the Zelda edition. Time to stop double dipping. ). Starting to end my “collector” days. Can’t afford a place to hold all this stuff.

I read the statement again and what worries me is that they are considering both the inflation and the affordable pricing that people expect from Nintendo -could be translated to "less for the same"- the third ingredient being not selling at a loss and the result the specifications.

@Aurumonado That's a nice Trudeau you got there . How much would you let 'im go for, buddy?

Why would you price drop something still selling millions and many many of millions of games?

@CobaltFan he quite clearly says “at this moment”.

Given the worldwide economic situation, they are holding off on the RRP.

Cutting the S1 price right now would indirectly reveal the S2 price bracket they are aiming for, so that's the likely reason for keeping prices unaltered for now.

EUR/USD 399 seems plausible, given inflation since 2017, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit less than that, say 369-379. I think we'll see a significant S1 LCD price cut after launch, with the OLED being phased out.

Maybe Switch 1 will get a $50 discount to be announced at the April’s direct along with Switch 2’s $399 price.

I’d better start saving. I really hope it won’t be too much. I can’t afford it.

TBH I was thinking that €400 would be the price that they would release it at when the trailer was released. Now I am not so sure.

@Coversnail Adding to what the other user said, the Nintendo Switch had an official MSRP where I live (on release) that was the equivalent to USD$550.

So, yes, price in Japan could be chepar than USA or vice versa.

They don't know what the price will be. I don't think we're getting a price announcement until Cheeto the Clown's tarrifs are understood. One thing is for sure: US tarrifs will affect the price worldwide: if Nintendo have to eat a loss in US pricing, they'll claw it back from the rest of us.

@WiltonRoots You're right, but I still find it a little discouraging that they either don't have any plans to, or they won't. But yeah, I shouldn't have said they would never do a price drop.

It should be the price of the Switch 1, and the Switch 1 should go down sharply. Nintendo can easily afford it.

Either $349 or $399.

@CobaltFan yeah I think it's one of those things where they won't announce what's happening to the original Switches until after they get the Switch 2 announcement out of the way. I reckon there will be a price drop, not everyone will be able to afford the newest and shiniest, much like it is with phones...

The Switch 2 will be $349 and £349 in the U,K.

Waiting with bated breath on this one. I knew they weren't going to slash the price on the Switch and there is no reality in which this thing costs the same as or less than the current OLED model. The OLED is $450 here, and I expect the Switch 2 to be around $550. Then the 15% provincial sales tax on top of that.

@rjejr OMG! Don't give him any more ideas! He'll let Musk redesign the console so it looks like a POS Cybertruck.

I don’t see anyone wanting $300. I got my Switch Lite three years ago, I can wait three more years to get a Switch 2 Lite for less than $300 new or like-new.

Anything above £400 in the UK and it will struggle, I think £350 is the sweet spot.
I hope it's £350 at launch but we will see.
They will also no doubt bring a "Lite" version to the market within 2 years (sub £300) to pick up the more casual players.

@myerscereal That would be a good launching price, let's hope so.

If it’s 500 it better have an OLED screen and 512GB of storage built in! But I think it’ll be 400 to 450, and that’s UK pounds.

@robotreptile 300 USD in 2017 are 383 USD right now. Not even close to 500. I checked with an inflation calculator.

It will be $349

@k8sMum And he'll call it X. Then MS will sue. Then he'll buy MS and bankrupt it and we'll all end up using Apple. Which considering the past 2 weeks will be the best development that has happened. 😝

Without the specs it is hard to say but I'm thinking Switch 2 will be at least as powerful as the Steam Deck. The Deck is $400 without a dock so I'm going to assume Nintendo will charge $450. But $500 is possible, the Switch launched at $300 (and has not gotten a price drop) matching the PS4 & the Xbox 1 at the time. I expect Nintendo will do the same thing with Switch 2. So $450-$500 is very possible.

Launch price of new Nintendo platforms in the 21st century in the US:

GBA: $99.99
GCN: $199.99
NDS: $149.99
Wii: $249.99 (w/Wii Sports)
3DS: $249.99
Wii U: $299.99 (Basic) & $349.99 (Deluxe w/Nintendo Land)
NSW: $299.99

GCN, 3DS, and Wii U received price reductions within 4-8 months after launch due to lower-than-expected early sales.

@rjejr
Try as I might, I can't argue with any of your logic. And compared to the last 2 weeks, that outcome looks pretty dope.

I'm all up for what Valve is doing

3 tier and let the crowd chose

Basic tier: LCD with 128GB
Mid tier: OLED and 256GB
High end: Better coating, maybe some extra accesories and 512GB or a 1TB.

I just don't want to get a boring LCD panel knowing an OLED refresh will come out within 3 years. We are past that, Nintendo.

If I was to divide up the cost of my Switch among the games I have on it, it'd come out to less than an extra dollar for each of them. The up front cost of a console is a bit daunting for anyone without much disposable income, but long term, it's still one of the best deals you can get for entertainment. My only concern about the Switch 2's pricing is how it might affect sales numbers. The games on it should be enough to justify the cost to me regardless.

Insert shut up and take my money meme

You and I will pay whatever they want us to. They deserve it all.

I don't remember where, but i skimmed through a rumor article that said Switch 2 was going to cost $380, which would be a really good price for it but I doubt It'll happen. My bet is on $400-$449,

AKA don't expect a significant improvement on processor speed/ faster storage (UFS/SSD)/ probably 8 GB RAM (hoping for 16 GB).

For me the cost of the system and if I'm
willing to pay that price hinges entirely on how well or if the Switch 2 will enhance Switch 1 games, because if there is no enhancements to existing titles, particularly with frame rates, then I'd be hard pressed to justify any purchase straight away when I have a perfectly fine OLED Switch with a very very large backlog of games.

Maybe when more games are available I could justify it then, but I doubt I'd be able to justify a purchase early on without a good enhancement to existing Switch 1 games.

With this unofficial translation and how it’s been said Nintendo is building up supply to ensure broad availability at launch, perhaps implying components aren’t necessarily cutting edge/expensive, I’m reading the lack of Switch 1 price drop plan as Nintendo planning to just swap out the old hardware for the new at the same of]r very close to its current price.

@electrolite77,

Depends on how much they were making on the original $280 and £280 price points. We all know this was very dated hardware even at the time. Perhaps Nintendo can still turn enough profit on the new console at between $300-$349 and £300 and £349.

@Banjo- Switch physical games are actually a lot more expensive to manufacture than PS5, Xbox Series X&S, PC games.

As blu ray discs are very cheap to manufacture. Whereas the MicroSD cards that Switch games are on are much more expensive to manufacture.

Nintendo have previously talked about how it's expensive to manufacture the physical games. MicroSD Express cards for the Switch 2 will be even more expensive to manufacture.

People will moan about the price but they will still pay it whatever it is.
But to be fair it depends on the actual specs of the thing to if it's worth it

@Diablo Dude we already know the main specs GPU, RAM, physical games format, DLSS etc.

While obviously not as powerful as a PS5. It will be slightly more powerful than the Steam Deck in handheld mode. But much better optimised. And close to a Xbox Series S in docked mode (with the added benefit of DLSS)

All rumour until Nintendo confirms it.

Saying that, how much is a series S atm? How much is Switch OLED? Not much difference in it, hence my comment that I’m expecting a straight swap in for the current model.

It will all depend on the launch lineup. imagine if those Nintendo dream launch game rumours would be true (Mario Kart, 3D Mario, Zelda and Metroid) then they can easily get away with 500. The system will immediately give a lot of value to own.

The more likely scenario is that they reduce the price of standard and oled by 50 in March/april and give the switch 2 a price of 350-400.

I am expecting $449. For a more powerful and feature-packed iteration of a console that is not dropping in price, $100 more seems logical.
$400 would surprise me…

@SillyG what about a docked only model, I never use my switch handheld, I’d rather the extra power or reduced price for a docked only version.

Switch 2 Lite £300
Switch 2 Docked £350
Switch 2 Oled £400

@Kingchin Right, but the comparison was with the SNES and N64 cartridges, that were a kind of console expansion, with an additional motherboard and new chips added to the circuitry.

Bracing for the inevitable blow to the old wallet

@asmi8803 : Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that there ought to be a docked only version. Such a console may vastly outsell the other variants as it would easily be the cheapest to manufacture considering that it won't need a screen nor the compact form factor, but for such a unit to work, it would also need to be competitively priced.

Of course they won’t drop the price for the original Switch anytime soon, and perhaps never.

A large proportion of their user base consists of casual families. If they make the price gap too big, those users would be perfectly fine sticking to the original model.

$400 bundled with a game is the only way to avoid another 3DS launch disaster.

$400 is good for a Nintendo console.
İ can go with that. İ do not know any more how much was the Nintendo 64 and the Gamecube at the launch but it was fine price.

@Emacster As far as I know, Nintendo has never sold at a loss, so it is quite unlikely that they will.

@k8sMum Yeah compared to the last 2 weeks even I look logical.

OK gotta go do my taxes. 🤑

Everybody's speculations about 400 Dollars makes me feel a bit uneasy. 21% Sales tax where I live. So nearly 500 Euros. Seeing how much the prices of everything have gone up, I wouldn't be that surprised tough. But 450 Dollars, or nearly 550 Euros is just too much for me.

New Switch 2 at $500-$550 wouldn't be terrible.. as long as it's much more powerful and has a tons of improvements compared to the outdated switch we have now I'd be fine with paying up..

I just can't wait to see the next year of games announced and look forward to more Nintendo fun for a while -

Not sure why people are taking the no plans to drop prices on Switch hardware seriously. Those prices will drop. He just doesn’t want to say that now and discourage people from buying what’s on shelves. The 2 will be $349 - $399.

Whatever it costs I'll buy it day 1, if it comes in under £400 I will be really happy. I think about £379gbp

@Tyranexx It's not fear of the name in and of itself ... it's fear of vomiting if I say the name.

@Scarmucci This is where I'd normally joke not to say the name three times, but I think it's too late for that.

I expect $399. $499 is my cap but I'll be pissed off if it's that high. I've bought every Nintendo console on launch day save for the NES (because I was five) and I'm not gonna stop now.