The Nintendo Switch 2 unveiling last week left us with more questions than answers, despite a few surprises (maybe the Joy-Cons double as a mouse?). And for many people or families thinking about upgrading, the most important question is close to the top of that list: How much will it cost? I’m just some schlub on the internet, and if multiplayer video games and a toxic social media landscape have taught me anything, it’s that everyone wants to be heard. I spent a lot of words and a lot of charts making the argument for $399. So we wanted to know what you thought!
Just over half of you concur with our prediction that the Nintendo Switch 2 will ship later this year for $399. This figure includes a review of Nintendo’s past pricing strategy in both absolute (including inflation adjustments and the actual price) and relative (reflecting the company’s competitive posture in the market at the time of release) terms. Naturally, Nintendo may decide to decrease or raise prices, and it’s possible that the current competitive environment makes that old pricing strategy insufficient. Nevertheless, based on what we currently know about the Switch 2, which includes its moniker, I’m very certain Nintendo isn’t trying to disturb the status quo this time.
Despite my desire to avoid it, I believe the price will be $399. With the Switch 1 models finally receiving their initial MSRP price reduction, the optimistic part wants it to be $349, but I don’t see that happening.
From there, the remaining alternatives are essentially divided. Reader NegativeZero’s idea of a more costly $449 edition appeals to me. Thank you for bringing that out; after releasing my article last week, I actually felt bad about not exploring the numerous SKU rabbit hole. I’m not sure if the nine percent of you were expecting Nintendo to launch at $449, which would be in line with the PS5 and Xbox Series X costs, or if there would be a little more expensive “Deluxe” model, but at almost double digits, the figure is strong!
I believe that the base SKU will be $399, but the one that people will actually purchase is a more costly $449 SKU with a bundled game (likely the upcoming Mario Kart) and some sort of color gimmick (like the red and blue joycons of the Switch).
A strange one comes next, dominating 4% of the results: $299. That would be exactly the same amount that the original Switch is now selling for, and it’s doing rather well. It is $50 less expensive than the OLED model, which shares the same internal components as the original Switch from 2017 save from its ostentatious screen. However, it’s possible that these people are looking forward to the release of a Switch 2 Lite model in addition to the larger one that was shown in the unveiling trailer. In September 2019, a Switch Lite was listed at $199, which is around $245 in today’s currency. Therefore, a smaller, non-dockable device would still be considered a premium at $299.
We are now truly entering the realm of tinfoil hats. Eighty-five percent of you believe it will be $499, with little over 3% of the vote. Taking inflation into consideration, that would make the Nintendo Switch 2 far more expensive than any other Nintendo product since the original NES was released. When the Japanese newcomer considered its release strategy for the United States, it sold the Deluxe Set, the original NES model (I’ll explain if you’re not as old as I am), in some test markets. It cost $179, or about $520 in today’s currency, and came with two controllers, two games, the R.O.B. robot, and the NES Zapper light gun. It was becoming worthy of that Deluxe title.
Finally, only 1% of those surveyed said Nintendo will launch at $249. When inflation is taken into consideration, the Nintendo Switch 2 would be priced more like a handheld device, similar to the Switch Lite or the Nintendo DS, than a home console. Given our current understanding of the Switch 2’s alleged capacity, especially in a handheld version, I just cannot fathom a scenario in which Nintendo is subsidizing own hardware to this extent, let alone any other. Perhaps, however, we will all wake up to a $249 Nintendo Switch 2 that is capable of outperforming the greatest systems, has a battery that lasts all day, and has Mother 3 built in.