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metadat
InsideOutSanta
By "a nail in the coffin", do you mean that people will stop buying Switches? Because I would be very surprised by that.
It's not like most people even know what a Steam Deck is. At the moment at least, the two devices mostly don't compete for the same audience. And if you want to play Nintendo's games - which a lot of people do, they're usually quite good - you don't have much choice anyway.
ksymph
Nintendo's core audience has always been children, their parents, and casual players, but with some console cycles they expand into other niches, as has (resoundingly) been the case with the Switch; the Switch appealed to virtually anyone interested in playing games on the go, including people who otherwise don't usually buy the newest Nintendo console/games for their polish and/or family-friendliness. For a long time it was by far the most convenient way to play Skyrim or Witcher 3 or what-have-you on buses, planes, at school etc.
The Steam Deck doesn't cut into Nintendo's core audience, but it does draw away people who would have bought the Switch 1/2 for those reasons -- the audience that made the Switch 1 such an overwhelming success. Anecdotally, I've had multiple non-techies bring up the Steam Deck unprompted, usually with an impression of 'the Switch but better' and/or 'more adult-oriented'.
Historically, when the market they created starts to become saturated, Nintendo starts looking to pivot. So the Steam Deck might not kill the Switch 2, but I'd be very surprised if it doesn't kill the Switch 3.
gorjusborg
> It's not like most people even know what a Steam Deck is.
Steam basically is PC gaming at this point, which is still a massive market that is almost as big as the entirety of console gaming.
I know there are those out there, but I would be slightly surprised if a PC gamer didn't know what a Steam Deck was in 2026.
As someone who has pretty much every console system and most handhelds, I didn't spring for a Switch 2, and it is for the exact reason the thread parent mentions. I do like Nintendo games, as they are consistently high quality, but they are not usually graphics reliant for fun, and the Switch is good enough still, and I don't love paying $90 USD for a single game when I can buy $5-20 games on Steam and play them across multiple devices.
evilduck
The Switch also followed a poor WiiU cycle that caused some pent up demand and launched with Zelda BotW which was an epic title. People bought Switches just to play that game and then stuck around to buy other titles on the platform. The Switch 2 doesn't have either going for it.
I'm in the same boat as you, I also don't feel the need to buy a Switch 2 yet. Also, game sharing on Steam with my kids is just so much more pleasant. Having multiple kids and multiple Switches was such a shit show of what felt like manual license and provisioning management that I'm not really keen on giving Nintendo more money at this time.
ge96
Breath of the Wild when that came out only reason I would have bought a Switch. But apparently if you own it can run it through QEMU on PC.
I have neither devices right now, only a PC.
uejfiweun
Yes, Nintendo is essentially the futuristic version of Disney. And families will continue to pay a premium in exchange for a curated experience that you know will be OK for your child.
JeremyNT
> Does Nintendo intentionally make its hardware really underpowered and cheap in terms of chips to juice profits? In the past this was stronger but with the Switch 2 the hardware bill of materials is actually more costly relative to previous products like the Switch 1.
They know that the combination of extremely high quality first party exclusives combined with hugely popular IP is going to move units even if they're "overpriced" as devices to play any other games.
When my daughter's Switch 1 died, I had the choice between the 2 and the Steam Deck, and I chose the Deck. It's got a ton of games and the cheap Steam back catalog is great, but... no Mario? No Zelda?
I won't pretend I wasn't tempted to own both.
cardanome
The combination of expensive hardware AND expensive games kills the switch 2 for me.
80 Dollar just to play Mario Kart?
Even older switch titles are barely ever on sale.
I never buy games at full price so the economics don't add up for me. I guess it works for the kind of person that buys games on release. If someone has that much money to burn they don't need to care about hardware cost either I guess.
musicale
> 80 Dollar just to play Mario Kart?
Always has been:
https://gamerant.com/mario-kart-game-launch-price-adjusted-i...
It's also the best game in its category (which Nintendo basically invented), offers terrific local multiplayer on a single console, and is something you can enjoy for years with friends and family.
xp84
Yeah Nintendo basically doesn’t even acknowledge the concept of marking things down, even many years after their release. And as the physical media window begins closing, even buying a used game will become not a thing anymore. Probably the Switch 3 or whatever they call it will not have a card slot anymore. And used consoles might lose all their games when signed out of an account. I’m sure they’d love that.
__s
You can run Ship of Harkinian on steamdeck
Twilight Princess soon
staticman2
Most people probably want to get a game and play it without figuring out how to navigate pirate web sites.
jjordan
Nintendo hardware IMO is mostly reasonably priced. Their first party game library is why many buy into the ecosystem and they charge a premium for it. The original Switch was under-powered but also the first of its kind. The Switch 2 was mostly a hardware bump with additional polish to the rough edges of the original Switch.
ozbonus
Does Nintendo intentionally make its hardware really underpowered and cheap in terms of chips to juice profits?
Yes! Famously so, in fact. Look up Gupei Yokoi and "Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology".
gorjusborg
Comments like yours are why I come to HN discussions. Thanks for sharing.
johnnyanmac
As another fun fact: the most powerful system has never "won" the console generation. Nintendo only has to be strong enough to realize its and 3rd party's visions. And even then, it can get away with being a little weaker than that line.
afavour
Maybe I'm in a bubble but I really don't see the Steam Deck and Switch as big competitors for each other. I mean, yes, they're both portable games consoles, but I'd bet a large percentage of Switch gamers don't even know what a Steam Deck is.
There's a reason Nintendo targets and wins with very casual gamers. It would take a lot more than a $50 price increase to be the 'nail in the coffin' for the Switch.
chocochunks
There's some overlap. I think it probably has a bigger impact on game attach rate for a certain segment of gamer. I bought a lot less games on Switch upon getting a PC handheld, not because of price (generally I find games are pretty comparable there), but because the PC version is more flexible and I'm pretty sure I can run the PC version ten years down on some PC. Will Nintendo's next console run it? No idea.
array_key_first
I don't understand this position at all. In the console space, Nintendo makes the cheapest console and it's not even that close. The switch originally launched at 300 dollars. Keep in mind their competitors are well into 700+ dollar land.
The steam deck is more expensive as well, and the switch 2 is much more powerful than the steam deck.
juancn
Nintendo is almost on a different market than Steam, XBox, and all the others.
I don't think it will matter much. They live off the exclusives.
GorbachevyChase
Adults aren’t the target market. I pay a premium because I know there are content standards and at least the big titles aren’t going to bombard my kids with inappropriate content.
ProfessorLayton
>Adults aren’t the target market.
Adults are VERY MUCH the target market: See page 10 of Nintendo's investor relations doc.
willis936
But also most parents will scoff at the prices and tell them to pick cheaper toys.
johnnyanmac
The bigger issue is that they'd scoff at the price and get their kids to play Roblox or Fortnite on some tablet. The steam deck isn't what the console marker is really worried about these days.
Analemma_
That hasn’t been happening since the beginning of video games and it isn’t about to start now. Adjusted for inflation the NES was about $590 at launch and individual games were $90-120. Didn’t stop it from nearly wiping the American video game industry clean off the earth.
SwtCyber
The Switch 2 price bump isn't too surprising, but increasing the price of the old Switch models this late is pretty wild...
hectdev
If it is a matter of cost of manufacturing and shipping going up, doesn't that make sense? Can't speak to the digital services going up, however.
hx8
Historically last generation hardware is sold at steep discounts compared to original MSRP. The insanity is we live in a world where manufacturing 9 year old hardware has increasing manufacturing and shipping cost, where this was not the case. Another layer of insanity is that Nintendo did the analysis and decided it's going to make sales at this increased price.
mghackerlady
is the lite still 200? because if not they're shooting themselves in the foot
epicide
They don't list price changes for the Lite outside of Japan, but I'm sure it's coming too.
The Japanese Switch 2 is going up by 20%. The US model is going up by about 10%.
In Japan, the Lite is going up by over 35%. If we assume a similar pattern (US going up by about half as much as in Japan), then that'd take the $230 Lite to more like $270.
I still like my Switch Lite, but almost $300 after tax for it would be absurd.
pjmlp
Switch 1 still has more games than I have time to play, plenty of them around to get.
harimau777
FWIW, a significant part of the enjoyment in gaming for me is the community aspects of talking about the latest popular game. Unfortunately, that means that while games on the previous cycle's console are often still good, they innately lack one of the biggest parts of gaming as a hobby for me.
pjmlp
I grew up in a time when we got one or two games a year, if we wanted more games, piracy with double deck tapes, or programming our own games, were the only options available.
Thus it is hard to feel the need to be talking about the latest popular game.
InsideOutSanta
But you're also describing the social aspects of gaming, meeting with friends to swap games to copy, trading the few games we had, and so on.
nsxwolf
I grew up in the same era, but I never stopped playing video games, so my relationship with them continuously evolved.
Larrikin
Did you also walk fifteen miles up hill both ways to school? Times change, but even back in the Nintendo Power days people would definitely flock to the home of whoever got Super Mario World 2 or Super Smash Bros first because there was no way to play those online and everyone would then talk about the games.
reddalo
You gotta learn how to become a "patient gamer". It only leads to a cheaper, better bug-free experience.
Fricken
I'm with you, but The Switch2 has so far mostly been dropping remakes of classic games, and games already released years ago on other platforms.
deckerswitch
DK Bananza, Mario Kart World, Pokopia have all been big hits here.
And the DLC for various other first party games (Kirby, etc) is quite popular with the kiddo.
kyrra
I bought a switch 2 for one main reason: speed.
Switch 2 is backwards compatible with switch 1.
Switch 2 has better FPS for Switch 1 games. Like BotW stops having terrible FPS drops in certain scenarios.
Switch 2 loads games faster. There are test videos out there, but it's up to twice as fast.
I like the joycon 2 controllers ergonomics more.
pjmlp
For some people the speed is worth the money, for others it isn't
I started gaming with Nintendo's Game&Watch handhelds, Timex 2068, PC MS-DOS 3.3, Amiga, and so on, so I do understand something about upgrading hardware for speed, or deal with what one has at home.
kyrra
I have been partially wanting one for the new one for a couple of the games, but then all four of my existing joy-cons on my Switch 1 started to have drift or other issues. So that sort of halfway saved me some money towards something I already wanted.
Though I sadly learned afterwards that you could send in controllers with drift and Nintendo would fix it for free.
bzzzt
I've played BotW on Switch 1 and the Switch 2 upgraded edition. While some scenes are a bit choppy on Switch 1 it's never in the way of gameplay and even on Switch 1 one of the best video games of the last decade.
Of course Switch 2 is faster and the better console (it should be), but if you're focussing on raw performance you're in the wrong crowd.
Even on PS5 you have load times and performance tradeoffs. There will be a time when we're wondering how we put up with the 'impossibly slow' current generation of consoles like we're doing with the 8-bits machines now.
maccard
> While some scenes are a bit choppy on Switch 1 it's never in the way of gameplay
BOTW had issues with framerate (30fps was the baseline which isn't good to start with), and often dropped to below that in open world scenarios. TOTK has major performance issues on the Switch 1 though IME.
bschwindHN
> but if you're focussing on raw performance you're in the wrong crowd.
I read it as "I enjoy the Switch 1 games, but I want to enjoy them even more with faster load times and better frame rates"
archargelod
90% of my playtime on Switch 1 is roguelites and deck-building games. And even many of the Nintendo games I play are highly replayable or almost endless (both Zeldas). I’ve "finished" maybe 3–4 games in the last few years.
SwtCyber
That's probably the strongest argument against rushing into Switch 2
nothercastle
At some point they will upgrade hardware and improve battery life. That’s the biggest argument for waiting. All first Gen Nintendo handhelds had terrible battery life
pjmlp
If you want terrible battery life, try out Game Gear.
Rob_Polding
if you mainly play Switch 1 games, it's not worth the upgrade. I've got both and Switch 1 games are not dramatically better. The screen is certainly not as good as the Switch OLED, so if you have that and aren't interested in Switch 2 games you've made a good choice!
andrekandre
> Effective Date of MSRP Revisions in Japan: May 25, 2026
> Effective Date of Price Revisions in the United States, Canada, and Europe: September 1, 2026
ageitgey
The value of the yen compared to other currencies has fallen through the floor since 2022, so this isn't unexpected - Nintendo had to do something to equalize prices somewhat. The dollar's global value has also weakened noticeably since (checks notes) April 2, 2025 and Canada has had currency struggles as well the last few years.
raincole
You got the relationship between currency value and export prices upside down. Usually when your local currency devalues, it will make your exported goods cheaper in other countries.
This is why the US always accuses (justified or not) other countries artificially keeping their currencies undervalued, by the way.
somenameforme
He may have just fumbled into an accuracy, but the nuance here is that what you're saying is mostly true for domestically produced things, which is why the other country you're mostly referring to is China - they have domestic production facilities for just about everything.
Something like the Switch is going to rely heavily on imported parts, and so when your currency plummets relative to others, that forces you to increase prices just to stay in the black. And yeah in looking it up, then yen has dropped about 50% against the yuan just over the past 5 years. Seems like Japan didn't learn much from the US about picking 'print money' as your economic policy. It doesn't last long when you're an economic hegemon able to export your inflation, but it's a far worse idea when you're a lesser economic power.
ageitgey
> it's a far worse idea when you're a lesser economic power
Exactly. Japan has held its interest rates at almost zero for years (currently 0.75%) while the US is at 3.5% and has been roughly there or higher since late 2022. Having a negative 3% interest rate gap with the world's largest economy for over 3 years is going to cause currency weakness.
ageitgey
First, Japan doesn't make the Switch in Japan. They are made in Vietnam and China. So having a weak local currency isn't super helpful.
Second, the largest price increase is for the local Japanese market (and they are increasing the already-underpriced special 'Japan-only' model that they won't allow to be sold in other markets).
jackgavigan
> The value of the yen compared to other currencies has fallen through the floor since 2022...
That would normally allow them to keep prices of export goods low...
ageitgey
This is a large price rise in domestic (Japanese) markets, with a small rise in other countries. This is impacting Japanese consumers the most.
Nintendo is a very Japanese-centric, proud company. For those not aware, Nintendo has been avoiding repricing domestically until now by selling a "Japanese-only Switch" locked to Japan in order to prevent foreign arbitrage. But the currency pressure is too strong.
pjc50
The thing is dependent on imported RAM. The flip side of this.. have you seen SK Hynix stock price lately?
Jolter
You’ll notice they raised prices in Japan by A Lot, but the US price is only up $50.
moron4hire
Uuuuuuh, ¥10,000 is currently about $64, so it's not that much different to be calling it "a lot".
vasco
It totally depends on if you need to import things to transform them or if you source mostly locally in your supply chain.
hajile
> Given that the impact of various changes in market conditions is expected to extend over the medium to long term, price revisions are also planned outside Japan as described below.
Current Price Revised Price
United States $449.99 $499.99
Canada $629.99 $679.99
Europe €469.99 €499.99
rpdillon
Yeah, the comment talking about currency exchange rates is missing the hardware crisis. Nintendo stock prices dropped 45% over the past year because of the hardware shortages and the inevitability of having to raise prices to account for that. I think the difference in currencies is a minor factor. Last July, Nintendo was selling for about $24 a share, and now it's down to about $12.
https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-under-pressure-to-rais...
motbus3
The truth is that you can increase prices by 50% and if you loose 50% of sales you are still in a good place as your costs also drop.
They have little uncertainty to work with, they don't need their consumers as much.
They're continuing their anti consumer policies
mysterydip
Hardware is just one aspect of sales though. I assume they have much higher margin on software, especially rereleases of existing games on whatever the next platform is.
ymolodtsov
That's very simplistic. They also earn money on sales, both first-party and third-party games, so they need a large audience.
gcr
Hang on, halving your sales means doubling your price to stay even (ignoring your own cost), right?
I have a bridge to sell you …
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phoronixrly
If you consider the jump in price of DRAM due to hyperscalers to not be a considerable factor in this increase, please state so. Your comment leaving this out makes it harder to trust.
ageitgey
DRAM prices increase everywhere, so it should affect the worldwide market in the same way. But Nintendo is raising prices mostly in Japan.
Japan's local currency devaluation is more about US vs Japan differences in central bank policy and interest rates (and a million other issues) and is mostly separate from DRAM prices.
SwtCyber
[flagged]
weberer
>since April 2, 2025
This current inflation spike peaked in 2022. If anything, its been easing in 2025.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FPCPITOTLZGUSA
https://cpiinflationcalculator.com/2025-cpi-and-inflation-da...
ageitgey
Check out the US dollar index on a 5-year view: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/quote/DX-Y.NYB/
Inflation is just one factor and is not limited to one country. This shows the US dollar vs other currencies.
iso1631
That graph shows the dollar started dropping in Jan 2025
bix6
I’m waiting for a special edition and some games that make the upgrade worthwhile.
gwbas1c
DK Bonanza was fun. I just pre-ordered Star Fox: I played the SNES one as a kid a lot, but I never played the N64 one that the Switch 2 one is based on.
The new Mario Kart is also great, and the larger screen is great too. At 45 I don't need to use reading glasses when I use Virtual Console, but on the OLED Switch I usually use reading glasses with Virtual Console.
musicale
Star Fox 64 is great (you can play it now on the Switch, as well as the SNES version, via Nintendo Switch Online).
Do a barrel roll!
bix6
We didn’t love DK or Mario kart when we had my friends Switch 2 one weekend so it still hasn’t felt worth it yet.
musicale
Switch OLED is still great, as the Switch 2 display is something of a downgrade.
But the Switch 2 shines for Nintendo gaming on a 4K display and for actually being able to play PS4-era games well on a handheld.
I am not completely sold on Mario Kart World's open-world driving (vs. Mario Kart 8's track-only approach), but it's still a lot of fun, plays well, looks fantastic, and scales up to 24 players for LAN games and tournaments.
tejohnso
Wonder if you could indicate why you're waiting for a Switch 2 vs say a Steam Deck? Or do you also have a deck? I ask because I'm planning to gift one or the other. The recipient already has a Switch 1, so I thought it would be pretty lame to give a Switch 2 rather than "upgrading" to a deck. In my mind, being able to play any steam game, on a device with highly praised controls, is the better upgrade, not the Switch 2.
darkxanthos
If someone has a switch, gifting a steam deck isn't an upgrade necessarily. You're giving them a platform that can't play most of the games they probably love. Not because of specs of course. A switch 2 is actually an upgrade. Almost all of their current games will run better and they'll be able to play more demanding switch 2 only games as they continue to trickle out.
tejohnso
I should have mentioned current game play is skewed more toward steam on pc than switch. I'm definitely not getting the impression that the switch games are loved.
deckerswitch
I bought a switch 2 over a steam deck. I have over a thousand steam games. A few reasons:
Nintendo makes fun games that I want to play. I want to play the new Metroid, the new Pokémon games, Kirby DLC, etc. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I grew up with the original Metroid, and that series sticks with me.
The switch 1 gets a ton of use in my house. Switch 1 games perform so much better on the 2.
The pro controller for the switch 2 is incredible.
Switch 2 is cheaper, significantly cheaper if you play docked. Our family uses it to play docked a lot.
The switch 2 library is large enough that you can play a lot of the same titles you can on the deck. Or at least enough games you'll never run out of fun options. You don't need to have the biggest library to be fun.
I have a powerful PC in my house for when I want to play shooters and 4x games. The switch 2 library gets way more exercise.
tejohnso
All good points, thanks for the input.
bix6
Switch is my favorite cuz we like to play party games with friends like Mario kart. We have thought a lot about the Steam Deck though cuz we have steam games. I would prefer a steam deck over switch 2 if I had to pick one right now cuz the switch is great still.
gwbas1c
Nintendo games are only on the switch. If that's what you want to play, then the Steam deck is a non-starter.
(But if you like the games on Steam, then the Steam deck makes a lot of sense.)
perarneng
So all electronics are doomed? This does not seem to good for the global economy .
archargelod
This might lead to less e-waste and resource-efficient programming. Not likely, but one can dream.
schnitzelstoat
The price increases aren't massive though, I think I'll still wait for a mainline Mario game.
-warren
I know it's stupid and phschological, but there's a line in my head on what the absolute maximum I'd pay for the nsw2 once the right game comes out. That line is $450.
At $500, I will think twice about just buying nsw1 games, moving to thr steam deck, or digging out old consoles (which is fun too!)
I'm really having a hard time (stupid, I know) giving my kid a $500 toy. Somehow I'm ok with a $300 toy (nsw1) or even a $400 toy (old smartphone).
SwtCyber
Same. My wallet can survive the price increase, but it's waiting for Mario to personally justify it
asukachikaru
It's relatively mild for EU and US, but for JP it's a 20% increase. Finally going to get one after the announcement.
avadodin
They showed some good will towards protecting the local market against blatant currency manipulation but it is an important market for them and at this point it doesn't look like the JCB is going to react. They just "intervened" the Gopher back to what it was a few weeks ago.
worthless-trash
I remember reading that the screen is worse than v1, is that still true ?
jezzamon
I have the originals of both, the screen is much better on the switch 2. Don't have any other similar devices or the OLED version.
In the Switch 2 Welcome Tour app they even have demos to highlight the improvement in the screen quality compared to the switch
schnitzelstoat
Yes, there is no OLED version like they later released for the original Switch.
OLED is probably better overall but it can be harder to use in bright sunshine and you have the risk of burn-in if you accidentally leave the screen turned on for hours or something.
nokeya
Really? They released a second generation with screen being worse than installed in the first generation (even non-oled version)?
We have two switches in our family, both first gen, one usual and one oled. Standalone, usual screen is bearable, compared to oled it is quite bad, but if the new screen is even worse?? I can’t find any explanation for this except of greediness from Nintendo
gambiting
I have the switch 2 and an OLED steam deck and it's not even close - the switch 2 screen is just not very good. To a point where if you have grey on grey movement you can see visible smearing like it's some old LCD from 20 years ago. When an OLED version comes out I'll definitely upgrade(so I guess the joke is on me, because I'll end up buying the same console twice just to have the screen that it should have had from the beginning)
echelon
I'll wait for the Ocarina of Time remake.
The leaks have been coming out for months now and say it is supposedly coming out this fall. The upcoming Legend of Zelda film sets seem to be based on Ocarina of Time, recent merchandise (LEGO sets, etc.) are based on Ocarina of Time to enhance marketing, etc.
Nintendo just dropped the official Starfox 64 remake news yesterday, so this rumor is likely pretty legitimate.
I don't play games much anymore, but that's something I will absolutely revisit due to nostalgia.
uncircle
Entertainment companies have unlocked the infinite money glitch with remakes; not only companies but also people are afraid of trying something new, so why not profit from nostalgia.
I called it years ago, but I didn’t expect how people would love to play the same story and watch the same movie over and over again. Incidentally they will be also easier to AI generate, as part of their existing data set. It truly is the end game for our stale and uninspired culture.
I missed Breath of the Wild, I’ll play it on the Switch 4 remake in a couple of years.
/rant
philistine
The announced StarFox 64 remake is, on a very strict count, the second time they have remade StarFox 64.
If you count StarFox Zero, which is kind of a remake but also not, we are on our third remake of StarFox 64. A game, mind you, which was kind of a remake of the original StarFox on Super Nintendo.
maccard
> I called it years ago, but I didn’t expect how people would love to play the same story and watch the same movie over and over again
How many years ago? because movies have been remade since the beginning of motion pictures - the great train Robbery was in the early 1900s.
johnnyanmac
> I didn’t expect how people would love to play the same story and watch the same movie over and over again.
OOT is a 28 year old game whose last remake is 15 years old. Not everyone is going to play every remake, but everyone will have their favorites. That's why the remake market works.
hootz
And they charge a lot for them, too. The Luigi's Mansion 2 remake is too expensive for a graphical upgrade of a 3DS game.
mcphage
> Entertainment companies have unlocked the infinite money glitch with remakes; not only companies but also people are afraid of trying something new, so why not profit from nostalgia.
The thing is, though—Ocarina of Time is a good game. It was a good game almost 30 years ago when it first came out, and it's still a good game today. But there are generations of gamers who never played it. So why not spend some money to polish it up for modern audiences, and release it for newer consoles?
mghackerlady
How many times are they gonna remake starfox 64 (which is basically a remake of the first starfox with bits from the then unreleased 2)
gentleman11
Based on their switch 1 track record, a new mario will run at 5fps on native nintendo hardware on the final boss (eg, bowsers fury)
__natty__
For adults, sure. For kids saving for the console it may be problematic.
k__
Has this ever happened before?
roxolotl
This is the story imo. For a large percent of people, basically everyone born after 1980, technology has always reduced in price and increased in capabilities over their entire life. If sustained, which if you start with the Xbox price increase it probably already is, this is a secular change in the market for technology.
handoflixue
I was wondering the same thing - I grew up thinking of console prices as something that invariably fell over time
Jensson
Ram prices went up, normally they go down.
handoflixue
Yeah, given everything I'm not entirely surprised - I'm just curious if this is literally the first time a console has gone up in price post-release, or if I just wasn't paying attention the other times.
echelon
PlayStation 5 has a price increase in August, 2022. I think this was the very first time this happened.
Xbox Series X had one in June, 2023.
Nintendo Switch (original) had a price increase last year.
I don't remember this ever happening before the 2020s unless it was due to retailer shortages or markups.
philistine
NEC temporarily raised the price of the TurboExpress due to low screen yields in 1991. That is the only price increase I was able to find.
butler14
£385 in argos and smyths at the mo for any UK folk!
weberer
Can't you take a trip to France and shop tax free? That would shave off around 25% of the price.
deciduously
And add the cost of transit to france
Symbiote
You are then obliged to pay UK VAT / import tax when you return
prism56
Picked mine up last week, they had a deal with a game too which dropped £20 off Mario Wonder.
moron4hire
I remember when Nintendo bundled the best Mario game with their consoles, not the worst.
prism56
Wait what. Wonder is incredible...
everyone
You can still 100% get a great 2nd hand gaming pc for that amount. That will play all games, including all console games from every era, and will last for 10 years at least. Also you can use it to make music / art / software and also do most jobs.
A lot of sellers will even throw in the peripherals for free.
I might buy up a few now while they are left.
Also never buy 1st hand desktop hardware, total waste of money, the price drop from 1st hand to 2nd hand is insane, but desktop components dont degrade that much, theyre still mostly following IBM's sane design pattern, so you're getting a massive price drop with no downside.
chocochunks
You can't play Pokopia, DK Bonanza or Mario Kart World on PC. Even with a 5090. You also can't play Cyberpunk 2077 on the plane or train with a 2nd hand desktop unlike the Switch 2.
gambiting
....and how are you going to carry that gaming PC onto a plane?
Like, it's a portable console, it's not a competition for a desktop PC in any way.
pier25
Probably related to RAM and storage prices going up just like with the PS5.
throwaway270925
Probably related to "we are getting away with it in the current climate" just like with the PS5.
johnnyanmac
They aren't really. IIRC the Switch 2 over holiday season didn't meet expectations (but I think it still hit their 2025 target). The supply shock must be really bad and these consoles are simply playing the best of a bad hand. I doubt any of this was profitable for games.
SwtCyber
That's probably part of it, though I'd guess currency and regional price alignment are doing a lot of the work too
jFriedensreich
And new prices for playing cards not even set yet... TIL nintendo still makes cards in japan.
zinekeller
I can see why you thought it was, but "Open Price" in Japan means that the manufacturer has forgo setting the price themselves, unlike the previous policy that the price is dictated by Nintendo (in this case). The wholeseller's price... is simply not disclosed here, there's an NDA on that one (even with other companies such as Sony).
mghackerlady
Playing cards is how they started, so why not keep making them?
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I bought a Steam Deck earlier this year and haven’t touched my Switch since. Nintendo hardware and games were already obscenely overpriced imo, so this is essentially a nail in the coffin for folks who were already questioning Nintendo’s prices and value proposition.
Does Nintendo intentionally make its hardware really underpowered and cheap in terms of chips to juice profits? In the past this was more the case, but with the Switch 2 the hardware bill of materials is actually more costly relative to previous products like the Switch 1.
Poor timing of market forces (Sam Altman spending VC money to purchase all the world’s memory chips). Ouch.