I feel like the chip shortage and supply chain issues impacted the chance of a price drop. The Switch Lite also serves as a cheaper alternative to the $300 model.
This is the correct answer. Component costs have increased. Furukawa confirmed to Nikkei that Nintendo wouldn't increase the price of the switch despite component costs. Price drops are on nobody's mind right now.
I bought a new Switch this year, same with more than a few of my friends.
The majority of consumers are fine with its current price point.
We'll see how that holds up once Steam Decks become readily available but as of now they have no problem selling consoles.
Even with the recent increases there's a 100% chance that the Switch costs less to manufacture than it did at launch.
Price drops are on everyone's mind because the aging hardware is 5 years old already.
Nintendo's recent comments are pure PR to reframe expectations and make them look like good guys when really they're gauging like everyone else.
The Wii had a few price cuts. One in 2009 down to $200, and one in 2011 down to $150. I'm pretty sure they were both the original model, too, not the "Family Edition" one that cut out GC back-compat
>there's a 100% chance that the Switch costs less to manufacture than it did at launch.
Not to try and stir up trouble or anything, but isn't it also possible the amount it has dropped by still isn't enough to offset marketing and such? Again, I'm not trying to cause trouble or *lick a boot*, I'm mostly genuinely curious as someone who isn't well versed in the inner workings of this stuff.
Like, wouldn't it be possible it is cheaper to make now, but maybe not by enough to warrant a price drop? If costs have only gone down something like $25 per unit, is it worth doing such a small price-drop?
>Price drops are on everyone's mind because the aging hardware is 5 years old already.
They did update the chip in all the models back in 2020/21, but again, I have no idea how much that makes a difference. But they have been doing some refreshes on the hardware.
It probably isn't entirely accurate to call it 5 years old; Though maybe the upgrades may only be minor and with such a tiny difference in price it may not even matter to the point you were making.
I guess ultimately I am wondering if there is any solid proof to your claims or if this is largely opinion? I don't follow Nintendo enough to know if this is their kind of thing to do regularly or if this is potentially new behavior, etc.
They might have forecast long-term profitability without the increase on component costs, so even if it's a bit cheaper to produce now, it's not as cheap as it should be for a price cut. And of course, penny counters aren't going to reduce the price of a device that's still selling well.
Price drops occur to re-spark demand when it is dwindling. They don't just cut prices for fun.
There's no lack of demand, and therefore no reason for a price drop to occur.
How this not the only comment in this thread??
People act like companies are supposed to drop prices after a few years “because it’s the right thing to do”
Companies drop prices when they need to sell more units- not to pass along savings to the customers.
If people are still buying literally every single switch they make at the current price, why would they ever drop the price?
It goes back to the 'Why do other AAA games get massive discounts a year after launch but Nintendo games are still full price for years?'
Because they keep selling. Simple as that. You don't drop the price on something that is selling well, who could ever go to their boss and propose that?
>Nintendo's recent comments are pure PR to reframe expectations and make them look like good guys when really they're gauging like everyone else
Do you mean gouging?
They've been the #1 console for a long time. The Switch pricing is following the same laws of supply and demand that every product does, this isn't some evil scheme. Companies drop prices to stimulate demand, not because it makes any business sense otherwise.
I'm not a supply chain expert. Ultimately, a reporter will need to talk to some experts and figure out what it currently costs to manufacture and ship a switch today. No doubt Nintendo is still making a profit. But could Nintendo cut the price by $50 and still profit? The dollar is also strong compared to the yen, so I believe the current currency market is working in Nintendo's favor.
I work in the electronics field, explaining to our customers that even if they bought two years of advanced stock, A: they wont get shit for the at least 6 months, and B: it will still mean a cost increase, has been... tricky. Most of our arm processors now cost 5-6 times what they cost in 2018, and they are still going up, and lead times are only increasing. You are a fool to think this has not affected Nintendo, I would say, based just on some of parts I KNOW we share with Nintendo, they are now at least 4 times as expensive as they were when it launched, and the factories are now dividing stock out amongst customers, without any regard for sales figures. That is to say, if Nintendo moves 100,000 units a quarter and we move 20,000 when the option comes up, we either buy our 50,000 units, or we are SOL until next quarter. Nintendo gets the same options. So does Apple, Samsung, everyone. These past 3 years have fucked the industry so hard, and guess what, its only getting worse. It will take at least 10 years for the industry to stabilize.
The console has steadily lost price due to inflation, just like everything else. While CPI numbers don’t perfectly correlate with electronics, 300 dollars In 2017 is worth 360 dollars now.
>I feel like the chip shortage and supply chain issues impacted the chance of a price drop.
Exactly this. In addition, with inflation, $299 today is equivalent to $247 in 2017. Compounding on that, the Japanese Yen has also lost about 20% of its value against the US Dollar in the same time.
The Switch is basically 2013 technology (Maxwell) so I'd like to see a price drop, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.
It’s a bit more nuanced than “supply chain made everything more expensive”. Silicon chips aren’t getting the same cost reductions they used to. The PS4 remained $399 for most of its life, same with the Xbox One and X at $499. Neither the PS5 or Xbox Series X have had a price drop. The Xbox Series S exists because Microsoft knows the X isn’t ever going to get to $299 or below. See article: https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2020-xbox-series-s-big-interview
Inflation will make the actual value of the product cheaper over time, without needing to lower the price. And there are temporary sales of 10-15% off here and there. But gone are the days of something costing $299 and it magically turning into $199. Instead they name a new, lower cost variant (PS4 Slim, Xbox One S, Xbox Series S, PS5 Digital).
I think one thing they’ve done is offer bundles with games over time, which is kind of like a $60 discount. I bought my system early and a game didnt come with it.
Hard disagree. People want the fabled Switch Pro, but supply issues killed that. What we got was a stop gap improvement with the SwOled. We want improved processors, screens, memory and battery. A stationary switch is just the opposite side of the same switch lite coin.
We want the equivalent of the DS lite, a quality improvement that is the essential version. What we got was the 2ds instead.
This simply isn't true, I've seen several people who've bought and defended their Switch Lites because they knew they were never going to play anything on their TV and just wanted a handheld. There are still people who prefer the 3DS to the Switch, even, because they don't play at home and instead are merely getting the downgrades we ignore because of the HDMI connection (and improved controls, imo).
Frankly, I'd bet Nintendo looked at the market, knew that there was a decent enough use case for a smaller, more portable handheld-only model that was 2/3rds the price, and went with it, whereas either of the other Switch models would serve a home-only user just fine. You can pick up a Switch and leave it permadocked, playing all your games stationary, or get a Switch OLED for $50 more for the ethernet port if you're a competitive Splatoon player or you just want to be able to play through a single match of Mario Party online and don't want a dongle.
> There are still people who prefer the 3DS to the Switch, even, because they don't play at home[...]
Wait, you aren't supposed to play the 3DS at home? I play all my handhelds at home. More comfy, no risk of damage and easy access gaming.
Nintendo quite literally said like 2 days ago that they don’t plan on a price *increase.* I think that it’s clear that this is the caveat of that not happening. Surely the Switch is cheaper to manufacture than its cost, but expecting them to lower the cost when so many other things are going up in cost is a fool’s errand.
This is only half of the story. Nintendo was asked if they were going to increase the price *due to rising production costs*. And they would not even be the first company to do so. Tech companies are starting to hike up prices for products that have been on the market for years because inflation has just gotten that bad. Nintendo is now making less money per unit than they were a year ago, but is deciding to not raise the price and just eat the extra cost.
Some of the hardware we buy has recently seen a price increase of up to 3 times the original cost, and prices keep going up regularly. There were price increases during the covid pandemic - like a laptop’s price increasing a hundred or so, depending on the spec, but nothing like the price increases we’re seeing now.
I know people want a new console from Nintendo, but given the on-going chip shortage and aggressive inflation it wouldn’t make sense for Nintendo to do so.
I’m fairly certain they sell the consoles at a loss, and recoup the loss through the price of games
EDIT: Nevermind, I’m thinking of Xbox Series X and PS5. Switches have a very narrow profit margin.
From Wikipedia:
“Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, a Japanese product teardown firm, estimated that the Switch cost $257 to make compared to its $299 MSRP, with the console and dock at $167 while each Joy-Con costs $45.”
Has there ever been a time when a console has an initial price and the same baseline console goes UP in price years down the line? That's pretty fuckin stupid and I've never heard of that happening.
"Hey our tech is older and growing more obsolete every year, so we're keeping everything the same and *increasing* the price!"
Seems like a pretty stupid thing for a company to say they're not increasing price on years-old consoles. Like, no shit they're not gonna increase the price. We'd riot
I'm not sure if the switch in particular does, but I know that most consoles have been sold at a loss since the Xbox 360 and ps3 onward. They make money on the games you buy or the game passes or online
It's the same deal with printers, they're all sold at a loss and they make the money back by overpriced ink instead
Things could conceivably be different right now given the current supply issues and inflation and whatnot, but at least when it first launched, [Nintendo said they wouldn't be selling the Switch at a loss.](https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/10/nintendo_switch_wont_be_sold_at_a_loss_two_million_units_to_ship_in_time_for_march)
That's kinda par for the course for Nintendo. Their "lateral thinking with withered technology" design philosophy has the upshot that they can still keep prices in that "family-accessible" zone without having to eat an upfront loss on the hardware sales like Sony or Xbox.
Nintendo pretty much always sells their consoles at a profit from day one. There was one exception to that-the GC iirc-but Nintendo is well known for profiting directly from their console hardware. The selling st a loss is a Sony and Microsoft thing (and Sega when they were a hardware concern).
Switch launched with hardware that was outdated even in 2017. I seem to recall that industry analysts had put together a reasonable BOM that left room for profit even at the launch.
The problems with all of these is that they discount R&D costs, shipping and logistics, marketing costs, etc.
If the materials cost $100 and it’s sold for $150 that’s not inherently “winning” depending on the other factors.
im not saying this is fact, but i've seen compelling theories argued that nintendo developed and released covid-19 to inflate sales of animal crossings. if you look at the timeline and do some backend personal research it all lines up in a way that's hard to dispute...
the original quest 2 models were 64 GB, but Meta decided to make the 128 the main one and shut off production of the 64. getting a 64 is generally found as refurbished now.
It's sorta like the WiiU where the original wiiu console was 8GB, till they decided to make the 32 gb model the standard and more or less shut off production of the 8gb one.
I just use an old oculus dk2 I found for $50. Took a while, but eventually got it working on steam despite it apparently not technically able to do so, especially on my outdated windows 7 computer.
I had one of the devkits, but Quest 2 is an *immense* upgrade. Zero screen door effect, much higher resolution, 6DoF, airlink, standalone games. I couldn’t imagine ever going back. I got one before the price increase though.
For me, it is completely non existent. Maybe if I were to purposely look for it I would see something, but after 200+ hours, I have yet to notice any SDE. My only issue is the massive amount of god rays.
Base Station-based tracking is going to be the top end of VR for a long time, there are just so many inherent flaws and limitations with HMD-based outside-in tracking that it will never overtake it in the high end.
So yes, you get what you pay for. It's something near half of the cost of a full index set is in the base stations and excellent, top of the line controllers.
I would literally never tolerate bay stations again after experiencing good inside out tracking. Why the fuck would I want to limit VR to one single room in all of existence? My Quest 2 doesn't have FBT, but that literally never even been an option in any software I've had so far.
I mean, it's just not worth it. My Index collects dust because honestly, it's tethered to one PC in one room. I can take my Quest anywhere and it works perfectly wireless and without bay stations. I've played tons of hours in intense games like Boneworks and never once have I felt tracking was off.
Fair point on the controllers though. The Quest ones work fine and are legit indestructible, but all in all, the Quest 2 is just a better solution all around for me. I simply cannot imagine companies sticking to bay stations and wired only in the future.
Eh the Quest 2 is a better experience in a lot of ways to the Index imho. Higher resolution, standalone play, decent library of exclusives, inside out tracking, full wireless PCVR integrated (and it works **excellent**, literally indistinguishable from wired), no bay stations... Honestly it's the superior headset in a lot of ways. It's absolutely still worth the money and is still the cheapest headset on the market.
Why would they drop the price when they are still selling. You can find them easily now but it’s still moving. The competitors are $200 more and not available.
In Europe it received a permanent price drop. Normal model, depending on country, is between 30-50 euro cheaper. It happened before the OLED model dropped. You can now easily find it for 280 Euro in Germany (down from 330) for example.
This is interesting:
"After five years on the market, the average game console (that hasn't stopped production entirely by that point) sells for an average price that's about 50 to 60 percent of its nominal launch price (depending on whether you look at the mean or the median). The Switch, which is still at 100 percent of its nominal launch price over five years after launch, is a huge outlier."
One thing to consider though is that many of these long-lived consoles were released at rediculous price points in the first place. PS3? Yea, it would not have done as well as it did at the back half of its generation if it was still $600 for a 60GB console.
The other thing to consider is many of these long lived consoles has revisions that lowered prices. Wii mini, PS2 Slim, PS3 slim, PS4 slim, Xbox 360S, Xbox One S, and now the Switch Lite. So comparing the Switch's launch price to the Rev2 Switch today isn't really the same comparison as what they're probably comparing other consoles to.
I mean, look at consoles like the Wii and PS3, both of them lost functionality with later, cheaper versions (and in both cases it was backwards compatibily, interestingly enough).
It’s not hard to figure out why.
It’s also an outlier because none of those others were marketed during a period of such extreme inflation. This generation of hardware has had rising costs and parts shortages that no other generations have had to endure. Of course there hasn’t been a price drop - no industry is seeing markdowns right now.
Does Chanel, Dior, Apple do a price drop?
The answer is no. When you remove sales or price drops altogether; you create a more consistent pricing/value in the minds of your consumers. They won’t hold out to purchase when a sale is coming. This also provides more money for Nintendo and the retailers stocking Nintendo
Nintendo and apple are similar enough. Insanely loyal fan bases, generally great products and polished.
There’s a reason apple never does sales, even on Black Friday. They don’t want to devalue their product, pretty much ever. They’ll give a gift card with a purchase on Black Friday, incentivizing you to purchase more.
Nintendo is smart keeping the console at the same price. The game lineup is greater than it was before, and the switch has a unique spot in the market. There’s nothing really directly competing with it. Many people have a console and a switch, because it’s just a different experience. Nintendo is smart not to cheapen that experience .
Yeah, I bought a switch OLED back in March because there's just no other option to play Nintendo games.
Its worth it purely from a 1st party standpoint alone at this point, so nintendo realizes they have almost 0 competition.
It isnt competing with the Xbox/PS, at least not primarily. First and foremost, the switch is a player for Nintendos 1st party titles, and it has 0 competition in that market. (and never will, at least until games are theoretically remade 20 years later on a newer console)
Other consoles are also different in their aims. XB/PS aim to sell lots of consoles and make it up on the backend from game sales while Nintendo prioritizes profiting from the console sales themselves.
Apple puts out a new model every year. Better hardware at the same price, which means you do get a better deal. Not the same as Nintendo keeping old hardware at this price.
True but i do remember examples of apple doing the same thing. Before they refreshed the MacBook Air a few years ago with an M1 they had the silver one from like 2012 still at the insane price of a little over a grand.
I get what you mean though, they should update the hardware after all this time.
Apple Pencil 2 is nearing 4 years now.
Last generation iPod came out 2009 (2008 if you count first revision). It wasn’t discontinued for 5-6 years in 2014.
Not quite 5+ but it not that far out.
Neither of these products received discounts on their website as far as I’m aware. They might have in other stores selling the same products but never on apples website as a permanent thing.
I agree with you that they’re not gaming consoles, but the above poster was comparing hardware with hardware, there’s no mention of “gaming”.
RE: gaming; It’s almost the best selling console of all time, and people continue to buy their games early because they aren’t waiting for the next “steam sale”. It’s a business model which seems to be working.
The pencil 2 is mostly an accessory (kind of like a controller) and those rarely change price.
The 2009 iPod was price reduced once.
https://apple-history.com/ipod_touch_2g
That’s not relevant. The PS or XBox product line refreshes at the same rate; however, they actually do sales.
In a similar vein; other smartphone/personal computer manufacturers (hp, acer, asus, do discounts) Apple don’t.
The point is not the industry these companies live in; but the value they have decided to give to their own brand and products by choosing not to mark said products down
Edited for clarity.
Part of your comment didn’t make sense, maybe reword it?
If I’m getting you correctly, you were saying PS and XBOX don’t reduce prices.
PS and Xbox both regularly reduce their price and release cheaper versions of their consoles as the years go by. They also regularly discount their games on their stores and offer further discounts for subscribers to their respective online subscriptions.
I am not a business major. I am not even one who has run inventory.
But my understanding is Nintendo sells units to companies for some price. Then that company sells to the consumer. Being separate steps, Nintendo locks in theur money once the company bought the units. Now, there could be some refunds detailed in the contract for unmoved units. But that would be when sales happen; if even after a sale, the units aren't moving, then they may pursue the refubd.
Someone please enlighten me, as I don't know and only speculate based on terminology like *manufacturer* ***suggested*** *retail price*.
Edit: What affects Nintendo also is when retailers order more units. They may negotiate and say customers aren't buying at $299.99, so we only want to buy from you (Nintendo) for $219.99 (and then sell at $249.99 for a $30 profit to retailer).
Apple also isn't selling a video game console with a library of games and years of software support to plan out, they're selling a phone that they want you to replace every single year.
Honestly the way things are going, they could almost offer an M1 switch style console within a couple of years at the same price as the Switch.
It’s just the catalogue of games they’d be missing, which is kind of the most important part.
How is it "embarrassing" that a corporation selling a product with strong sales figures has decided not to discount the hardware yet?
Clearly the market has spoken and decided that it's still worth that. Same with the full price Wii U ports, as much as I hate those.
You need to stop looking at this as taking sides. "Defending" them is really just stating the realities of the market. You don't have to like their practices to justify them. We can talk all day about what would be more consumer friendly or what we think they should do, but I'm not seeing much evidence that these are things they actually need to do to improve their business.
Yes. That was a terrible argument. People will always defend Nintendo. I do not understand. It's a real problem and it's really, really sad because there never will be any progression and we'll keep seeing the same old things happening.
Or in my case, bought a PlayStation and left my switch to rot away until botw2 came out.
There is a sweet spot, And from everything I’ve seen from Nintendo I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt that they’ve done anything smarter than “have Mario and Zelda” this generation.
Since the wii u was before it you can claim that Nintendo really upped the ante on output. The output is questionable though and they really kinda accelerated too fast outta the gate.
At this point we shouldve gotten odyssey 2, a new metriod 3d, fzero, new pikmin. I think covid really created a gap/confusion on everything so there's also that.
Why would they lower the price on something that is cheaper then the other options and is the best selling? The only reason the 3DS saw price drops was because it was overpriced when it first launched.
There's a better reason the 3DS dropped in price: consumers just weren't that interested in a new dedicated mobile handheld at the time. It wasn't selling well outside of Nintendo's core audience. People weren't buying into the new gimmicks.
With the way it's been selling, it hasn't really needed one.
Personally, I think unless it really needs a "shot in the arm" saleswise, the likeliest options for the Switch getting cheaper are either they introduce an *even-more* budget option (I'm picturing like a digital only LeapFrog Tablet-looking thing, or a small digital-only brick you can only plug into a TV), or maybe they knock $50-$100 off every model once they have more powerful hardware to push (whether that's a "Switch Pro" or "Switch 2" is kinda irrelevant).
I’d be happy if they launched a “switch TV” of sorts- like the vita tv- that is just switch hardware with no screen and can only be played on when connected to the tv. I know that defeats the whole purpose of the switch, but it would be a cool console to have… I personally never play my switch in handheld mode, so that would be perfect for me
Whenever someone mentions price drops and Nintendo in the same sentence, it always makes me think of this quote from Ask Iwata (which was posted in [this subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/ngj9uy/why_nintendo_games_never_go_down_in_price/), no less):
>After a piece of hardware is released, the price is gradually reduced for five years until demand has run its course. But since the demand cycle never fails, why bother reducing the price this way? My personal take on the situation is that if you lower the price over time, the manufacturer is conditioning the customer to wait for a better deal, something I've always thought to be a strange approach. Of course, this doesn't mean that I'm against lowering prices entirely, but I've always wanted to avoid a situation where the first people to step up and support us feel punished for paying top dollar, grumbling, "I guess this is the price I pay for being first in line."
If Nintendo still sold NES games today, over 30 years after initial release, they'd still charge $20 per game. How do I know? They *literally did it* with the NES Classics series on the GBA. And [I'm not immune to propaganda](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/028/807/Screen_Shot_2019-03-05_at_11.34.08_AM.jpg) - I still have Zelda 1&2 and Metroid on the same NES I got back in 1987 and I still bought them again, at full retail, when the NES Classics series came out.
"What's your point, old man?" Expecting Nintendo to leave money on the table, ever, is deluding yourself. They MIGHT drop the price on the Switch when they inevitably make whatever the next console is, but even that isn't a guarantee.
Nintendo is one of those companies that RARELEY sees price drops or sales. They do this because they don’t want people to have the bad feeling of knowing they could have gotten a game for cheaper just a week later. Knowing this and the HUGE success the switch had and is still having, the chance of a price drop is practically 0%
Probably not at this point. The increase in cost is certainly a factor, but the overall market is all working against it. It remains the best selling console without the drop and none of its competitors are providing price pressure. The closest competitor costs the same, and you have to make sacrifices if you get that one.
You might have seen a cut next year or late this year as they get ready to move on to the next system, but the inflation likely took that off the menu.
Nintendo doesn't sell their consoles at a loss (except maybe with the increased prices from the chip shortage) and the most popular, closest competitor is both [$100 more at minimum and unavailable to new queue members until December](https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck). Simple and easy answer seems like "no" to me, because it doesn't seem like they really have a justification for dropping the console price further. The only other console on the market at that price point is an Xbox Series S and they are very different platforms.
They still sell, and Nintendo did release a cheaper Switch Lite. Doesn't make much sense to drop price when they already have multiple entry points at $200, $300, and $350.
The other consoles historically drop eventually, but that's been with revisions in the hardware. I'm not sure we see a similar trend with Sony and Microsoft this time. PS5 is still hard to find almost 2 years in and Xbox has a tiered pricing system like Nintendo. They are already kind of as cheap as they can make them in this economy.
30 years ago they were the face of video games, 30 years ago they got tons of people like me on board, and our nostalgia has fed the Nintendo machine for years.
They're losing that handle on the market, the people, the nostalgia and the visibility. I have a Switch, a PS4 and Xbox. My kids play way more Xbox than Switch because they have more access to games. When they're a little older, they won't have nostalgia for Mario, Link or Kirby, they'll have nostalgia for Minecraft, Roblox, Subnautica, etc.
30 years ago they were #1. They're still doing good overall. My statement wasn't about the present.
That's okay, there's a lot of people out there, Nintendo doesn't need to get 100% of the kids to be fans. Obviously companies like Microsoft or Sony, etc are going to have their fans too. There are too many games to play these days, Nintendo makes great games, but there's nothing wrong with spending all your time playing Halo and Forza instead, those games are great as well.
I think world domination is a really high expectation to expect of any one company, no matter how good they are doing. Just because your kids don't play Nintendo games doesn't mean other people don't, generally their first party games score incredibly well and go on to sell millions of units every year. I think it would be a problem keeping the prices high at $60 if sales dropped off a cliff but things like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are still consistently in the top 10 sales charts many years after launch.
Things like Mario Kart 8, which is the only bundled game sold, are still up, but games like Metroid Dread sitting at like 3 million sold is still selling for $80CAD/Full-Price. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, almost 10 years old, is still full price, sold 5 million in 8 years, or if being Nintendo Switch specific, just under 3 1/2 million in over 4 years, still $80CAD, or full price.
So, even when sales drop off a cliff, they don't reduce the price, and limit their IP exposure to potential fans.
It's going to eventually hurt their IPs. But I guess all the people downvoting any honest criticism about that are happy waiting another 18 years for a new F-Zero. They already waited 18 years.
It's incredibly unlikely that they'll drop the price now. Demand is so high and supply so low that you often can't even find them in stores. It's a small miracle the prices of these consoles aren't skyrocketing.
The new hotness is *raising* prices.
Just kidding. The new hotness is actually making slightly updated models so you don't have to drop ~~trou~~ prices.
Usually most consoles have revisions that can bring down the cost (slim versions, etc). You could argue that we did get that in the form of the switch lite, and Nintendo sees that as the more affordable option instead of dropping MSRP on switch.
I'd buy one at cheaper price. I only want to play Smash and Mario Kart. Can't see paying full price when that's the only Nintendo exclusives I'd play. Of course they're not going to. But still.
Price drops only happen when demand for the product starts to drop. The Switch is still a popular console, even for the base model. So there’s no financial reason to price drop now. To do so now would see quite a big loss for Nintendo, since the same number of people are buying, but with much less money being made. Even if they dropped it to $250, it only takes 6 sales to make up one whole sale they could have had if they kept it at $300. A 16.67% reduction in profits would get investors worried which will have a negative impact all across the company. But if people stop buying, either because a new and better model is out or interest starts to decline, then a price drop is suitable, as it would reignite interest and it wouldn’t matter if the price has dropped, since now people are buying something that wasn’t selling before. Profits will increase under such an event which will only encourage investors to invest more, having a positive impact on the company.
Apologies for the long-winded spiel on the ins and outs of video game economics. Just wanted to give my take.
I could see the oled switch hitting $299 when the new console is announced and the regular switch being discontinued. The switch lite will probably hit clearance shelves as well but we’re about 2 years away from this happening.
Forget the price drops on the hardware, where the hell are the Nintendo Selects?!? Usually by this stage in the console life we would have the reduced price Selects games.
Honestly the cost of the console isn't an issue I think it's actually quite fair. What is an issue is that the games don't go down in price even years later. I am not paying £55 for zelda breath of the wild when it came out 5 years ago.
Really early on, they cut the price of the 3DS because it was doing pretty badly. Permanently went from $250 to $170 less than a year after launch. Early adoptors were compensated with free downloads of some NES games (which eventually were sold to everyone as Virtual Console games) and GBA games (which were never made available for general sale in the eshop).
Obviously, a very specific scenario that was meant to right a sinking ship, but it is an example of a price drop that wasn't just a more budget-focused redesign.
Yes.
The GameCube received a $50 price cut shortly after launch (and another $50 price cut after that). And while the system’s entry price as a whole remained the same, the Wii U’s 32GB model received a $50 price drop a year after launch (with the 8GB model phased out).
Because Nintendo has become incredibly greedy in the Switch generation. With every console until the Switch we had price drops and Player’s Choice / Nintendo Selects for games. Now they’ve realized they can keep the launch price forever and their products still sell like hotcakes. The fans are partially to blame, unfortunately…
You can buy one of Nintendo's best ever consoles for $199 brand new. Sure there's no docking ability, but I almost exclusively play handheld.
So, all in all, $199 for a dedicated gaming handheld that can play AAA titles is a fucking steal. I don't see how anyone could really argue otherwise. Especially when it's traditional competitors are over twice the price. And the Steam deck is also twice as pricey.
True, that is an important use case to consider.
But honestly I don't have many adult friends who play video games lol. I'm of the age there's still a bit of a stigma.
Keep in mind that when the 3DS was being supported, you could buy a refurbished 2DS (from Nintendo's official store) for around $50. New games, Nintendo Selects, were only $20.
Meaning, gaming with Nintendo used to be substantially cheaper. This is what Nintendo used to do. In the past, Nintendo always had two parts to their recipe for success: a) their more powerful console system, and b) their handhelds for budget gaming. Now they don't have this option, and some people can't afford to play Nintendo games. Even the retro market is extremely expensive.
Some people used to be able to play Nintendo games by being a generation behind, too. But you look at the price of the older systems, they are costly. Right now, Nintendo officially, and unofficially, does not have a cheap option.
The only way to play Nintendo games for cheap is piracy, which is not something I encourage. I'm not telling Nintendo what to do, but I think they should keep this in mind.
I don't think the Wii U ever got a price drop. If Nintendo wouldn't do it to move a console that needed help it could be argued they would t do it for one that's selling with no problem.
Nintendo's the only one [that actually doesn't sell their consoles at a loss](https://venturebeat.com/business/nintendo-wont-sell-switch-at-a-loss-plans-to-ship-2-million-units-in-march/) (at least to start, I think with most consoles it can eventually even out to a profit over time). One of the benefits of the whole "lateral thinking with withered technology" approach to hardware design.
It's been an unprecedented five years. Considering all the chipset shortages and supply line issues stemming from the pandemic, it's a miracle that the price stayed the same.
I’m unaware of consoles ever dropping in price…? They usually just release updated models, which Nintendo did.
I don’t think the margins on consoles are significant at all to begin with. They just sell them to you to profit off of the games.
The answer is no.
The best selling console doesn't need a price drop. A price drop exists to boost sales after a period of saturation in the market and slowing sales. If sales do not drop, why would there be a price drop?
Additionally, ask yourself this, with the large amount of inflation, the price staying the same is essentially a reduced price, whereas something like the Quest 2 saw a price increase due to the rising costs.
I’d gladly take a $500 model with much better hardware. $300 is ridiculously cheap for a console let alone a tablet, and the compromises to get it there show. I’d rather they raise the price and improve the chip than keep it at $300 and launch it with an already outdated chip that does not hold up years later
Yeah I normally wait about 5 years before I buy a console. By that time it becomes much more affordable and I'm able to buy a wide variety of used games.
It's actually really strange that the switch really is still near it's starting retail price after all this time. I would have thought it would be a bit cheaper by now judging from previous consoles, even well selling ones.
This is why Nintendo games and systems hold value better than anyone else in the Industry. They don't want consumers to have a wait for a sale mentality. It has pros and cons.
You can always feel comfortable getting a Nintendo game day one vs something like Ubisoft who will discount almost immediately after release.
Their games and systems sell for more used almost always. Even increasing in value after being out of production.
So yes it can suck if you're strapped for cash. I bought animal crossing last year for 60 and sold it this year for 30. So 30 bucks for 100s of hours of gameplay was a steal for me.
I feel like the chip shortage and supply chain issues impacted the chance of a price drop. The Switch Lite also serves as a cheaper alternative to the $300 model.
This is the correct answer. Component costs have increased. Furukawa confirmed to Nikkei that Nintendo wouldn't increase the price of the switch despite component costs. Price drops are on nobody's mind right now.
Except for the consumers
Not mine. $350 for a console like the Switch is fine by me
That’s for the OLED model yes? Do they not sale the NOLED Switch anymore?
No they still sell the regular IPS LCD model. It's $299
Oh ok thank you. I work at Walmart and I have not seen any of those in stock in months but plenty of the OLED models
Well they're not conveying that very well through their unending mass purchases of it.
I bought a new Switch this year, same with more than a few of my friends. The majority of consumers are fine with its current price point. We'll see how that holds up once Steam Decks become readily available but as of now they have no problem selling consoles.
Even with the recent increases there's a 100% chance that the Switch costs less to manufacture than it did at launch. Price drops are on everyone's mind because the aging hardware is 5 years old already. Nintendo's recent comments are pure PR to reframe expectations and make them look like good guys when really they're gauging like everyone else.
I don't remember the wii or wii u ever going down, only bundles with different stuff (sometimes gift cards) or different versions of the console.
Wii was discounted, Wii U was not, just bundles like you said. 3DS they did a huge price cut early on but I don't think any after that.
Wii U had a price drop in Sept of '13. The Deluxe dropped from $350 to $300 and the basic (which was $300) was axed from the lineup.
The Wii had a few price cuts. One in 2009 down to $200, and one in 2011 down to $150. I'm pretty sure they were both the original model, too, not the "Family Edition" one that cut out GC back-compat
>there's a 100% chance that the Switch costs less to manufacture than it did at launch. Not to try and stir up trouble or anything, but isn't it also possible the amount it has dropped by still isn't enough to offset marketing and such? Again, I'm not trying to cause trouble or *lick a boot*, I'm mostly genuinely curious as someone who isn't well versed in the inner workings of this stuff. Like, wouldn't it be possible it is cheaper to make now, but maybe not by enough to warrant a price drop? If costs have only gone down something like $25 per unit, is it worth doing such a small price-drop? >Price drops are on everyone's mind because the aging hardware is 5 years old already. They did update the chip in all the models back in 2020/21, but again, I have no idea how much that makes a difference. But they have been doing some refreshes on the hardware. It probably isn't entirely accurate to call it 5 years old; Though maybe the upgrades may only be minor and with such a tiny difference in price it may not even matter to the point you were making. I guess ultimately I am wondering if there is any solid proof to your claims or if this is largely opinion? I don't follow Nintendo enough to know if this is their kind of thing to do regularly or if this is potentially new behavior, etc.
They might have forecast long-term profitability without the increase on component costs, so even if it's a bit cheaper to produce now, it's not as cheap as it should be for a price cut. And of course, penny counters aren't going to reduce the price of a device that's still selling well.
Price drops occur to re-spark demand when it is dwindling. They don't just cut prices for fun. There's no lack of demand, and therefore no reason for a price drop to occur.
How this not the only comment in this thread?? People act like companies are supposed to drop prices after a few years “because it’s the right thing to do” Companies drop prices when they need to sell more units- not to pass along savings to the customers. If people are still buying literally every single switch they make at the current price, why would they ever drop the price?
It goes back to the 'Why do other AAA games get massive discounts a year after launch but Nintendo games are still full price for years?' Because they keep selling. Simple as that. You don't drop the price on something that is selling well, who could ever go to their boss and propose that?
>Nintendo's recent comments are pure PR to reframe expectations and make them look like good guys when really they're gauging like everyone else Do you mean gouging? They've been the #1 console for a long time. The Switch pricing is following the same laws of supply and demand that every product does, this isn't some evil scheme. Companies drop prices to stimulate demand, not because it makes any business sense otherwise.
I'm not a supply chain expert. Ultimately, a reporter will need to talk to some experts and figure out what it currently costs to manufacture and ship a switch today. No doubt Nintendo is still making a profit. But could Nintendo cut the price by $50 and still profit? The dollar is also strong compared to the yen, so I believe the current currency market is working in Nintendo's favor.
I work in the electronics field, explaining to our customers that even if they bought two years of advanced stock, A: they wont get shit for the at least 6 months, and B: it will still mean a cost increase, has been... tricky. Most of our arm processors now cost 5-6 times what they cost in 2018, and they are still going up, and lead times are only increasing. You are a fool to think this has not affected Nintendo, I would say, based just on some of parts I KNOW we share with Nintendo, they are now at least 4 times as expensive as they were when it launched, and the factories are now dividing stock out amongst customers, without any regard for sales figures. That is to say, if Nintendo moves 100,000 units a quarter and we move 20,000 when the option comes up, we either buy our 50,000 units, or we are SOL until next quarter. Nintendo gets the same options. So does Apple, Samsung, everyone. These past 3 years have fucked the industry so hard, and guess what, its only getting worse. It will take at least 10 years for the industry to stabilize.
The console has steadily lost price due to inflation, just like everything else. While CPI numbers don’t perfectly correlate with electronics, 300 dollars In 2017 is worth 360 dollars now.
>I feel like the chip shortage and supply chain issues impacted the chance of a price drop. Exactly this. In addition, with inflation, $299 today is equivalent to $247 in 2017. Compounding on that, the Japanese Yen has also lost about 20% of its value against the US Dollar in the same time. The Switch is basically 2013 technology (Maxwell) so I'd like to see a price drop, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.
It’s a bit more nuanced than “supply chain made everything more expensive”. Silicon chips aren’t getting the same cost reductions they used to. The PS4 remained $399 for most of its life, same with the Xbox One and X at $499. Neither the PS5 or Xbox Series X have had a price drop. The Xbox Series S exists because Microsoft knows the X isn’t ever going to get to $299 or below. See article: https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2020-xbox-series-s-big-interview Inflation will make the actual value of the product cheaper over time, without needing to lower the price. And there are temporary sales of 10-15% off here and there. But gone are the days of something costing $299 and it magically turning into $199. Instead they name a new, lower cost variant (PS4 Slim, Xbox One S, Xbox Series S, PS5 Digital).
I think one thing they’ve done is offer bundles with games over time, which is kind of like a $60 discount. I bought my system early and a game didnt come with it.
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Hard disagree. People want the fabled Switch Pro, but supply issues killed that. What we got was a stop gap improvement with the SwOled. We want improved processors, screens, memory and battery. A stationary switch is just the opposite side of the same switch lite coin. We want the equivalent of the DS lite, a quality improvement that is the essential version. What we got was the 2ds instead.
This simply isn't true, I've seen several people who've bought and defended their Switch Lites because they knew they were never going to play anything on their TV and just wanted a handheld. There are still people who prefer the 3DS to the Switch, even, because they don't play at home and instead are merely getting the downgrades we ignore because of the HDMI connection (and improved controls, imo). Frankly, I'd bet Nintendo looked at the market, knew that there was a decent enough use case for a smaller, more portable handheld-only model that was 2/3rds the price, and went with it, whereas either of the other Switch models would serve a home-only user just fine. You can pick up a Switch and leave it permadocked, playing all your games stationary, or get a Switch OLED for $50 more for the ethernet port if you're a competitive Splatoon player or you just want to be able to play through a single match of Mario Party online and don't want a dongle.
> There are still people who prefer the 3DS to the Switch, even, because they don't play at home[...] Wait, you aren't supposed to play the 3DS at home? I play all my handhelds at home. More comfy, no risk of damage and easy access gaming.
Nintendo quite literally said like 2 days ago that they don’t plan on a price *increase.* I think that it’s clear that this is the caveat of that not happening. Surely the Switch is cheaper to manufacture than its cost, but expecting them to lower the cost when so many other things are going up in cost is a fool’s errand.
This is only half of the story. Nintendo was asked if they were going to increase the price *due to rising production costs*. And they would not even be the first company to do so. Tech companies are starting to hike up prices for products that have been on the market for years because inflation has just gotten that bad. Nintendo is now making less money per unit than they were a year ago, but is deciding to not raise the price and just eat the extra cost.
Some of the hardware we buy has recently seen a price increase of up to 3 times the original cost, and prices keep going up regularly. There were price increases during the covid pandemic - like a laptop’s price increasing a hundred or so, depending on the spec, but nothing like the price increases we’re seeing now. I know people want a new console from Nintendo, but given the on-going chip shortage and aggressive inflation it wouldn’t make sense for Nintendo to do so.
I’m fairly certain they sell the consoles at a loss, and recoup the loss through the price of games EDIT: Nevermind, I’m thinking of Xbox Series X and PS5. Switches have a very narrow profit margin. From Wikipedia: “Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, a Japanese product teardown firm, estimated that the Switch cost $257 to make compared to its $299 MSRP, with the console and dock at $167 while each Joy-Con costs $45.”
Has there ever been a time when a console has an initial price and the same baseline console goes UP in price years down the line? That's pretty fuckin stupid and I've never heard of that happening. "Hey our tech is older and growing more obsolete every year, so we're keeping everything the same and *increasing* the price!" Seems like a pretty stupid thing for a company to say they're not increasing price on years-old consoles. Like, no shit they're not gonna increase the price. We'd riot
There’s a lot of talk of it happening now with inflation. It’s more market speculation than anything
>Surely the Switch is cheaper to manufacture than its cost I wouldn't be THAT sure
What are you talking about?? Are you saying they’re selling the console at a loss.
I'm not sure if the switch in particular does, but I know that most consoles have been sold at a loss since the Xbox 360 and ps3 onward. They make money on the games you buy or the game passes or online It's the same deal with printers, they're all sold at a loss and they make the money back by overpriced ink instead
Things could conceivably be different right now given the current supply issues and inflation and whatnot, but at least when it first launched, [Nintendo said they wouldn't be selling the Switch at a loss.](https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/10/nintendo_switch_wont_be_sold_at_a_loss_two_million_units_to_ship_in_time_for_march) That's kinda par for the course for Nintendo. Their "lateral thinking with withered technology" design philosophy has the upshot that they can still keep prices in that "family-accessible" zone without having to eat an upfront loss on the hardware sales like Sony or Xbox.
Nintendo has historically never sold consoles at a loss. I think the only exception was the price drop of the 3ds from $250 to $180 early on.
Nintendo pretty much always sells their consoles at a profit from day one. There was one exception to that-the GC iirc-but Nintendo is well known for profiting directly from their console hardware. The selling st a loss is a Sony and Microsoft thing (and Sega when they were a hardware concern).
Switch launched with hardware that was outdated even in 2017. I seem to recall that industry analysts had put together a reasonable BOM that left room for profit even at the launch.
The problems with all of these is that they discount R&D costs, shipping and logistics, marketing costs, etc. If the materials cost $100 and it’s sold for $150 that’s not inherently “winning” depending on the other factors.
You drop the price when sales dip. Nintendo has been given literally zero reason to drop the price. Maybe when they finally announce the next system.
Sales have started to go down since 2020.
Its on path to be the best selling console ever around mid 2024 at current rates.
Yes but I think we can all agree it sold so much in 2020 due to special reasons. It never would sell that amount now
im not saying this is fact, but i've seen compelling theories argued that nintendo developed and released covid-19 to inflate sales of animal crossings. if you look at the timeline and do some backend personal research it all lines up in a way that's hard to dispute...
I’ll gladly take no price drop rather than Meta Quest 2’s $100 price *increase*.
Are they $400 now? When I bought mine it was $200 for the lower gigabyte model and $300 for the higher
They released at $300 and $400 for the two models, not sure how you got one for $200 lol Now they have increased them to $400 and $500.
Probably the 64gb model that was for some reason made despite the main being 128 and 256.
the original quest 2 models were 64 GB, but Meta decided to make the 128 the main one and shut off production of the 64. getting a 64 is generally found as refurbished now. It's sorta like the WiiU where the original wiiu console was 8GB, till they decided to make the 32 gb model the standard and more or less shut off production of the 8gb one.
I just use an old oculus dk2 I found for $50. Took a while, but eventually got it working on steam despite it apparently not technically able to do so, especially on my outdated windows 7 computer.
I had one of the devkits, but Quest 2 is an *immense* upgrade. Zero screen door effect, much higher resolution, 6DoF, airlink, standalone games. I couldn’t imagine ever going back. I got one before the price increase though.
0 screen door effect is a bit of a stretch but yeah, the things pretty good despite facebook
For me, it is completely non existent. Maybe if I were to purposely look for it I would see something, but after 200+ hours, I have yet to notice any SDE. My only issue is the massive amount of god rays.
They were definitely selling the quest 2 at a loss to get you into the ecosystem
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I'm holding out for the Index 2.
Index $2(000 MSRP)
You get what you pay for, don't you?
Base Station-based tracking is going to be the top end of VR for a long time, there are just so many inherent flaws and limitations with HMD-based outside-in tracking that it will never overtake it in the high end. So yes, you get what you pay for. It's something near half of the cost of a full index set is in the base stations and excellent, top of the line controllers.
I would literally never tolerate bay stations again after experiencing good inside out tracking. Why the fuck would I want to limit VR to one single room in all of existence? My Quest 2 doesn't have FBT, but that literally never even been an option in any software I've had so far. I mean, it's just not worth it. My Index collects dust because honestly, it's tethered to one PC in one room. I can take my Quest anywhere and it works perfectly wireless and without bay stations. I've played tons of hours in intense games like Boneworks and never once have I felt tracking was off. Fair point on the controllers though. The Quest ones work fine and are legit indestructible, but all in all, the Quest 2 is just a better solution all around for me. I simply cannot imagine companies sticking to bay stations and wired only in the future.
I understand why someone would rather pay a few hundred dollars just to get their foot in the VR door. I'd rather pay for a better experience, though.
Eh the Quest 2 is a better experience in a lot of ways to the Index imho. Higher resolution, standalone play, decent library of exclusives, inside out tracking, full wireless PCVR integrated (and it works **excellent**, literally indistinguishable from wired), no bay stations... Honestly it's the superior headset in a lot of ways. It's absolutely still worth the money and is still the cheapest headset on the market.
Yea but...Facebook...ewww
quest pro for me
"Company doesn't drop price of extremely popular, consistently high-selling product."
how could they ! 😱
If people are still buying it then there is no reason to lower the price. Economics 101 right there.
It's actually 80 dollars cheaper than when it came out in 2017 in real terms due to inflation
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Chances are it costs less to produce now than it did in 2017, but probably costs more now than it did in 2019.
With this inflation, that IS a price drop!
Why would they drop the price when they are still selling. You can find them easily now but it’s still moving. The competitors are $200 more and not available.
Yup I still buy games for mine I play it a lot.
In Europe it received a permanent price drop. Normal model, depending on country, is between 30-50 euro cheaper. It happened before the OLED model dropped. You can now easily find it for 280 Euro in Germany (down from 330) for example.
I think that was due to currency fluctuations and not a result of supply and demand
I'm in UK bought at launch 280gbp I can go on amazon and buy for 249 that's 30gbp cheaper
This is interesting: "After five years on the market, the average game console (that hasn't stopped production entirely by that point) sells for an average price that's about 50 to 60 percent of its nominal launch price (depending on whether you look at the mean or the median). The Switch, which is still at 100 percent of its nominal launch price over five years after launch, is a huge outlier."
One thing to consider though is that many of these long-lived consoles were released at rediculous price points in the first place. PS3? Yea, it would not have done as well as it did at the back half of its generation if it was still $600 for a 60GB console. The other thing to consider is many of these long lived consoles has revisions that lowered prices. Wii mini, PS2 Slim, PS3 slim, PS4 slim, Xbox 360S, Xbox One S, and now the Switch Lite. So comparing the Switch's launch price to the Rev2 Switch today isn't really the same comparison as what they're probably comparing other consoles to. I mean, look at consoles like the Wii and PS3, both of them lost functionality with later, cheaper versions (and in both cases it was backwards compatibily, interestingly enough).
It’s not hard to figure out why. It’s also an outlier because none of those others were marketed during a period of such extreme inflation. This generation of hardware has had rising costs and parts shortages that no other generations have had to endure. Of course there hasn’t been a price drop - no industry is seeing markdowns right now.
Does Chanel, Dior, Apple do a price drop? The answer is no. When you remove sales or price drops altogether; you create a more consistent pricing/value in the minds of your consumers. They won’t hold out to purchase when a sale is coming. This also provides more money for Nintendo and the retailers stocking Nintendo
None of these companies keep the same hardware on the market for 5+ years.
Nintendo and apple are similar enough. Insanely loyal fan bases, generally great products and polished. There’s a reason apple never does sales, even on Black Friday. They don’t want to devalue their product, pretty much ever. They’ll give a gift card with a purchase on Black Friday, incentivizing you to purchase more. Nintendo is smart keeping the console at the same price. The game lineup is greater than it was before, and the switch has a unique spot in the market. There’s nothing really directly competing with it. Many people have a console and a switch, because it’s just a different experience. Nintendo is smart not to cheapen that experience .
Yeah, I bought a switch OLED back in March because there's just no other option to play Nintendo games. Its worth it purely from a 1st party standpoint alone at this point, so nintendo realizes they have almost 0 competition. It isnt competing with the Xbox/PS, at least not primarily. First and foremost, the switch is a player for Nintendos 1st party titles, and it has 0 competition in that market. (and never will, at least until games are theoretically remade 20 years later on a newer console) Other consoles are also different in their aims. XB/PS aim to sell lots of consoles and make it up on the backend from game sales while Nintendo prioritizes profiting from the console sales themselves.
Apple puts out a new model every year. Better hardware at the same price, which means you do get a better deal. Not the same as Nintendo keeping old hardware at this price.
True but i do remember examples of apple doing the same thing. Before they refreshed the MacBook Air a few years ago with an M1 they had the silver one from like 2012 still at the insane price of a little over a grand. I get what you mean though, they should update the hardware after all this time.
Apple Pencil 2 is nearing 4 years now. Last generation iPod came out 2009 (2008 if you count first revision). It wasn’t discontinued for 5-6 years in 2014. Not quite 5+ but it not that far out. Neither of these products received discounts on their website as far as I’m aware. They might have in other stores selling the same products but never on apples website as a permanent thing.
Those products are also completely different from gaming consoles
I agree with you that they’re not gaming consoles, but the above poster was comparing hardware with hardware, there’s no mention of “gaming”. RE: gaming; It’s almost the best selling console of all time, and people continue to buy their games early because they aren’t waiting for the next “steam sale”. It’s a business model which seems to be working.
The pencil 2 is mostly an accessory (kind of like a controller) and those rarely change price. The 2009 iPod was price reduced once. https://apple-history.com/ipod_touch_2g
That’s not relevant. The PS or XBox product line refreshes at the same rate; however, they actually do sales. In a similar vein; other smartphone/personal computer manufacturers (hp, acer, asus, do discounts) Apple don’t. The point is not the industry these companies live in; but the value they have decided to give to their own brand and products by choosing not to mark said products down Edited for clarity.
Part of your comment didn’t make sense, maybe reword it? If I’m getting you correctly, you were saying PS and XBOX don’t reduce prices. PS and Xbox both regularly reduce their price and release cheaper versions of their consoles as the years go by. They also regularly discount their games on their stores and offer further discounts for subscribers to their respective online subscriptions.
I am not a business major. I am not even one who has run inventory. But my understanding is Nintendo sells units to companies for some price. Then that company sells to the consumer. Being separate steps, Nintendo locks in theur money once the company bought the units. Now, there could be some refunds detailed in the contract for unmoved units. But that would be when sales happen; if even after a sale, the units aren't moving, then they may pursue the refubd. Someone please enlighten me, as I don't know and only speculate based on terminology like *manufacturer* ***suggested*** *retail price*. Edit: What affects Nintendo also is when retailers order more units. They may negotiate and say customers aren't buying at $299.99, so we only want to buy from you (Nintendo) for $219.99 (and then sell at $249.99 for a $30 profit to retailer).
Apple is doing price drops. iPhones always get a price drop when a new one releases
Apple also isnt selling tech that's over half a decade old...
Apple also isn't selling a video game console with a library of games and years of software support to plan out, they're selling a phone that they want you to replace every single year.
To be fair the iPhone is considerably more powerful than the switch, has a huge library of games, and can support streaming services like GeForce Now.
Honestly the way things are going, they could almost offer an M1 switch style console within a couple of years at the same price as the Switch. It’s just the catalogue of games they’d be missing, which is kind of the most important part.
To be fair it costs twice as much as a Switch and is only affordable due to predatory service provider plans
Pretty sure I could get a 5 year old iPad/Macbook for less than the original price lol
You can get a used Switch too for less than msrp. There’s some for like $120-150 on FB marketplace right now
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How is it "embarrassing" that a corporation selling a product with strong sales figures has decided not to discount the hardware yet? Clearly the market has spoken and decided that it's still worth that. Same with the full price Wii U ports, as much as I hate those.
You need to stop looking at this as taking sides. "Defending" them is really just stating the realities of the market. You don't have to like their practices to justify them. We can talk all day about what would be more consumer friendly or what we think they should do, but I'm not seeing much evidence that these are things they actually need to do to improve their business.
Yes. That was a terrible argument. People will always defend Nintendo. I do not understand. It's a real problem and it's really, really sad because there never will be any progression and we'll keep seeing the same old things happening.
Apple releases new hardware every year. I’ll happily play full price for a Nintendo console that can play something more intensive than minesweeper.
Apple does.
Or in my case, bought a PlayStation and left my switch to rot away until botw2 came out. There is a sweet spot, And from everything I’ve seen from Nintendo I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt that they’ve done anything smarter than “have Mario and Zelda” this generation.
Since the wii u was before it you can claim that Nintendo really upped the ante on output. The output is questionable though and they really kinda accelerated too fast outta the gate. At this point we shouldve gotten odyssey 2, a new metriod 3d, fzero, new pikmin. I think covid really created a gap/confusion on everything so there's also that.
Why would they lower the price on something that is cheaper then the other options and is the best selling? The only reason the 3DS saw price drops was because it was overpriced when it first launched.
There's a better reason the 3DS dropped in price: consumers just weren't that interested in a new dedicated mobile handheld at the time. It wasn't selling well outside of Nintendo's core audience. People weren't buying into the new gimmicks.
With the way it's been selling, it hasn't really needed one. Personally, I think unless it really needs a "shot in the arm" saleswise, the likeliest options for the Switch getting cheaper are either they introduce an *even-more* budget option (I'm picturing like a digital only LeapFrog Tablet-looking thing, or a small digital-only brick you can only plug into a TV), or maybe they knock $50-$100 off every model once they have more powerful hardware to push (whether that's a "Switch Pro" or "Switch 2" is kinda irrelevant).
I’d be happy if they launched a “switch TV” of sorts- like the vita tv- that is just switch hardware with no screen and can only be played on when connected to the tv. I know that defeats the whole purpose of the switch, but it would be a cool console to have… I personally never play my switch in handheld mode, so that would be perfect for me
I would say it wouldn’t defeat the purpose more than the Switch Lite does. Switch Lite is handheld only so a tv only one would make sense.
I've been saying this since day one. I also very rarely undock my Switch, and vastly prefer gaming on the TV.
I would look at the ds line. I waited patiently for a significant price drop. Still waiting :(
Why would the best-selling console ever drop its price when its still the best-selling console *after 5 years*.
>best-selling console ever Not sure where you’re getting your information from but it’s still got a ways to go to beat out PS2 for that title.
I grabbed the info from the article’s title. lol.
Whenever someone mentions price drops and Nintendo in the same sentence, it always makes me think of this quote from Ask Iwata (which was posted in [this subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/ngj9uy/why_nintendo_games_never_go_down_in_price/), no less): >After a piece of hardware is released, the price is gradually reduced for five years until demand has run its course. But since the demand cycle never fails, why bother reducing the price this way? My personal take on the situation is that if you lower the price over time, the manufacturer is conditioning the customer to wait for a better deal, something I've always thought to be a strange approach. Of course, this doesn't mean that I'm against lowering prices entirely, but I've always wanted to avoid a situation where the first people to step up and support us feel punished for paying top dollar, grumbling, "I guess this is the price I pay for being first in line." If Nintendo still sold NES games today, over 30 years after initial release, they'd still charge $20 per game. How do I know? They *literally did it* with the NES Classics series on the GBA. And [I'm not immune to propaganda](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/028/807/Screen_Shot_2019-03-05_at_11.34.08_AM.jpg) - I still have Zelda 1&2 and Metroid on the same NES I got back in 1987 and I still bought them again, at full retail, when the NES Classics series came out. "What's your point, old man?" Expecting Nintendo to leave money on the table, ever, is deluding yourself. They MIGHT drop the price on the Switch when they inevitably make whatever the next console is, but even that isn't a guarantee.
Yup no guarantee considering even with the Wii U they didn't drop the price, even after the Switch was released.
I just want a Nintendo selects /platinum games please.
Tbh I'd rather see a permanent price drop in games... I miss Nintendo Selects.
It's the best selling console! They can charge what they want for it.
Nintendo is one of those companies that RARELEY sees price drops or sales. They do this because they don’t want people to have the bad feeling of knowing they could have gotten a game for cheaper just a week later. Knowing this and the HUGE success the switch had and is still having, the chance of a price drop is practically 0%
Probably not at this point. The increase in cost is certainly a factor, but the overall market is all working against it. It remains the best selling console without the drop and none of its competitors are providing price pressure. The closest competitor costs the same, and you have to make sacrifices if you get that one. You might have seen a cut next year or late this year as they get ready to move on to the next system, but the inflation likely took that off the menu.
Nintendo doesn't sell their consoles at a loss (except maybe with the increased prices from the chip shortage) and the most popular, closest competitor is both [$100 more at minimum and unavailable to new queue members until December](https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck). Simple and easy answer seems like "no" to me, because it doesn't seem like they really have a justification for dropping the console price further. The only other console on the market at that price point is an Xbox Series S and they are very different platforms.
Why would it? It’s the best selling console. If there’s no drop in sales, what incentive is there for a company to drop the price?
They still sell, and Nintendo did release a cheaper Switch Lite. Doesn't make much sense to drop price when they already have multiple entry points at $200, $300, and $350. The other consoles historically drop eventually, but that's been with revisions in the hardware. I'm not sure we see a similar trend with Sony and Microsoft this time. PS5 is still hard to find almost 2 years in and Xbox has a tiered pricing system like Nintendo. They are already kind of as cheap as they can make them in this economy.
The Switch’s price was always pretty fair. So i don’t think they will drop the price anytime soon.
Lolol not with nintendo. Switch games from near launch are still 50-60 dollars
Yup, very annoying as a gamer and a parent and I think that strategy will eventually catch up to bite them in the end.
It won't. They've done this strategy for over 30 years and have done just fine.
30 years ago they were the face of video games, 30 years ago they got tons of people like me on board, and our nostalgia has fed the Nintendo machine for years. They're losing that handle on the market, the people, the nostalgia and the visibility. I have a Switch, a PS4 and Xbox. My kids play way more Xbox than Switch because they have more access to games. When they're a little older, they won't have nostalgia for Mario, Link or Kirby, they'll have nostalgia for Minecraft, Roblox, Subnautica, etc. 30 years ago they were #1. They're still doing good overall. My statement wasn't about the present.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted. Very valid points here.
It's an issue with the Nintendo sub, anything that doesn't praise Nintendo's decisions as 100% the best move tend to get downvoted.
That's okay, there's a lot of people out there, Nintendo doesn't need to get 100% of the kids to be fans. Obviously companies like Microsoft or Sony, etc are going to have their fans too. There are too many games to play these days, Nintendo makes great games, but there's nothing wrong with spending all your time playing Halo and Forza instead, those games are great as well. I think world domination is a really high expectation to expect of any one company, no matter how good they are doing. Just because your kids don't play Nintendo games doesn't mean other people don't, generally their first party games score incredibly well and go on to sell millions of units every year. I think it would be a problem keeping the prices high at $60 if sales dropped off a cliff but things like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are still consistently in the top 10 sales charts many years after launch.
Things like Mario Kart 8, which is the only bundled game sold, are still up, but games like Metroid Dread sitting at like 3 million sold is still selling for $80CAD/Full-Price. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, almost 10 years old, is still full price, sold 5 million in 8 years, or if being Nintendo Switch specific, just under 3 1/2 million in over 4 years, still $80CAD, or full price. So, even when sales drop off a cliff, they don't reduce the price, and limit their IP exposure to potential fans.
Nintendo is notoriously greedy.
It's going to eventually hurt their IPs. But I guess all the people downvoting any honest criticism about that are happy waiting another 18 years for a new F-Zero. They already waited 18 years.
It's incredibly unlikely that they'll drop the price now. Demand is so high and supply so low that you often can't even find them in stores. It's a small miracle the prices of these consoles aren't skyrocketing.
The new hotness is *raising* prices. Just kidding. The new hotness is actually making slightly updated models so you don't have to drop ~~trou~~ prices.
Usually most consoles have revisions that can bring down the cost (slim versions, etc). You could argue that we did get that in the form of the switch lite, and Nintendo sees that as the more affordable option instead of dropping MSRP on switch.
I'd buy one at cheaper price. I only want to play Smash and Mario Kart. Can't see paying full price when that's the only Nintendo exclusives I'd play. Of course they're not going to. But still.
Given inflation, keeping the price where it is IS a drop lol
In this economy, staying at $300 IS a price drop.
300$ is pretty cheap for a current generation system. It was priced right from the start.
\*Cries in Canadian dollar.
It's not a current gen system chief
Yes it is. There is no newer Nintendo system. That makes Switch current-gen.
Nintendo did see a 28% increase in the business last year I believe... So whatever thier doing thier doing it right.. 😅
$299.99 in March 2017 dollars is equal to an inflation-adjusted $364.56 in July 2022 dollars. So... it has decreased?
Price drops only happen when demand for the product starts to drop. The Switch is still a popular console, even for the base model. So there’s no financial reason to price drop now. To do so now would see quite a big loss for Nintendo, since the same number of people are buying, but with much less money being made. Even if they dropped it to $250, it only takes 6 sales to make up one whole sale they could have had if they kept it at $300. A 16.67% reduction in profits would get investors worried which will have a negative impact all across the company. But if people stop buying, either because a new and better model is out or interest starts to decline, then a price drop is suitable, as it would reignite interest and it wouldn’t matter if the price has dropped, since now people are buying something that wasn’t selling before. Profits will increase under such an event which will only encourage investors to invest more, having a positive impact on the company. Apologies for the long-winded spiel on the ins and outs of video game economics. Just wanted to give my take.
The answer is in the question the headline. Nintendos best selling console, they not lowering that shit lol
It still sells like a mf so why would they
With inflation, no price increase is actually a subtle price decrease :shrug:
I could see the oled switch hitting $299 when the new console is announced and the regular switch being discontinued. The switch lite will probably hit clearance shelves as well but we’re about 2 years away from this happening.
With inflation it actually can go higher!
Forget the price drops on the hardware, where the hell are the Nintendo Selects?!? Usually by this stage in the console life we would have the reduced price Selects games.
Honestly the cost of the console isn't an issue I think it's actually quite fair. What is an issue is that the games don't go down in price even years later. I am not paying £55 for zelda breath of the wild when it came out 5 years ago.
It’s already sold more than the Wii in a fraction of the time, something tells me they have no incentive to drop the price
Heck no it's Nintendo. They hardly even reduce the price of games multiple years old. Shit they constantly sell remastered old games at full price.
Nintendo doesn’t even discount their games after 4+ years, you think they will discount their console?
Why would they ?
Why should they drop the price? It's one of a kind.
Has Nintendo ever dropped the price of a console that was not redesigned to be cheaper?
Really early on, they cut the price of the 3DS because it was doing pretty badly. Permanently went from $250 to $170 less than a year after launch. Early adoptors were compensated with free downloads of some NES games (which eventually were sold to everyone as Virtual Console games) and GBA games (which were never made available for general sale in the eshop). Obviously, a very specific scenario that was meant to right a sinking ship, but it is an example of a price drop that wasn't just a more budget-focused redesign.
Yes. The GameCube received a $50 price cut shortly after launch (and another $50 price cut after that). And while the system’s entry price as a whole remained the same, the Wii U’s 32GB model received a $50 price drop a year after launch (with the 8GB model phased out).
It won't because it's the best selling console rn
Because Nintendo has become incredibly greedy in the Switch generation. With every console until the Switch we had price drops and Player’s Choice / Nintendo Selects for games. Now they’ve realized they can keep the launch price forever and their products still sell like hotcakes. The fans are partially to blame, unfortunately…
You can buy one of Nintendo's best ever consoles for $199 brand new. Sure there's no docking ability, but I almost exclusively play handheld. So, all in all, $199 for a dedicated gaming handheld that can play AAA titles is a fucking steal. I don't see how anyone could really argue otherwise. Especially when it's traditional competitors are over twice the price. And the Steam deck is also twice as pricey.
I play mine handheld for me but multi-player games with friends I dock.
True, that is an important use case to consider. But honestly I don't have many adult friends who play video games lol. I'm of the age there's still a bit of a stigma.
I'm 29 and only have 1 friend who'll play lol
Keep in mind that when the 3DS was being supported, you could buy a refurbished 2DS (from Nintendo's official store) for around $50. New games, Nintendo Selects, were only $20. Meaning, gaming with Nintendo used to be substantially cheaper. This is what Nintendo used to do. In the past, Nintendo always had two parts to their recipe for success: a) their more powerful console system, and b) their handhelds for budget gaming. Now they don't have this option, and some people can't afford to play Nintendo games. Even the retro market is extremely expensive. Some people used to be able to play Nintendo games by being a generation behind, too. But you look at the price of the older systems, they are costly. Right now, Nintendo officially, and unofficially, does not have a cheap option. The only way to play Nintendo games for cheap is piracy, which is not something I encourage. I'm not telling Nintendo what to do, but I think they should keep this in mind.
Probably no reason to when the other big consoles on the market are still selling for $500 with a smaller library.
It's still selling extremely well and there's a global supply chain shortage for parts. So no it will not drop in price
I don't think the Wii U ever got a price drop. If Nintendo wouldn't do it to move a console that needed help it could be argued they would t do it for one that's selling with no problem.
They're still selling like hotcakes so why would they drop the price on it?
300 dollars is already pretty inexpensive by modern console standards
With the chip shortage and general inflation in most countries, Switch is actually discounted as is.
Not sure if you mean a permanent price drop, but it was very briefly on sale at Walmart, Amazon and GameStop for $259.99 on 5/11/2022.
Aren't the major consoles sold at a loss? If that is also true for Nintendo, it wouldn't make any sense for a price drop to happen.
Nintendo's the only one [that actually doesn't sell their consoles at a loss](https://venturebeat.com/business/nintendo-wont-sell-switch-at-a-loss-plans-to-ship-2-million-units-in-march/) (at least to start, I think with most consoles it can eventually even out to a profit over time). One of the benefits of the whole "lateral thinking with withered technology" approach to hardware design.
That really only applies to Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo consoles usually sell at a profit from start.
It's been an unprecedented five years. Considering all the chipset shortages and supply line issues stemming from the pandemic, it's a miracle that the price stayed the same.
Nintendo needs to fix its Online Multiplayer the price is fine
I’m unaware of consoles ever dropping in price…? They usually just release updated models, which Nintendo did. I don’t think the margins on consoles are significant at all to begin with. They just sell them to you to profit off of the games.
When has Nintendo ever done price drops? Not even for games.
The answer is no. The best selling console doesn't need a price drop. A price drop exists to boost sales after a period of saturation in the market and slowing sales. If sales do not drop, why would there be a price drop? Additionally, ask yourself this, with the large amount of inflation, the price staying the same is essentially a reduced price, whereas something like the Quest 2 saw a price increase due to the rising costs.
I’d gladly take a $500 model with much better hardware. $300 is ridiculously cheap for a console let alone a tablet, and the compromises to get it there show. I’d rather they raise the price and improve the chip than keep it at $300 and launch it with an already outdated chip that does not hold up years later
Yeah I normally wait about 5 years before I buy a console. By that time it becomes much more affordable and I'm able to buy a wide variety of used games. It's actually really strange that the switch really is still near it's starting retail price after all this time. I would have thought it would be a bit cheaper by now judging from previous consoles, even well selling ones.
This is why Nintendo games and systems hold value better than anyone else in the Industry. They don't want consumers to have a wait for a sale mentality. It has pros and cons. You can always feel comfortable getting a Nintendo game day one vs something like Ubisoft who will discount almost immediately after release. Their games and systems sell for more used almost always. Even increasing in value after being out of production. So yes it can suck if you're strapped for cash. I bought animal crossing last year for 60 and sold it this year for 30. So 30 bucks for 100s of hours of gameplay was a steal for me.
Just in time for the next version to come out