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Kyuu on 25 April 2023
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Chrkeller said:
Kyuu said:

The original Switch at launch cost as much as a brand new PS4 (It actually cost more because PS4 got a lot of free-game-bundles and holiday price cuts). Millions of people including Nintendo fans were pretty much dooming it, thinking the price was too high. So Nintendo already broke from the success x price association in 2017. The OLED model saw a price hike like 5 years later and continued to sell very well.

Fastforward, and now Sony is proving that gamers are less price sensitive towards consoles than before, and I don't see any strong evidence of that not carrying over to Nintendo's systems. PS5's average price is higher than the PS4, and unlike the PS4 which got a $100 price drop during its 3rd year, PS5 instead got a price hike and crap ton of forced bundles (not free). Unless the recession significantly hurts gaming, gamers across the board are clearly willing to spend more for more.

A profitable Switch 2 at $350 or lower would certainly be disappointment, and lead to a much weaker 3rd party support in the long term. $400 should be the minimum (for the standard model), and I hope Nintendo realizes this.

Rather than launch a $300-$350 Switch 2 and lock the price throughout the generation, they should launch a $300-$400 (stripped-down) and $400-$500 (standard) Switch 2's and pricedrop them both in the middle of the generation. They'd still be fine with $300-$350, but the core gamer community would not receive the system as well as they would a more-expensive/more-capable Switch 2 with better and longer 3rd party support.

Where we disagree is bolded.  I don't see any evidence of that.  The switch is grossly underpowered and nobody cares.  Logically nobody is going to care if the switch 2 is under powered.  Fact is most people do not care about power on a Nintendo system, they care about software.  If people cared about power the steam deck would be selling better than the switch, it isnt.

But power and features are more important than price, provided the cheaper edition doesn't exceed $400 in today's money. Obviously, beyond some point, price will be more important than specs, but this point (the sweet spot) is climbing.

Power and software support are correlated. PS5 is massively popular (among casuals and core gamers alike) and will be the lead platform for most AA/AAA 3rd party games. The Series S will more often than not be the lowest common denominator for the same "next gen" games. A $300 Switch would be much weaker than the Series S and closer to the base PS4, this risks a number of big games skipping it that would have otherwise made it on a powerful Switch 2 that isn't far behind the Series S in some respects (maybe more comparable to PS4 Pro overall).

I don't think being stuck with a weak Switch 2 for another 7 or so years is something that many core gamers would prefer (I know I don't), especially not those who can't afford or don't wish to buy multiple platforms. In addition to better 3rd party support, all 1st party games would look and play better on a more powerful Swtich. SteamDeck has no exclusive software and is only around as powerful as a base PS4.

Switch wasn't underpowered at launch by handheld standards. $300 in 2017 is the equivalent of today's $400 in terms of what the average gamer is willing to spend on a console. If pricepoint was all that matters, then the Switch Lite would have outsold the standard and OLED models, but it didn't, they weren't even close. And the crazy-low Series S prices aren't stopping it from getting curbstomped by the "expensive" PS5. $400 and in some cases even $500+ are just not deal breakers to most gamers (certainly not early year adopters). Those who won't buy an "expensive" Switch 2 can either wait for a pricedrop/deals or go with the barebone edition.

In my opinion, they should make two models at launch, and only push the cheaper one when the standard/expensive edition meets demand. This is basically what Sony is doing with PS5 and PS5DE.



archbrix said:
Chrkeller said:

I'm not convinced the switch 2 is coming anytime soon.  Time will tell.  Those expecting the switch 2 to be a high powered device competing with the steam deck are going to be disappointed...  just my opinion.  We shall see.  It just isn't Nintendo's audience imho.

And unless I'm mistaken the steam deck has sold a couple million.....  it isn't exactly being widely adapted.

I agree with your overall sentiment, but the Switch 2 wouldn't have to rely on raw power to deliver perceivable steam deck/PS4 level visuals thanks to DLSS, which is likely a major factor in Switch 2's design.  If Nintendo's next system is indeed another Switch and arrives next year, it should be able to deliver a nice generational upgrade over the current system for $349-$399.

While still a decent advantage when reconstructing from lower resolutions, DLSS2 is not the game changer that it was before FSR2 released. SteamDeck supports FSR2. But even at $300-$350 and without DLSS factored in, Switch 2 might still be more capable than the PS4.

javi741 said:
IcaroRibeiro said:

Plus, the current Switch is super underpowered and if we're being real most of the 3rd party support on Switch has been rereleases of older games or indie titles. There aren't many current gen ports on Switch but it's still far from hurting Switch sales. Switch is missing pretty huge current gen franchises like Call of Duty, GTA 5, Madden,Resident Evil, other big games like Elden Ring and more and it still isn't hurting the Switch. Even if the Switch 2 was underpowered as well, it'll still get the older 3rd party games and missing out on some current gen franchises won't hurt the Switch 2. Most people would rather pay cheaper just to play Nintendo games.

If the Switch had these games, it could have sold notably better, so them missing is indeed hurting Switch sales. But otherwise I get it... you can't tick all the boxes, and going cheaper comes with advantages of its own. I just don't think going too cheap is the right move for Nintendo right now.

Last edited by Kyuu - on 25 April 2023