Was Nintendo right to opt out of the graphics arms race?

[Soundwave]

Chrkeller said:

Soundwave said:

Doesn't mean hardware can't be powerful, PC always has a huge chunk of its power unoptimized because of the nature of the platform, consoles will always push themselves to their limit better for a fraction of the cost. 

Switch 2 is a return for Nintendo to making good hardware, the Wii-Wii U casual era is definitely dead. It's not even like everyone and their grandma has $450 laying around anyway, that's pricey for certain segments of the market, it's just "reasonable" in the sense that it's reasonable relative to niche hardware like the ROG Ally X (which will sell a tiny amount of hardware). $450-$500 for Joe Average consumer is still pricey for a lot of people, inflation is up but most people's salaries are not. 

Bold part: I have never said otherwise.

As for the rest, preaching to the choir.  One of tbe reasons i predicted $400 and not $600, is because price is super important for consoles.  The ps3 floundered out of the gates because of price.  

Switch isn't $400 though, most people have paid $500 for the Mario Kart bundle which is like 95%+ of their hardware sales really, $450 with no game even is still ... I would say that is tip toeing definitely into "expensive" territory for a lot of people. 

It's just not ridiculous like $600-$800 would have been, but it's not that far off from $600 either. 

Definitely a different era for Nintendo, hardware wise, pricing wise, etc. 

SNES - $199 to N64 - $199 to GameCube $199 to Wii $249.99 to Wii U $299.99/$349.99, Switch - $299.99, Switch 2 -$450-$500

The jump to Switch 2 is definitely a much larger dollar jump than other Nintendo console transitions. 

Last edited by Soundwave - on 18 January 2026