By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
curl-6 2 days ago
Edit Thread
Pemalite said:
curl-6 said:

I would bet that a Switch 2 Lite/etc is almost definitely on the way to combat this very problem.

The thing is though, it's not as simple or easy as just making a device cheap. Inflation, the rising price of components, tariffs, and other factors mean that it just costs more to make this stuff than it did last gen. It sucks, but there's no easy way around it.

Price of components is all relative.
Nintendo is certainly not paying market rates for any of the components in the Switch 2... Especially RAM and NAND.

Conversely... Whilst the Switch 2 is expensive, there are facets where significant price reductions can be had.
Smaller display, smaller battery, ditch the dock, ditch the joycons, smaller SSD... Can probably shave a good $150 AUD or more off the MSRP of the Switch.

Switch 2 TV could take it a step further... Eliminating the display and battery entirely for an even lower price.

Another price reduction would be to move the fabrication node to a more modern, price reduced one... You would also be able to extend battery life at the same time, solving another issue with the Switch 2.

Nintendo could also go in the opposite direction and release a "Premium" Switch 2 which fixes the current consoles shortcomings by having an OLED display, which would increase the average selling price of the Switch 2 consoles, there-by giving them room to subsidize a low-end entry level device.

Nintendo really have a plethora of options to keep sales momentum and hit those price-conscious gamers who feel the current price is simply far to high. (Which is fair. It is high.)

Time will tell what they do, but as a company they aren't afraid to diversify their hardware lineup if the last several handheld generations are a good example.

The price of all consoles need to come down though, absolutely zero doubt about that in my mind... Nintendo is probably the best placed to capitalize and profit off a low cost, low-barrier entry into console gaming whilst Microsoft and Sony keep chasing that premium over-priced, high-affluent market.

There's avenues open to them for a cheaper revision, and we will almost certainly see one, yeah.

Still, factors like wages not keeping up with inflation, wars, tariffs, memory prices, etc are out of Nintendo/Sony/etc control. All they can do is try to mitigate the damage.