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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - So $250 + April Launch Didn't Work For 3DS; Will It For Switch?

Soundwave on 22 October 2016
JRPGfan said:
Luke888 said:

why ? we just know it uses a Tegra custom chip, we don't know any specifics, as far as we know that custom Tegra Chip could be 10 times more powerfull than a regular Tegra Chip. it's pointless to talk about this until we don't get more info about the specs...

Theres a Dev on Anandtech that claims its 1/3rd of a PS4 in performance.

Also think about it... look how small&thin that Case unit the hardware is in.

You cant have a 100watt usage in a tablet.

Even if they are more power effecient, they arnt that much more power effecient.

Theres a limit to how powerfull a tablet can be, and not melt, and run dry of battery super fast.

 

This is also probably why Its not getting Mass Effect Andromeda.

It either cannot run it well enough (because its too weak) (or doesnt have support for the engine its made in)

Or it would have to run at such a small resolution that it wouldnt stack up to the competition, and thus sell badly on the Switch.

Just to clarify that dev said Switch is 1/3 a XBox One (not PS4) with far less memory bandwidth (which is also a huge issue). 

And yeah honestly it just makes sense too, there's only so much technology has evolved, getting XB1/PS4 literal performance in a tablet form factor is simply not possible today. Doesn't matter who the chip vendor is. Your battery life would be 20 minutes provided your internal chasis didn't melt first. 

That Mario game looked nothing close to a standard PS4/XB1 game, it also probably was only running at 720p. 



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Scisca on 22 October 2016

Nintendo should know by now that $250 is the price people are willing to pay for their hardware. But knowing how greedy and unwilling to take losses they are, they can go with $279 or even $299, which would obviously hurt sales.



Wii U is a GCN 2 - I called it months before the release!

My Vita to-buy list: The Walking Dead, Persona 4 Golden, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, TearAway, Ys: Memories of Celceta, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, History: Legends of War, FIFA 13, Final Fantasy HD X, X-2, Worms Revolution Extreme, The Amazing Spiderman, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - too many no-gaemz :/

My consoles: PS2 Slim, PS3 Slim 320 GB, PSV 32 GB, Wii, DSi.

Vinther1991 on 22 October 2016
JRPGfan said:

Yes 249$ is what I expect.

300 at launch? maybe.

350$ is unlikely... sales will be crappy if Nintendo does that. 

 

Imagine the PS4pro gets a price cut, and you standing in the store....  Both are 349$  (ps4pro vs Nswitch)

PS4pro has ~10 times the power, 1TB HDD, Blu-ray, plays games at 1080p x2 upscaled to 4k.

Nintendo Switch, is portable has 540p-720p games upscaled to 1080p. Maybe 64 GB SD card in storage, no blu-ray drive.

 

Unless you need the portable part, your getting a PS4pro. 

349$ is a price Nintendo cant afford to sell this at, it would sink them sales wise.

Well, with the right advertisement and games I think they could be able to sell it at 300$, perhaps even 350$. The ones buying Switch would probably not be the ones looking at the Pro or Scorpio, people looking to buy a new tablet however... could be.

Don't get me wrong though, I don't think a price point at 300$ (and certainly not 350$) is a smart idea. 250$ would be a much healthier price tag. 300$-350$ is what I expect. They kind of have to sell it at that, they won't sell it at a loss, and it looks like pretty expensive tech, even if it isn't powerful. I hope I'm wrong though.



baloofarsan on 22 October 2016
sethnintendo said:

Like I said in another thread. Late Feb, March, April, May is when USA citizens get some of their money back in tax returns. Easy time for some to throw down on a video game console.   They didn't for 3DS because 250 is too much for a hand held. Once the price dropped to 200 is when the 3DS started making strides.  Oh and games...

There is no such tax return effect shown in VGChartz data.  
 Not for USA
(  http://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_yoy.php?reg=USA&start_year=2004&end_year=2016&console=  )  
 and not for Japan  
 (  http://www.vgchartz.com/tools/hw_yoy.php?reg=Japan&start_year=2006&end_year=2016&console=  )  
 that allegedly has a sales spike at the end of April with Golden Week.



wombat123 on 22 October 2016
Scisca said:
Nintendo should know by now that $250 is the price people are willing to pay for their hardware. But knowing how greedy and unwilling to take losses they are, they can go with $279 or even $299, which would obviously hurt sales.

I agree.  If Nintendo is going to create a machine that's not going to get popular 3rd party titles regularly, then that's going to lower its perceived value.  If you add to that the idea that most people see Nintendo hardware as 'Nintendo machines' that have a limited library along with the rumors that the NS is probably going to be underpowered compared to the PS4/XB1 and its lack of any compelling gimmick to attract casuals, then that's going to pile on to its lower preceived value.  The only big thing it has going for it to me is portability but I don't know how much of a premium people put in that. That feature personally doesn't add squat to me and I could not really see myself paying more than around $250 at launch for a base model NS.



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mine on 22 October 2016

Original 3DS made my eyes/head hurt when playing the Pilot Wings demo. Of course I didn't buy. I tried the New 3DS and that 3D experience was what got me buying one.



NightDragon83 on 22 October 2016

Apples to oranges.  The 3DS @ $250 was WAY overpriced for what it was... the successor to the most successful handheld of all time, the DS (which originally launched for nearly half the price), and was a dedicated handheld geared primarily towards younger audiences.  This along with a limited software library early on (the highlights were basically 3D remasters of N64 games) is why the 3DS initially struggled until its first major price drop down to $199.

The Switch at $299 (most likely) is an entirely different beast being a combination home console & portable device, and even though it likely won't be as powerful as the X1/PS4, it is a much better value than the 3DS was @ $250 and it will also have a much stronger launch library, topped off by a brand new mainline Zelda entry which by itself is worth the price of admission for many gamers out there.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

Jranation on 22 October 2016
Soundwave said:

 

Assuming Switch is $250 (could be $299.99 too I suppose), and launching in kind of an awkward month that is March ... this didn't work for the 3DS. 

Now assuredly Switch should have a better launch titles, but will that be enough to post healthy sales? 

I think missing the holiday season really hurts Nintendo, couldn't they have just spent some extra money on outsourcing a few extra exclusives for the launch window? March is just such a weird time to launch a game machine. 

Not only that but a lot of the third party ports will be late too ... Skyrim HD and NBA 2K17 will be on PS4/XB1 for months for example, and NFL football season is over in March, so I don't know what EA does there, do they just wait until Madden NFL 18?  

3DS (April) and Sega Saturn (April/May?) I think are the only two game machines I can remember launching in this period and it didn't go well for either. 

Did it work with the Wii U releasing in November? 



Pocky Lover Boy! 

JWeinCom on 22 October 2016

Let's remember that the best games of the 3DS launch were a late port of Street Fighter IV, and Pilotwings Resort. And while 250 was overpriced for the 3DS, it would be a bargain for the switch.



Slimebeast on 22 October 2016

March is a sucky month to launch but many consoles have done it in the past. In one way it's good because by the next holiday season you have built a healthy user population and people won't hesitate to jump in into a a stable family during the Christmas rush.

I firmly believe and I stick to my original perdiction that the Switch will launch at $299. It's a bit high for some people but the machine is great. It will sell.

So 4 million Switch units between March and October, then another 6 million during Holidays 2017. Gonna be a great first year.

And while Skyrim is a great game it's not a significant part of the Switch launch lineup. It's good to have there in the launch window but it will sell maybe 100,000 copies in the same time Mario will sell 2 million.