Just look at alibaba for unit cost for small orders of just 500 units of joypads etc. These threads are absolutely farcical using retail pricing to guess manufacturing cost. Surely no one is that stupid to believe them. Nintendo have huge costs and would soon be out of business if this was true. I can see Sony or Microsoft slightly subsidising the console price when all their costs are added but not Nintendo. There is nothing in the Switch of value to justify a high manufacturing cost. It's a 720p tablet with a couple of bluetooth controllers and a plastic box. No doubt my 1080p OLED phone with E-Ink display on the reverse side must have cost $2000 to make using retail pricing. My raspberry pi £50 despite the £4 retail price.

If nothing else these threads are a good laugh.

HD Rumble is neat, but if it's causing that much of a price increase to what are basically standard controllers otherwise, it was stupid to add it.

No one cares about counting balls inside a controller.

The Joycons have a few gimmicks that make it more expensive, but $90 seems a bit too much.

But if they actually do cost $90, Nintendo should have dropped the gimmicks. I like them, but not if they make the thing this expensive.

If that's correct, this is quite expensive. May be a problem when cutting costs like the Wii U gamepad. However, all Switch games also work with the Pro controller, so they could release a "Home Console Edition" of Switch without the Joycons.

Wow Nintendo really does love us.  Good guess Vivster, you never do stop spreading joy do you?

20 votes for this "multiple form factor"

I'm one that bitched about the cost of the Switch Pro controller but ended up buying it anyway.  When I compare it to my 4 DS4's it makes the price tag easier to swallow. comparatively speaking, only having to charge it twice for 100 ish hours of game play vs every other stinking day for the DS4 (when I mostly just watch TV on the PS4).  That said being able to use the WiiU Pro would have been fantastic.  $70 for the Pro still kinda sucks and i like the feel of the DS4 better but... I'm a lazy bastard and with young kids in the house I can't just leave the controller plugged into the PS4 so charging it takes careful timing (one of the reasons I have 4 of them since being able to play gauntlet with 4 people really doesn't justify the cost of 4 controllers).

I sold my Wii U Pro controller. The money for that sell is reserved for a Switch Pro controller.

I use my Wii U so rarely these days, the tablet controller is good enough for these sessions.

Amazing that the system is already out just a month and people are calling for versions of the machine without the portability or without removable controllers basically asking for versions of the system which would be different, but the reality is the people criticising the version which exists now are not going to go out and buy any variation of the switch because it's not the design which they are at issue with but the company behind it.

If you've not held and played a Switch in the 3 configurations it allows then I think you should hold up the moan about how any of those configs shouldn't be a thing.

On topic though I wonder if this doesn't factor in the mass manufacturing which will go on with these, the bulk purchase of materials and if the run down on parts was based on cost to customers now but obviously Nintendo will not be paying that price.

One thing to be considered when it comes to the Joycons as a pair though, each one of them has their own battery pack, motion controls, charging connector and wireless module to connect it to the main unit rather than just one of each which a standard controller would have, as well as the obvious NFC right analogue stick too, there is a lot packed into the little things.

Imagine what a beast system it would be if they got rid of the HD Rumble and put a Tegra X2 in it. Portable console gaming at its finest.