160rmf said:
zorg1000 said:
Remember all the people that said $299 for Switch was way too high and it would fail because of it?
Now all of a sudden its only doing this well because its $299?
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I remember that pretty well. The general consensus was that Switch need release with $249 and a game bundled or else will fail.
Some even were saying to drop to $200.
Of course people don't remember because those narrative was buried just after we have the numbers.
Remember "Switch launch was to quite"? Or Nintendo creating artificial demand? Switch owners desperate for games?
They will never learn and will always change their narrative instead of accepting that Nintendo created a great console.
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I have actually been quite vocal about that up to now. I firmly believe it is too high.
If you look at the demographics data presented by Nintendo, the Switch base right now consists of largely males in the mid-20s to early-30s; these are people that likely have jobs and can purchase things for themselves. Nintendo is hoping to start expanding to families this holiday season (the demographics for children and teens that purchased the system thus far is much smaller, but is still considerable and demonstrates that there is demand there). The problem is that children and teens often do not have an income source and Parents and grand-parents purchasing systems for their children will be sensitive to things like pricing (the expensive Switch consoles with a smaller and more expensive library will be sitting next to the cheaper X1 and PS4 with a big library of games, some that are bundled and many that are cheaper). Nintendo seems to be aiming to sell about 14 million units in this fiscal year (LTD that they want is 17.78 million units), that is roughly similar to 3DS's first year. Switch sales at the $300 price point (largely among the mid-30 to early-30s male demographic) have been more healthy thus far than the 3DS, but we do not know if this price will sit well with the demographic that Nintendo is trying to bring in this holiday. Should sales not substantially increase in December (assuming stock is not an issue), and by substantially increase I mean reach 3DS level in its first year, that means the system did not reach the key demographic that helped expand the 3DS in holiday season of its first year (families and children) and that too me would be an indicator that the system needs a price adjustment.
Also, just one thing to mention about November, if the final numbers (based on what has been said on Resetera, apparently these numbers are not accurate even though the rank is) are indeed in the upper 700K range, then that is an early indicator that the system is going into December with similar momentum as the 3DS did (it is a good sign, though again 3DS in its first year sold substantially higher in December than in November; so I cannot emphasize how much this would just be an early indicator). If the numbers are below 700K, then that is a troubling sign that would most likely be attributable to price (and it also likely means Nintendo will not meet their 14 million target). If the numbers are at or above 800K that means the system is going into December with better momentum than 3DS.
I am not too concerned with comparisons to PS4 and XONE in this NPD, as those systems were significantly reduced in price to reach those numbers (the 3DS itself was far outsold by Xbox 360 by a far higher margin in its first November than Switch and PS4, assuming these numbers are within the ball park; and that did not really spell trouble for 3DS). Switch being able to meet Nintendo's production-limit based prediction of 14 million units is a far more important sign for Switch and future actions Nintendo needs to make on it.
