True but their end goal is the same, to maximise profit.

Nintendo sells their hardware at a profit to make more money, Sony subsidize their hardware to make more money from other things. Neither is any more good or evil than the other, they're both out to make as much money as possible.

As opposed to Nintendo who doesn't take more of your money from subscriptions, software and microtransactions?!

Of course they are both in it for the money, but as I said, from my customer point of view, I don't give a crap about that part, but what's offered to me at what price.

I was right about the Switch 2 when all these negative nancies who thought they were "experts" were wrong. 

The system is quite powerful and is capable of running even PS5 software, DLSS does make a significant difference, Nvidia's architecture does make a big difference, being able to code from the ground up does register huge performance upticks relative to things like Steam Deck ... these are all things I got fucking attacked on for years here and it turns out I was 100% correct. 

Nintendo having a new president and basically a different and younger hardware team does make a difference. Some people still are too stupid to figure this one out, they still think Nintendo has the same hardware team from 10 or 20 years ago, wake up already. Wii and DS era is clearly completely over. 

For $450 you're not getting everything under the sun, the overall hardware is more than fine for that price, there has to be some concessions to get a system this powerful with a screen that large out for a reasonable cost (and no, "just sell me hardware while you eat a loss or have a profit margin of $0" is not a viable strategy). The people who want to keep clinging to their obvious biased negativity look like clowns at this point. The system performance is significantly better than a lot of boo-birds were crowing about for years, the system is selling great despite all the bozos on Youtube who tried so hard to bitch and moan about every little thing, and the system is already getting better 3rd party announcement support than any Nintendo system in decades. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth + FFVII Remake Part III confirmed, Resident Evil 9 confirmed for day 1, Borderlands 4 is coming, Persona 3, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Indiana Jones is coming and that's likely just the tip of the ice berg. 

Yeah, I'm not assigning morality to it. But it is a particular flavour of Nintendo when talking about the relationship of hardware and pricing. Addressing some of the points people brought up doesn't mandate a higher price or selling at a loss.

I'm still super curious about Switch 2 profit margins because the Japanese version is so cheap 

Yeah, really keen to know if they're selling there at loss, or not.

Either way, price between Japan and rest the world is really big...so they can subsidize when they want to.

Nintendo isn't entitled to subsidize jack shit, if they want to make a profit that's their prerogative and they're not evil for wanting to do that, virtually no other company on the planet sells anything at a loss or cost.

Games are much more expensive to produce and take much longer to make these days (which means you as a platform holder are pouring money into games for years that may not see a dime in profit for 5/6/7/8/9 years). This is not the dynamics of the 1990s, 2000s anymore. It's entirely reasonable now for platform holders to want to make money off their hardware. The cost of developing hardware is also likely much more than in the past as it's more sophisticated. 

The Japan only Switch 2 model is "cheap" because the value of the Japanese Yen has become much lower relative to other currencies, at 49,980 yen that's way higher than 29,980 yen the Switch 1 was at launch. The Switch 2 is a 166% price increase from the Switch 1 in Japan, in the US the Switch 2 is only a 150% increase in price from the $299.99 that the Switch 1 was. 

$450 USD is an entirely reasonable price for what the Switch 2 brings to the table, the hardware in the system is legit and able to run even current gen games on the go and at home. 

The Switch 2 is a bargain in France now. You get Switch 2 for 400 euros currently, an handheld that runs AAA games like Star Wars Outlaws miles better than the steam deck, and comparably to incredibly expensive PC handhelds. That is the difference between going with Nvidia over AMD like Microsoft, Valve and Sony are all making the same mistake over for their handhelds.

It's a terrific piece of hardware at a good price, the negativity campaign by a small minority on the internet is hilarious given that the general public is clearly voting with their wallets that they want the system. 

Wait till the 3rd party announcements ramp up, it's going to be very obvious in short order that this thing is going to have a library much better than the Switch 1 because it's going to get a lot of AAA 3rd party support. 

Who suggested Nintendo is Evil? Or that they can't make a profit on hardware? 

I wouldn't worry about their software cost when they have ever greens selling at full price 7+ years after release. Mario Kart 8 will likely cross 80millon at some point next year.

Pokémon ZA reportedly had a relatively small budget of 13m and will probably make double this cost back in 24hours. 

I would try to remove the emotional aspect from the discussion, Nintendo is not a person and no one is inflicting harm on them from having discussions and speculation on profit margins.

Switch 2 beating SteamDeck is about as impressive as PS6 handheld beating the Switch 2. It's almost as if more modern and expensive technology is guaranteed to beat old and cheaper stuff at one point. ROG Xbox Ally handhelds are poorly timed and priced systems. All current Xbox consoles are overpriced. Wait for RDNA5 handhelds before you count AMD out. SteamDeck in 2022 was not any less impressive than Switch 2 is in 2025. Not to mention that Nintendo had to go with a trash CPU to keep its price reasonablly low. Knowing nVidia, they're likely overcharging.

Sony going with nVidia is out of the question because it means they'd have to abandon backwards compatibility with PS4 and 5. PS6 handheld will destroy the Switch 2 in performance, but people won't care, because specs aren't Switch 2's main selling point.