So you dont need to pay for an online subscription to play something like Fortnite?

No fortnite is free to play online.
Same with something like Path of exile 1/2, apex, fall guys, the finals, world of tanks, overwatch, marvel rivals, rocket league ect.

It really does.

Arlo is another youtuber with an opinion, their opinion isn't gospel. I personally think PS/MS online multiplayer price looks terrible ($59.99 to $69.99) compared to $19.99 offered by Nintendo along with a family plan that could make it cheaper. Especially now on Switch 2 and no I don't care about those games that MS/PS force me to receive. The simple fact of the matter is that no one was subscribing to PS online during the PS3 era because multiplayer was free. That tells me people only pay to play online and Nintendo has a tiered system with the cheapest option. The point is people place value in different things, Arlo or yourself doesn't speak for everyone. Nintendo, Sony, and MS all offer things that I would like to see offered by the others.

Just to be clear, F2P games are also free on Switch and have never required NSO or the app to chat. That goes for Overwatch 2, Fortnite, and Apex Legends. Just plug in your mic. The chat function being pay walled is very normal because its an online feature. Anything revolving online is tied to NSO which is cheaper and the Game Chat function definitely seems superior to PS/MS offerings. Video chat seems only available when streaming your game session on PS/MS.

I would like to add that this is similar to the online chatter we saw during the Switch era, where it was assumed the app was required for any voice chat. That was proven incorrect and there are several games including F2P games that allow you to just plug in a mic. I expect this to be the same on Switch 2 but most 3rd parties, not the F2P 3rd party games, will opt to use Gamechat because its soo good. F2P games will likely not support this to not require to pay to play. Don't fall for Jrpgs outrage, it's just premature console warring.

You don't need a subscription to play f2p games online on the Switch either.

Voice chat was always behind a paywall on the Switch (for paid Nintendo games at least), people didn't care because nobody used it. I just use Discord to chat when playing PS5/Switch games so this is a non issue to me.

The only pricing "disaster" on the Switch 2 is the $80 Mario Kart. Oh, the Breath of the Wilds upgrade without the DLC is pretty shitty too lmao.

But what about the rest of the launch library? We know Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, Metroid Prime 4 and the glorified tech demo, but that's it, at least for me.

An update on Adolf Tariff's so-called tariff exemption for electronics.

Don't know if Switch 2 was part of the exemption or not because I don't know if Switch 2 uses superconductors.

There isn't any disaster besides a very cheap drama. The $450 isn't the 399 sweetspot of switch adjusted to inflation but the system is bringing comparatively more than the switch. Bigger screen that is 120hz, 12GB of ram would be equivalent to 6GB for the switch, 256GB of storage would be equivalent to 64GB on the switch. The gpu and cpu are also proportionately more powerful than the switch's. It is worth the price.

Now, as for the game prices , it is somewhat scummy but I'd argue it's very hypocritocal for haters to complain about those prices when that's not even 10% as scummy as what sony and ms enable 3rd parties to do with their games filled with microtansactions, season passes and cut content to be sold later as dlc.

At the very least nintendo releases games that are complete and worth their price. I do wish that they started a nintendo selects for switch titles and included the dlc in the switch 2 enhanced versions, though.

Me too. And wages not rising WITH inflation is a big reason people are upset over the price hikes.

The title post seems click-baity to me. There is no pricing disaster here. Steam Deck, base model, costs a bit less than Switch 2, but also comes with no games, and crucially is far inferior in terms of LCD panel and specs. Switch 2 pricing is comparable to the higher-end mobile handhelds, to which it is comparable with. The only thing arguably expensive about it are the games - and the plethora of games that are seemingly releasing without even a card inside. This is a real concern, because the whole point of physical media is resell value and a the trade-in / used market. However, it is very likely that this emerging dystopian scenario is the future for all consoles coming next gen. Hopefully Nintendo will always release their games on cards, which should at least make some of these issues less of a concern.