$450 is imminently reasonable for me for a console released in the mid 2020s, given the current purchasing power of the dollar. The Switch 1's inflation-adjusted price is already almost $400, and the Switch 2 is only $50 more than that. It looks like a good-quality piece of hardware (as most Nintendo systems are) with lots of bells & whistles.

As for the games, it's not like every game is $80. Pricing is now far less standardized than its been for most of this century. Also, buying games new at full price has never been cheap. As I've mentioned before in other threads, I paid $60-70 for N64 games back in 1998 when I was making only $5.40 an hour. $70-80 is hardly a rip-off, either in inflation-adjusted terms, or in terms of how many hours it takes to earn enough money to buy one even if you're making only minimum wage.

As a value proposition, video games offer a lot of bang for your buck. For those who measure things purely in terms of a simplistic "price vs. hours of entertainment" metric, even a 20-hour game comes out to $3 to $3.33 per hour. A movie ticket is going to be at least as much or more than that (a single standard matinee ticket on Tuesday at my local cinema is $6.50), and a new-release Blu-ray is going to run you $20 at least. A music CD is probably going to run you $10-15 for about 45-75 minutes worth of music. Probably the only entertainment that's a better value proposition than a game under this standard is a book, or maybe taking a walk and enjoying the scenery.

Of course, I don't necessarily agree with the "price divided by hours" metric, because it doesn't take into account things like replay value. That's an important metric, same as if you listen to a record or watch a movie many times over. Even older, shorter games I felt were worth the money. Star Fox 64 was one of the first games I got when I got my first job. It was designed to be beaten in a single sitting, with a single playthrough clocking in at under an hour, yet it offered so much in terms of replay value. Try a different path (there's 25 possible ones). Try to beat your best score. I lost track of how many times I played that game. It was worth every penny of the $60 I paid for it despite being a "very short game" by today's standards. I'm sure there's lots of people who felt the same about a great many older games back when those games were new.

Here are the prices of some countries. Actually it seems like the US and Scandinavia has the highest prices:

Some interesting stats:

The Nintendo Wii was released in Australia on December 7, 2006. It launched with a price of $399.95 AUD.

The Nintendo Wii U was released in Australia on December 8, 2012. It launched with a price of $399.95 AUD and $429.95 AUD with extra memory.

The Nintendo Switch was released in Australia on March 3, 2017. It launched with a price of $469.95 AUD.

The Nintendo Switch 2 launches on June 5 2025 in Australia, with a a price of $699.95 AUD.


My wage:
2006 = 0% starting point (last part time job whilst doing UNI)
2007 = 100% (100% increase - first full time job post graduating)
2011 = 160% (60% increase on 2007)
2025 = 350% (250% increase on 2007)

Basically I am getting paid 3.5 times what I was in 2007. The Switch 2 is only 1.5 times what a Wii cost in 2006. We had a good run with cheap consoles well from Nintendo lol. Games they much for muchness. I am sure some retailers will sell below RRP anyway as they always do.

Due to some promotions, I also earn a lot more than 2007, way more than inflation since then.

But you have to see the situation of younger people who are now at the point in their career, where you were in 2006 or 2007.

And people who are stuck in their job since 2007 with no chance to get a promotion, especially in countries with a low minimum wage, a broken social net and  without strong worker unions.

That's great for you, but not the avg experience:

Using the appropriate cost-of-living index (not CPI) reveal latest wage increases still trail inflation in Australia
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=61589

The Australian dollar is also kinda similar to the Canadian one, both reach parity with the USD around 2011 then dropped to now 64 and 72 cents respectively.  The Australian dollar is 88 cents vs the Canadian one, doing slightly worse.

So the avg purchasing power in Australia has been decreasing since 2021, while the abroad purchasing power has been decreasing since 2011.

You're doing very well compared to the average! 

Why are we talking about avg wages when the most sold system of this generation (with chances to be the most sold of gaming history) have sold, in units, the equivalent of less than 2% of the world's population?

No way.  I'm expecting a situation like the DS -> 3DS transition.  They'll come up with some solution to salvage the system next year once they realize how badly they've screwed up.  Switch 2 will still sell well in Japan, but it won't come close to Switch 1 sales in any other region.  The screwed up launch year will do permanent damage to hardware sales, much like it did with the 3DS.

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What did they screw up? What does Switch 2 even have in common with the 3DS? The only thing that can be argued is price, but price is directly tied to perceived value and the Switch concept is a proven value that this time around launches with much better third party support than its predecessor. But other than that?

Selling point of the hardware: Hybrid console vs. stereoscopic 3D which failed and in turn made the price tag unjustifiable. Tremendous advantage for Switch 2.

Launch window first party software: Sequel to megaseller Mario Kart 8 and a new 3D platformer starring Donkey Kong developed by EAD Tokyo vs. Nintendogs+Cats and Pilotwings Resort. Ndogs+Cats may have been a sequel to a megaseller, but it had no defining characters and game universe that protected it from copycats, unlike Mario Kart. Another tremendous advantage for Switch 2.

First year first party software: The 3DS ultimately managed to somewhat match the launch window lineup of Switch 2 through ten months, but Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 were handheld games while Switch 2 games aren't; they are much grander in scope. Too bad for the 3DS that Switch 2 is getting many more noteworthy games in its seven month stretch, including a new Pokémon game and the highly anticipated Metroid Prime 4. Another landslide victory for Switch 2.

First year third party software: Let's make this short, the 3DS had almost nothing worth mentioning, so Switch 2's low effort ports already give it the edge here.

Additional offerings: The NSO library for classic video game consoles is so far ahead of anything the 3DS had in addition to its regular games, so there's no shortage of games to play on Switch 2.

It's as if people have forgotten how botched the 3DS launch was due to the system being rushed to the market without an adequate software pipeline to back it up.