For the Holiday, Nintendo could bundle it with a digital game that does not seem to have a lot of traction (e.g. Mario Tennis Fever) to simply 'look' good value.

So they are gonna do a price increase this year though for the west it won't be for a while still and will be small, particularly in Europe. Sales shouldn't get impacted that much outside of Japan though it's still not ideal. Sales should get boosted somewhat ahead of the price increase though. Anyone who doesn't have a Switch 2 yet and will for sure get one at some point should really buy one soon if they can afford it. Waiting to buy a console isn't gonna do any good any more other than getting a better model though the Switch 2 OLED or whatever shouldn't be coming out till 2028 at the absolute earliest so it'd be a long wait.

Well, it's time to buy one I guess. I was waiting for the games, but yeah.

Well the issue with the Verge is that it's not solely a console problem. That's why i just shake my head at people at the Twitter crowd when they scream out just get a PC!

PC Motherboard Sales Face Sharp 25%+ Decline Amid Weak Demand | TechPowerUp

"PC motherboard sales are on track for some of the biggest corrections in recent times as manufacturers struggle with weak demand, according to a DigiTimes report. What began as AI data center expansion quickly started affecting consumer PC DIY endeavors, as severe silicon shortages across the industry drove DRAM and CPU demand so high that prices have increased significantly for DDR4 and DDR5 memory kits, while regular CPUs have also seen a large price increase. In response, PC motherboard makers are caught in the middle of this shortage, seeing their motherboard unit sales revised down significantly. The report notes that all Taiwanese motherboard makers have significantly lowered their 2026 shipment targets, with some experiencing more than a 25% decrease in projected unit sales."

"Interestingly, it's not only CPU and memory shortages driving this lowered demand; there are indications that consumers have slowed down their NVIDIA GPU upgrade cycles, which is impacting new motherboard sales. Particularly with the "Blackwell" GPU generation, consumers began purchasing PCIe 5.0 motherboards to achieve the greatest performance increase. However, as these GPUs became rarer and more expensive due to the global DRAM shortage, consumers have become reluctant to upgrade."

"Adding to the complexity of the situation, the economics of building PCs have changed completely since memory prices increased, with DRAM kits now accounting for over 30% of PC costs. In the DIY PC sector, the shortage of AMD and Intel CPUs has also impacted PC builders' chances of buying new motherboards, leaving uncertainty about when the overall supply chain will start to ease. Consumers are pulling back from making major upgrades in these market conditions, so gaming PCs will likely take a significant hit in the coming months. Even AMD's CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, noted that gaming demand will decline in the second half of the year, leaving little positive outlook for the grim state of the PC DIY market."

My issue with the Verge is their pointing out of the blatantly obvious.  Anybody paying attention knows the future of gaming hardware is rough.  Hell, we all knew this a year ago.  

I fully agree, the users here and on other forums at least know that's the case. People are being priced out of their hobby and it sucks for everyone now. I was fortunate to get good deal on the PS5 Pro over a year ago and my gaming PC is while not the top of the list, is only 2 years old and good enough for the time being for me. 

A base PS5 or Switch 2 is good enough honestly for 95% of people. If you're not loaded with money, spending tons of cash on video games isn't very smart. Those budget minded people probably should have picked up that PS5 before the price increase, but have a window here to get the Switch 2 for cheap at least.

The graphics of the last 4-5 years are more than good enough to create a nice looking version of basically any kind of game scenario.

I mean shit the other day we were at my brother's house and his upstairs TV only has a Switch 1 hooked up to it so my kids wanted to play Mario Kart, so he put on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ... and you know ... fuck it ... that game still looks good today even on a big 75 inch TV, lmao. I don't look at that game at all and go "WHOA! This is totally a 12 year old game! How can I possibly play this after having a PS5/PC/Switch 2".

I had basically decided I was going to get a Switch 2 at some point after the PS5 price hike.  Now it looks like I'll be picking up a Switch 2 pretty soon.

Rose about 35 USD worth in Canada (50 CAD). Something, but not quite as bad as other places. No Switch 1 price hike as far as I know.

Announcing a price hike several months in advance is an interesting strategy to boost sales. Curious how this will pan out. PS5 sales peaked after its first price hike, but unlike Switch 2, it didn't meet demand until its 3rd year, so the impact was harder to calculate.

Switch 2's sales curve will be interesting to follow. Explosive start and high availability meant that it had an unusually strong first fiscal year. So we're looking at a scenario where the first 10 months may actually be stronger than the next full year which is getting a (luckily small/moderate) price increase. But the boost from FOMO may outweigh the loss in sales from September until March.