Nintendo finally reveals pricing and major tech specs for its highly-leaked Switch 2–$450 retail. The gaming mega-corporation claims this price point is justified. It shines the spotlight on the many improvements and new features packed inside the latest edition. With a larger, more advanced LCD screen, a stronger GPU, and improved Joy-Con controllers, the Switch 2 represents a significant upgrade over existing models.
The price is $450 due to massive innovations in technology. It’s a smart move too, with an eye towards pricing of previous Switch generations. The new console will retail for $100 more than the existing Switch hardware. That’s a whopping $200 more than the comparable OLED version, and even $100 more than the original 2017 model. Even with these price hikes, Nintendo has not pulled its existing models off the shelves, offering consumers a choice.
Nintendo reveals a lot of impressive upgrades in the Switch 2. It comes with a beautiful wide LCD screen with amazing color vibrancy and clarity as well an upgraded graphics processor unit (GPU) that increases graphics performance. The gameplay experience is more seamless and pleasant with these new Joy-Con controllers, which provide players with better interactive features.
In addition to hardware improvements, the Switch 2 introduces innovative features such as GameChat, a voice and video chat option similar to Discord. GameChat being behind a paywall of Switch Online will affect how consumers weigh this when making adoption decisions for the new Switch console.
Nintendo’s pricing strategy makes sense given the current market landscape and what consumers are expecting. Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser recently commented on the changing landscape with regard to pricing strategies across the industry.
“The news is fresh, and like many companies right now, we are actively assessing what the impact may be,” – Doug Bowser
Bill Trinen, a senior exec at Nintendo, provided further context about the unusual pricing strategy. He underscored UX’s pivotal role and the intellectual and monetary value of content in influencing their direction.
“We just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value?” – Bill Trinen
Produced by Nintendo, the Switch 2 will come with a slew of exclusives—including Mario Kart World. Get yourself one today for only $80! In a conversation, Trinen teased the cloud of mystery that lies over this newest title, indicating that more information will come shortly.
“Mario Kart World, I think especially as you see from the Nintendo Direct, not to give you any hints or anything, but I did read your article this morning and I think you had mentioned that you didn’t find a lot to discover when roaming around,” – Bill Trinen
Nintendo is obviously confident in the quality and the effort taken to develop the Switch 2 to justify its price tag. As far as quality goes, Trinen was clear that it was the team’s priority to craft a great product. They think $9.99 is a fair price for what they consider lower quality offerings.
“Just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, ‘Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you’re getting out of the product,’” – Bill Trinen