The Switch 2 Is Too Expensive
Nintendo thinks their new console is worth a hefty price tag, but I'm skeptical.
In retrospect, it’s surprising that the original Nintendo Switch launched with only a $300 price tag. But then again, that was classic Nintendo, choosing not to compete directly with Sony and Microsoft on being a powerhouse for gaming and entertainment, but to optimize a particular video game experience. In terms of raw technical power, the Switch couldn’t compete with a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. So it focused on a different way to play games where you had the motion controls of the popular Wii console and a portable console that could dock to your home television. Combined with Nintendo’s family-friendly outlook, all these factors made the Switch a massive success. It is the third best-selling console of all time.
Eight years after the Switch launched, Nintendo has opted for an iterative approach rather than their typical console move of trying to reinvent the wheel. The Nintendo Switch 2 has better graphics, more memory, and a faster CPU along with a collection of other tweaks. While it would be slightly naïve to think that Switch 2 would launch at the same $300 price point, I assumed that Nintendo would aim for $400, a sweet spot that kept it on the lower end of the console wars. Instead, the base console will launch at $450 and its marquee launch game, Mario Kart World, will cost $80, a new high for a video game title. This is assuming that Trump’s tariffs don’t cause the price to balloon.
Some have argued that Nintendo consoles have always been expensive when adjusted for inflation. The original Nintendo Entertainment System would cost $584 in today’s dollars and the Super Nintendo would cost $465. But inflation doesn’t happen in a historical vacuum, and Nintendo, as the market leader of the time, could warrant those prices given how it was largely synonymous with gaming (to Boomers buying their kids a video game console, everything is a “nintendo.”) Nintendo lost that edge as the PlayStation and the Xbox became more popular consoles, and although Nintendo disappeared from the hardware market like its former rival Sega, they also lacked the resources that Sony and Microsoft, respectively, could pour into their products.
My pal Devindra Hardawar over at Engadget argues that the $450 price point makes more sense when you consider the quality of the machine compared not to a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X, but to its portable cousin, the Steam Deck. I’m more amendable to his argument that the cost of all hardware has gone up, and will only continue to rise as the global economy grapples with the fallout from Trump’s worldwide trade war. But the price is the price, and Nintendo knows what its competitors charge for a console. The Nintendo Switch 2 is priced the same as a PlayStation 5 that comes with a disc drive and Astro Bot (one of the best games of the last decade) and is only $50 less than the Xbox Series X.
And for that price, you’re not getting as much as what the competitors offer. Nintendo will always have its marquee games like Mario Kart and Donkey Kong, but they only come out with a few of these titles per year. If you look at the Nintendo Direct detailing the Switch 2, a large part of Nintendo’s pitch is playing catch-up on titles that already came out on competing consoles like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077. What happens after the Switch 2 gets these games? Will it be able to keep pace with games that push the PS5 and Xbox Series X to their limits? We’ve seen that the Switch, despite receiving similar titles, struggles to achieve the same fidelity as its peers, but that was acceptable for a console that only cost $300.
Furthermore, Nintendo still appears to be drastically behind in the online sphere. Xbox and PlayStation have robust online communities with interfaces that allow for not only easy online play, but also offer subscription services for more games (Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, respectively), achievements, and apps that allow them to function as a full entertainment center. Nintendo has Switch Online, but that is a slow drip of titles from older consoles. GameCube Games will be available on Switch 2, but judging by how Nintendo has treated these virtual consoles, there will be eight GameCube games in the course of a year and then maybe six months after that a game that was only released in Japan. It’s not what I would call “robust” for a company with so much history.
Outside of gaming, you have entertainment apps, which still sit outside Nintendo’s consoles. Netflix, which is on just about everything, never came to Nintendo Switch, and there was no mention of non-gaming entertainment being made available in the future. Nintendo’s biggest swing for online play was adding chat (in the year of our lord 2025) and a camera, which is certainly a choice given rising concerns about online privacy and that competing consoles gave up on having cameras about a decade ago. Also, if you want to take advantage of new functionality in games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, like sharing schematics, you still need to use your phone and the Nintendo Switch app. Nothing I love more than paying $450 for a console but also having to use my smartphone.
The only place that Nintendo can make its strongest argument is that as a portable console, and there’s nothing more powerful in the handheld arena. However, at its higher price point, the Switch 2 now has to compete in areas where it doesn’t have a strong foothold. It’s not the place for online gaming. It’s not the place for the most cutting-edge graphics. It’s not the place for a robust selection of subscription-based gaming. Playing Mario Kart World on the go is nice, but it’s not $530-plus-tax nice.
This is not to say the Switch 2 will never be a worthwhile purchase. Maybe as it adds more games or Nintendo finally figures out what players want from an online experience, it can make a stronger case for its $450 price tag. Even if it only comes down to $400 and offers a new Zelda game on par with the beloved Breath of the Wild it may be worth picking up. But for its launch this June, all the price tag does is highlight that other consoles (to borrow a marketing tagline from old competitor Sega) are doing what Nintendon’t.