The Nintendo Switch is too expensive but I pre-ordered it
Nintendo held an event in Tokyo and New York to announce more information, including pricing, on the Nintendo Switch. I’ve been very bullish on the idea of the Switch going for anything more than $250, putting the device at the same price point as the PS4 and Xbox One. Well, the pricing was announced yesterday. The Nintendo Switch is $299, with many of the accessories and controllers costing a premium on top of that. With what’s included in the box, you’ll likely want to buy more controllers – pushing the price well past $300, towards $400.
$299 starting price is too much! Nintendo is leaning heavily on everyone’s nostalgia of the brand of the games that are being revived. There is an evident lack of games at launch (only a handful), and many of the other titles coming out don’t have set release dates. The lack of games coupled with the high price is going to turn off the ordinary consumer who would buy the console. While tech Twitter is ablaze on how they love the device, they are talking about the price and comparing it dollar to dollar to the PS4 and Xbox One.
The specs of the Switch are important because when you look at them, you won’t be impressed:
- 6.2-inch capacitive multitouch display with 720p resolution (1280 x 720)
- 1080p resolution output via HDMI when docked
- Custom Nvidia Tegra processor
- 32GB of internal storage
- microSDXC support for up to 2TB of additional storage (up to 256GB right now, since larger cards don’t yet exist)
- Game card slot (games will come on physical cards)
- Battery life of between 2.5 and 6 hours
- USB Type-C charging port
- 802.11ac Wi-Fi
The small 32GB internal storage is alarming at first glance, but with the support of MicroSDXC you’ll never run out room. The thing to note here is a 256GB MicroSDXC is expensive, but you can buy a 64GB card for only $16. Buying these cards over and over as you collect games will add up quickly, and you’ll likely lose one or two over time. Having a USB-C port is a nice addition, making it easy to charge the device when I’m out and about.
The other accessories you’ll need to buy is new controllers, especially as the Switch doesn’t ship with a traditional controller you’d find with the Xbox or PlayStation. The controllers are between $70 and $80, far above the controllers for the Playstation or Xbox.
Amongst all my rage for the high price, poor value, lack of launch titles, and overall poor mobile screen resolution – I preordered the device. For better or worse, I want to try out the games see where Nintendo is going with the device. I want to indulge in the nostalgia of getting to play some of Nintendo’s classic games reimagined and remastered for the more modern hardware. Many of my friends and colleges have pre-ordered because they are fanboys of old school Nintendo games.
The problem with Nintendo leaning heavily on fanboys, the Nintendo Switch, may fall flat at launch. I don’t think the device will fail like the Wii U did, but I believe it’ll succeed like the Nintendo DS did. Only time will tell with what Nintendo does and how they fare once the holidays hit.
Tell us in the comments below what you think about the Nintendo Switch, and whether you managed to get a pre-order in. I’ve included the pre-order links below, but they’re all sold out at Walmart, Amazon, and Bestbuy.