Topic: We're Not Getting a 2024 Switch Price Cut Are We?

[Kairon]

A strong Nintendo Direct showing recontextualizes the Switch's entire 2024.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/67533/were-not-getting-a-2024-switch-price-cut-are-we

Before the morning of June 18, 2024, the unspoken vibe I was picking up was that 2024 would be Nintendo stretching their product line up with niche intellectual properties and ports and remakes of older games.

In that frame of mind, I thought that maybe, just maybe, the long awaited Switch price cut might finally appear this fall. Surely a lower intensity software schedule might mean Nintendo would have to finally lower the Switch's base sale price to hit their forecast of 13.5 million hardware units sold this fiscal year. By all rights, the Switch should be on its last legs seven years after its debut.

But now I know that in 2024 the Switch is getting a NEW Zelda game (in 2D and where you play as Zelda finally!) in September, a NEW Mario Party game in October, and a NEW Mario (+ Luigi RPG) game in November. These are brand new games that aim to find and build new audiences, not preside over an organized retreat.

Plus anyone looking to buy a Switch can still explore one of the strongest Nintendo console back catalogs you could wish for, or peruse a continuing stream of new third-party treats (like Ace Attorney Investigations Collection from Capcom - half of which never released outside of Japan - or Dragon Quest III HD-2D from Square Enix).

And there's still the promise of Metroid Prime 4 bringing its prestige lineage to the Switch in 2025, so Switch buyers now know that the console's future will extend beyond just this holiday shopping season.

Is a price drop still possible? Sure, heck, yeah, maybe. But to me its likelihood has been decimated. I believe Nintendo will try to sell the Switch for the next 9 months at full price solely on the proposition that people will want to play Switch games that much.

But what does that mean if we sail into April 2025 and the Switch is still full price? That raises new questions: will Nintendo finally drop the Switch price when its successor comes out? Or will the "Switch 2" have an even higher price tag and give room for its Nintendo's hybrid console to sail into year 8 still defying the ravages of time and price drops?

Ouch. My wallet is already feeling the pain from the holiday season... and (Metroid Prime 4) Beyond.

[M.K.Ultra]

Having already bought all three switch hardware versions, I am disinterested in a price cut personally. I would like to see the Nintendo Selects idea of discounted games brought out this year though. Make $20 (or  $30) versions of all those great first and second party switch games from the first 5 years!

[BeautifulShy]

Price Cut for the hardware is unlikely as you noted the new library Kairon but I could see some older titles going on sale during the holidays or in the summer for kids and their parents to play together. 

[Kairon]

Having already bought all three switch hardware versions, I am disinterested in a price cut personally. I would like to see the Nintendo Selects idea of discounted games brought out this year though. Make $20 (or  $30) versions of all those great first and second party switch games from the first 5 years!

Price Cut for the hardware is unlikely as you noted the new library Kairon but I could see some older titles going on sale during the holidays or in the summer for kids and their parents to play together. 

Thanks for reminding me that this gen Nintendo is ALSO resisting price cuts on their software in addition to their hardware! Historically Nintendo Selects have let them rerelease old games for cheaper, but I think two major reasons (and there's easily other reasons too) this is NOT happening this gen is:

1. Digital sales allow Nintendo to keep the older games available without having to press new physical copies specifically to re-push an older game.
2. Evergreen games are selling better than ever on the Switch!

I mean, let's face it, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe still the software sales king at a nominal full price, is THAT game really going to any sort of discount pricing? And will Nintendo really sell a budget-priced SKU of Breath of the Wild? It's hard to imagine that honestly.

Instead Nintendo might decide that their current strategy is enough: flexible pricing (launch at the RIGHT price first, even if that isn't $60 (for example, WarioWare: Move It! launched at $50)), digital vouchers (so even Tears of the Kingdom becomes a "$50 game"), and occasional official sales around 20% off of the typical SKUs for the games.

There's also efforts to just naturally support games longer and keep consumers interested longer. I think Nintendo is hoping they can sell a couple more copies of Switch Sports at its current market price just by releasing that free Basketball update they announced as opposed to lowering the price of the software, cutting their margins, and hoping they make it up on volume.

Perhaps there's value in Nintendo rereleasing budget versions of medium-sized hits in more niche-style franchises as an attempt to get more people to check them out. Do you think they could do this with Fire Emblem Three Houses for example, or Xenoblade? But I don't know that I've seen any evidence to support this sort of thinking. Nintendo might instead decide that the best way to make new fans of smaller franchises is to make new interesting games, not re-push old games for cheaper that many people have already decided not to buy...

[ThePerm]

Maybe if they cross the 155 million console sales mark