Nintendo Switch Price May Be Less Than $250
By Derek Nichols 11 January 2017
With a full reveal scheduled in just a few days, Japanese newspaper Nikkei speculates that the Nintendo Switch launch price is likely to be much lower than expected.
With the Wii U system now officially on its way out, all eyes have turned to Nintendo’s next big thing: the Switch. Revealed at the tail end of 2016 through a short video trailer, many fans were left hanging when it came to the big details with the system. While Nintendo has not yet revealed key data like a price, hardware specs, or launch software, this hasn’t stopped many from speculating including the Japanese newspaper, Nikkei.
According to the paper, fans should prepare to spend about ¥25,000 in Japan this coming March once the Nintendo Switch releases. The ballpark price roughly comes out to $215, which is very consumer friendly when compared to other hardware options like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.
Fans should be aware that Nikkei has been correct with its Nintendo speculation before so there may be some credibility here. Prior to big Nintendo announcements, the Japanese newspaper was able to correctly guess the Nintendo DSi, revealed the key features of the Nintendo 3DS, and came pretty close to calling the launch price of the Wii U. Still, the newspaper makes it clear that this isn’t as much of a guess, as is is more of a average figure consumers should plan to see.
It’s also worth noting that even if the educated guess is accurate, there is a chance that international pricing won’t be based off the exchange rate. The Wii U sold for $299.99 at launch and ¥26,250, which at the time was significantly more expensive due to the rates at that time. With that said, it’s more than likely that the new console will sell either at or less than $250, still a competitive figure.
With a reveal planned for later this week, fans won’t have to wait long to get the details. The long speculated launch price along with other information such as a release date and hardware specifications should finally be revealed during the Nintendo webcast.
What may be more exciting is that a Nintendo Treehouse broadcast is following the reveal event the next day on Friday, January 13. The broadcast promises to go into greater detail with many of the games revealed during the initial event on Thursday. This does fall in line with previous Treehouse events, where Nintendo developers gather together to show extended hands-on demos for some of the bigger titles like Super Smash Bros and Splatoon to name a few. Considering that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has already had a number of gameplay demos, it’s reasonable to assume that many other Switch games like that hinted at Mario title will get more time in the spotlight.
Nintendo Switch is currently scheduled for a March 2017 launch.
