Rumor: Switch 2 Planned Price May Have Already Been Revealed

gameranx.com:

We now have a new rumor on the Nintendo Switch, that seems credible enough to be true, even if this rumor itself turns out to be bogus.

This comes from Zippo, who does have a mixed reputation in getting these rumors correct. Zippo did correctly predict a new upcoming 2D Mario game, which came out in the form of Super Mario Bros Wonder.

On Zippo’s blog, they share the message sent to them by their source, who will be referred to as Chuck. Chuck said:

“$399. That’s the ‘golden number’ that they have in mind. It’s the price that works in terms of the power of their new system, it’s the price that works for them making a decent profit, and it’s the price that they think works for the audience that they’re trying to maintain. No more. No less.”

To put that in context, of course, the Steam Deck’s cheapest SKU is also at $ 399. Now, one can argue that the two devices are differentiated enough that they don’t directly compete with each other. However, Nintendo does recognize that Steam Deck’s presence, and those of other Windows based gaming handhelds, does have an effect on consumer expectations on how Nintendo will price and package their own console.

So, for example, if Nintendo doesn’t put enough on their console, consumers may not feel that $ 699 is a justifiable price for their product. $ 699, of course, is the price of ASUS ROG Ally. While using the device can be cumbersome, the fact that it can run any Windows game pushes Nintendo to offer a better deal. While Nintendo consoles usually sell for their own games, some gamers will decide that price isn’t worth it, when they can get something with more features.

Nintendo, for what its worth, is aggressive in pricing their own products on the low end. They went so far as to