Unfortunately game console price drops are pretty much gone for the foreseeable future and have been since we started getting to the 7nm-ish node sizes.
The main reason for price cuts in the PS3/360 era and earlier was technological advancement in terms of shrinking the node. This gave instant massive price reductions to the company, and allowed them to then redesign the console to be much smaller with less cooling since the chips now are smaller and generated way less heat.
That doesn’t happen anymore. There’s no shrinking to be done.
When you add in the cost increases for RAM and SSDs, it’s a match made in hell for customers.
Well if they had some games I was actually all that interested in it might be a compelling product. All it got is a Mario Kart game which looks ok but not enough for me to buy a console for it and another Zelda game.
The big problem is that there isn't a reason for me to buy a switch 2 over the original switch, and there isn't a lot of reason me to buy a switch over a steam deck or another handheld. They've entered into a pretty saturated market with a niche product. Every other handheld can play wider selection of games.
Calling the switch “niche” when comparing it to a steam deck or other handhelds is hilarious. The switch 2 outsold the steam decks entire lifetime sales on release day. I say lifetime as in not just how many it had sold up til then, but how many more it will sell in the future too lol.
If you do, you may also need to get EU versions of the games... I don't know if they're still region locking them but at the very least used to be a common practice
Switch 1 isn't region locked (when it comes to physical games), don't know about Switch 2. I suppose they could always patch that on via an OTA update...
[–]dan@upvote.au1 points1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
(2 children)
They don't need to drop prices though - they sell plenty of them at the current prices.
Also, all consumer electronics are going up in price due to the component (RAM, GPU, SSD) shortages, which are happening because the majority of new stock is being sold to AI companies.
You read that wrong. They didn’t say there are sales, as in discounts, available. They said they’re getting sales, ie selling every unit they produce, even with the price increase.
Good, if only they could ever drop prices I would maybe even buy one
Unfortunately game console price drops are pretty much gone for the foreseeable future and have been since we started getting to the 7nm-ish node sizes.
The main reason for price cuts in the PS3/360 era and earlier was technological advancement in terms of shrinking the node. This gave instant massive price reductions to the company, and allowed them to then redesign the console to be much smaller with less cooling since the chips now are smaller and generated way less heat.
That doesn’t happen anymore. There’s no shrinking to be done.
When you add in the cost increases for RAM and SSDs, it’s a match made in hell for customers.
The incentive to buy one comes from the expectation it‘ll be even more expensive this time next year. Not sure it‘s working, though.
And something tells me when prices fall again, Nintendo would just carry on and pocket the difference
Will humanity exist this time next year?
Well if they had some games I was actually all that interested in it might be a compelling product. All it got is a Mario Kart game which looks ok but not enough for me to buy a console for it and another Zelda game.
The big problem is that there isn't a reason for me to buy a switch 2 over the original switch, and there isn't a lot of reason me to buy a switch over a steam deck or another handheld. They've entered into a pretty saturated market with a niche product. Every other handheld can play wider selection of games.
Calling the switch “niche” when comparing it to a steam deck or other handhelds is hilarious. The switch 2 outsold the steam decks entire lifetime sales on release day. I say lifetime as in not just how many it had sold up til then, but how many more it will sell in the future too lol.
If I ever do buy one, you can bet I'll be specifically searching for one of those Euro-spec ones with replaceable batteries.
If you do, you may also need to get EU versions of the games... I don't know if they're still region locking them but at the very least used to be a common practice
Switch 1 isn't region locked (when it comes to physical games), don't know about Switch 2. I suppose they could always patch that on via an OTA update...
Switch 2 is region-free, except for the cheaper Japan-only model.
That makes sense, to Nintendo at least
I'm sure you could hack the switch 2. I hacked my switch and get all my games for free
If I have to mod the product in order to make the product viable I'm just not going to bother.
There are no hacks available for Switch 2 so far.
It's more likely to go up in price for the foreseeable future.
They don't need to drop prices though - they sell plenty of them at the current prices.
Also, all consumer electronics are going up in price due to the component (RAM, GPU, SSD) shortages, which are happening because the majority of new stock is being sold to AI companies.
They don't need to drop the price there are plenty of sales available
Everything is going up in price because of AI anyway
So which one is it?
You read that wrong. They didn’t say there are sales, as in discounts, available. They said they’re getting sales, ie selling every unit they produce, even with the price increase.
That's probably my fault for not wording it well. I edited my comment to say "they sell plenty of them" instead.
Yes, I'm aware of that. It's kinda hard to avoid knowing that.
They need to drop the prices of the games too