{"id":1102347,"date":"2026-01-27T08:56:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=511389"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:56:34","slug":"heres-what-readers-think-the-switch-2-will-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-what-readers-think-the-switch-2-will-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what readers think the Switch 2 will cost"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last week\u2019s Nintendo Switch 2 reveal<\/a> came with some surprises \u2014 maybe the Joy-Cons are also a mouse<\/a>? \u2014 but mostly it left us with more questions than answers. And near the top of that questions list is the big one for many individuals or families considering an upgrade: What will the thing cost? I spent a bunch of words and a bunch of charts laying out a case for $399<\/a>, but I\u2019m just some schlub on the internet, and if multiplayer video games and a toxic social media landscape have taught me one thing, it\u2019s that everyone wants to be heard. So we asked for your thoughts!<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Just over 50% of you agree with our analysis that the Nintendo Switch 2 will debut at a price of $399 when it\u2019s launched later this year. This number incorporates some look back at Nintendo\u2019s historical pricing strategy, both in absolute terms (inclusive of adjustments for inflation, the actual price) and relative terms (reflective of its competitive positioning in the market at the time of its release). Of course, Nintendo may choose to go lower or higher, and perhaps that historical pricing strategy is deemed no longer sufficient in today\u2019s competitive landscape\u2026 but considering what we know of the Switch 2<\/a> so far is that it shares a whole lot of Switch DNA<\/a> \u2014 including its name \u2014 I\u2019m pretty confident Nintendo isn\u2019t looking to upset the mushroom cart this go around.<\/p>\n

A full 25% of you think Nintendo will match the current price of the Switch OLED model at $349. That would bring the Nintendo Switch 2 in at $100 less than the asking price of its counterparts from Sony and Microsoft, and just $50 more than the $299 the original Switch commanded in 2017 and still commands today. I\u2019m not saying you\u2019re wrong, and perhaps Nintendo would be wise to pursue a lower price point and cement its advantage for this next cycle\u2026 but I\u2019m not sure it has to. Or this is the moment to finally cut the Switch pricing and let the Switch 2 take the space left behind, as reader Lanmanna considers<\/a> here:<\/p>\n

\n

As much as I don\u2019t want it to be $399, I think it will be that price. The hopeful part wants it to be $349 (with the Switch 1 models finally getting their first MSRP price cut), but I just don\u2019t see it happening.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From there, it\u2019s really split among the remaining options. I like reader NegativeZero\u2019s concept<\/a> of a more expensive $449 version. In fact, after publishing my piece last week, I regretted not going down the multiple SKU rabbit hole, so thanks for bringing it up! I don\u2019t know if all 9% of you were thinking Nintendo would start at $449, matching the PS5 and Xbox Series X prices, or if it would have a \u201cDeluxe\u201d model that came in a little higher, but at nearly double digits, the number\u2019s got legs!<\/p>\n

\n

My prediction is $399 base SKU, but there will be a more expensive $449 SKU that has some kind of color gimmick (like the red and blue joycons of the Switch) and a bundled game (probably new Mario Kart) and that will be the one people actually end up buying.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Next up, commanding 4% of the results, is a wild one: $299. That would match the exact same price <\/em>the original Switch is selling for \u2014 and selling quite well! \u2014 today. It\u2019s a $50 discount from the OLED model that, barring its fancy screen, has the same 2017-era guts as the original Switch. But maybe, just maybe, these folks anticipate some kind of Switch 2 Lite model debuting alongside the larger model we saw in the reveal video. The $199 asking price for a Switch Lite in September 2019 comes out to roughly $245 in today\u2019s money. So with that in mind, a $299 price for a smaller, non-dockable model would still be a premium.<\/p>\n

Now we\u2019re really getting into the tinfoil-hat territory. With just over 3% of the vote, 85 of y\u2019all think it\u2019ll be $499. That would put the Nintendo Switch 2 at a much higher asking price than any piece of Nintendo hardware since the release of the original NES, accounting for inflation. That original NES model (I\u2019ll explain, in the event you\u2019re not as old as I am), was the Deluxe Set, sold in specific test markets as the Japanese newcomer weighed its release strategy for the States. It was $179 (approximately $520 today) and included not just the NES console, but the R.O.B. robot, the NES Zapper light gun, two controllers, and two games. It was earning <\/em>that Deluxe moniker.<\/p>\n

And lastly, just 1% of the respondents suggested Nintendo will start at a $249 price. Again, accounting for inflation, this would be pricing the Nintendo Switch 2 more like a handheld \u2014 \u00e0 la Switch Lite, or the Nintendo DS \u2014 than a home console. Knowing what we think we know about the reported power of the Switch 2, even in a handheld-only form, I just can\u2019t imagine a world in which Nintendo is subsidizing its hardware to any degree, not to mention to this degree. But maybe, in some timeline, we all wake up to a $249 Nintendo Switch 2 that outperforms the best consoles, has an all-day battery, and comes with Mother 3<\/em> as a pack-in.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week\u2019s Nintendo Switch 2 reveal came with some surprises \u2014 maybe the Joy-Cons are also a mouse? \u2014 but mostly it left us with more questions than answers. And near the top of that questions list is the big one for many individuals or families considering an upgrade: What will the thing cost? I spent a bunch of words and a bunch of charts laying out a case for $399, but I\u2019m just some schlub on the internet, and if multiplayer video games and a toxic social media landscape have taught me one thing, it\u2019s that everyone wants to be heard. So we asked for your thoughts! Just over 50% of you agree with our analysis that the Nintendo Switch 2 will debut at…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1102348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1102347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nHere\u2019s what readers think the Switch 2 will cost | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last week\u2019s Nintendo Switch 2 reveal came with some surprises \u2014 maybe the Joy-Cons are also a mouse? \u2014 but mostly it left us with more questions than\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-what-readers-think-the-switch-2-will-cost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here\u2019s what readers think the Switch 2 will cost | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week\u2019s Nintendo Switch 2 reveal came with some surprises \u2014 maybe the Joy-Cons are also a mouse? 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