How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost? Analysts weigh in

On By Littum

The Nintendo Switch 2 was revealed just this morning, and while we got a lot of confirmed details about what it looks like, and even a brief look at a new game, there’s still some pretty critical information missing. One of the most important? Price.

Nintendo has yet to say how much the Nintendo Switch 2 will cost, and it likely won’t for a while. A Nintendo Switch 2 Direct is planned for April 2, but even that will likely focus on software and may not provide any useful information on how much we should expect to pay for an upgraded, higher-end Nintendo Switch. Fortunately, a number of industry analysts believe they may have a rough idea of ​​what to expect.

We spoke to a number of analysts about this morning’s announcement, asking them, among other things, how much they think Nintendo will charge for the Switch 2. And while the answers all varied a bit, one number kept coming up over and over again: $400.

Dr. Serkan Toto from Kantan Games Inc. called $400 the “price they need to be successful,” and said he “can’t see much from the trailer that would justify them charging $450.”

This would be a step up from the $300 launch price of the original Nintendo Switch, a price that NIntendo still maintains to this day outside of sales or bundles. The Nintendo Switch OLED model costs $350, while the Nintendo Switch Lite costs $200. We don’t know much for sure about the specs or features of the Nintendo Switch 2 yet, but as Toto points out, everything in the trailer points to a bigger, slightly more powerful version of the same thing, making $400 seem like a reasonable landing zone.

Analysts such as Mat Piscatella (Circana) and Piers Harding-Rolls all seemed to confirm this figure, although both Harding-Rolls and Piscatella suggested that the price was unlikely to affect sales much, as long as it wasn’t. also ridiculously high. Harding-Rolls suggested the price could go as high as $500, but said he was basing his sales projections on $400.

Of course, people will want it to be lower than what it will be advertised at.

As Piscatella put it, “Early adopters are not going to be price-sensitive, and prices can always be lowered. Of course, people want it to be lower than what it’s going to be advertised at.”

Rhys Elliot of MIDiA also agreed that $400 was the “sweet spot” for Nintendo, but pointed out one specific factor that could push it up to $500: supply.

“If Switch 2 is limited supply at launch, Nintendo can charge more,” he said. “Early adopters would be willing to pay for it, and if it sells out anyway, Nintendo might think, ‘Why not?’ I think Sony and Microsoft regret releasing the PS5 and Series X consoles at $500. Both could have gotten away with $600 or more at launch.

“Also Nintendo, unlike the other platform holders, is almost entirely dependent on its console business, so it can’t easily take big loss-making risks on pricing (the console itself has to be profitable, not just offset by software sales).”

Elliot added that the cost of making the console and how powerful it was could also be factors pushing the price up, perhaps even higher than $500 under the right conditions. But he, like the other analysts, believes that $400 is the most likely price tag.