While there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the recent Nintendo Switch 2 price reveal, head of Nintendo of America, Doug Bowser, believes that the console has been priced appropriately. Speaking to CBC, Bowser spoke about the Switch 2 and its feature set, and said that the console offers appropriate value with how it has been priced.
“As we look at Nintendo Switch 2 and you think about the feature sets that I talked about… we believe that the pricing is appropriate for the value of the machine and the gameplay experience overall,” said Bowser.
He also spoke about how Nintendo understands that there will be fans of the company that will not be able to afford the Switch 2 at its current price. To somewhat soften the blow, Bowser points to the fact that the original Switch as well as the Switch Lite will still be available for fans of the company and its games.
“We recognize there are some people that may not be able to afford [the Switch 2’s] price point,” said Bowser. “That’s why we wanted to make the other Switch platforms available, so [people] still have an opportunity to come into our gaming universe, be a part of these characters in these worlds, and see value, if you will, in whatever rung of the platform they come in.”
Bowser also believes that, despite the relatively higher pricing than the original Switch, the Switch 2 will be able to do as well as its predecessor. He also points out that there are circumstances outside of Nintendo’s control that could potentially affect the market performance of the Switch 2. However, he also believes that the Switch 2 will end up bringing in more third-party developers to the platform.
“Sure, there are extenuating outside circumstances that could affect positively or negatively,” he said. “And we can’t necessarily control those. What we can control is that we think we’ve got a device that is going to bring more developers onto the platform, that we can lean into as a developer ourselves or a publisher ourselves. And as a result, bring a lot of smiles to people’s faces.”
Interestingly, Bowser’s statements aren’t too far off from what we saw over a decade ago during the disastrous launch of the Xbox One. Don Mattrick, the Xbox division head at the time, spoke similarly about the Xbox One “over-delivering value” when compared to competing consoles. Mattrick also similarly spoke about having an Xbox for those without a stable Internet connection that could make use of the Xbox One’s features and could work with the console’s (since-cancelled) always-online requirements.
“Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity; it’s called Xbox 360,” said Mattrick at the time. “If you have zero access to the Internet, that is an offline device.”
The Nintendo Switch 2, when it launches on June 5, will be priced at $449.99. Interestingly, while pre-orders for the console were slated to go live on April 9 in the United States, Nintendo has announced that it is pushing back pre-order dates. Nintendo has stated that this decision was made so that it could “assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.”
Along with the console itself, Nintendo has also revealed that games on the Switch 2 will also be a bit more expensive than what fans would have hoped for. One of the launch titles for the Switch 2, Mario Kart World, will be priced at $79.99 for the digital copy and $89.99 for a physical copy. This led to quite a bit of blowback from Nintendo fans, with the company’s recent Treehouse streams being bombarded with messages asking Nintendo to “bring down the price.”
Spokesperson for the Entertainment Software Association, Aubrey Quinn, spoke about how the tariffs announced by the US will have more negative impacts on the greater gaming industry, rather than just affecting Nintendo’s new console.
