The Nintendo Switch Retail Price Has Been Misquoted
A lot has been said about the Nintendo Switch retail price in the last week. It was announced that the Switch would retail for $299.99, and it would not come with the customary pack-in game, which fans are used to getting from Nintendo. However, when breaking down the pricing of the Switch, few have taken into consideration the actual price of the console itself.
Just after the Nintendo Switch retail price was announced, podcasts popped up all across the web giving their initial reaction. While many thought the system was entirely too expensive, Nintendo Voice Chat (NVC) looked deeper into what the accessories would cost to get a real price for the console itself.
Nintendo mentioned from the outset that the hardware of the Switch itself was behind the screen between the two detachable Joy Cons. They heavily stressed that the docking station was nothing more than just that. It was a place to charge the Switch and a device to output the image to the television.
As news rolled out about replacement accessories, NVC took notice. An extra set of Joy-Cons would cost the consumer $79.99, and a spare docking station for an extra television would be an additional $89.99. This puts the price of the console itself at just $130.01.
When put in these terms, one can’t help but wonder if Nintendo has plans to move Switch in the direction that many of their competitors are already taking. This past October, Sony released an updated version of the popular PlayStation 4 just two years after the initial offering.
Holiday, 2017, will see Microsoft introduce the world to what is being called Project Scorpio. This is a beefed up Xbox One. While both Sony and Microsoft insist that early adopters of their systems will still be able to play games, one has to wonder at what point will this continue.
Apple was the first to take this approach to technology. As the iPhone and iPad have increased the processing power of their respective devices to a point where earlier generations have become obsolete. When looking at Nintendo, they seem to be catching on to this, and Nintendo Dads touched on this in the latest podcast.
They too looked at the price of the additional Joy Cons and docking station. Then they introduced the question, “What if Nintendo offers up a more powerful console in the future?” This is an intriguing question considering the advanced technology that seems to make up the Joy-Con controllers.
The Joy-Con controllers had what Nintendo is calling “HD rumble features.” This seems to match a patent that was previously filed that stated future controllers could have haptic feedback that Nintendo Everything brought attention to. In the Nintendo Switch presentation, they referred to the controller being able to determine how many ice cubes had been placed into the cup.
The Joy-Cons also have an IR motion camera built in that can determine hand gestures as well as distance from an object. Along with the ability to read Near Field Communication (NFC) products like Amiibo, it is easy to see that Nintendo has yet to scratch the surface of the capabilities of the controllers themselves, according to Polygon.
It is not out of the realm of possibilities that these Joy-Cons could be used on multiple upgrades in the future. The Nintendo Wii originally was released in 2006. The Wii Remote and Nun chuck were used throughout the life of that console as well as the Wii U, for 10 years.
Knowing what you know now, does the Nintendo Switch retail price still seem too high? Can you see Nintendo upgrading the Switch system similarly to what Sony and Microsoft are currently doing?
[Feature Image by Nintendo of America]
