Games are not worth it anymore. I just quit gaming all together. Gaming is for the rich and children.
Patient gamers FTW
What the fuck were you playing that was so expensive that it makes you think that games are for the rich?
A mini competitive analysis
Steam Deck 256 GB: $400 Xbox Series X digital: $435 PS5 digital: $450 Steam Deck 512 GB: $450 Xbox Series X w/ drive: $500 PS5 w/ drive: $500 PS5 Pro digital: $700 PS5 Pro w/ drive: $780
OK, so currently Switch 2 sits in the middle of the pack and competes head-to-head with a 512 GB Steam Deck. If they somehow didn’t factor in potential tariffs, an adjusted price would be $550, near the top of the list.
I think it’s more likely they factored in a lower tariff rate and they’re now pausing to do a competitive analysis around a bump to $500. That would put it on par with the PS5 and Xbox drive versions, but it would make the Steam Deck more attractive.
It seems pretty clear Nintendo is thinking about the Steam Deck. The official Steam Deck dock also does 4K at 60 Hz. The price is the same as the 512 GB model, which has faster memory, probably like the Switch 2. That said, that Steam Deck model has double the internal storage and access to about a zillion more games. So right now they’re putting perhaps a $50 premium on it compared to the 256 GB model based on access to Nintendo exclusives.
Can the US market support a $100 Nintendo premium? Most likely… but they’re surely sensitive to another Wii U debacle, and that price will mean Switch 2 is unlikely to ever be as successful as the original. So these are likely some of the factors they’re weighing right now.
Nintendo is fairly conservative about risk. I suspect they’ll hedge their bets and pick something just shy of $500, probably $479 or $489.
Edit: A friend just informed me that during the previous Trump administration, Nintendo moved a lot of their manufacturing to Vietnam, which is subject to a 46% tariff. That changes my calculus and it may be that the price goes much higher that I originally speculated as a result.
Great info in this post
@neme In France pre ordering is 439,99€ I wished 100€ less… Will wait for my Switch v2 to die from old age at that point.
Don’t forget the 90€ games that never go on sale
Honestly the steam deck is much better in anyway
Nintendo 90€ games are for EU now. USA will get $100+ due to tariffs, or they gonna need to reduce prices to the rest of the world. I wanna see what these greedy SOB gonna do.
@JimmyMcGill I don’t buy Nintendo exclusives, and very very few AAA games. It doesn’t matter.
Does the steam deck works flawlessly every single time? Is is a no brainer switch on and play console ?
My switch is docked 90% of the time, is the steam deck as good as a 90% TV console…?
I am not convinced, not saying steam deck is worse than switch, I just don’t know anybody with a steam deck around me.I mean yes??
Also if you don’t buy Nintendo exclusives why do you even want a switch?
Just the savings on cost of games will make it more than worth it.
Plus you get to actually keep your games and play them in the next iterations and even on a pc or laptop if you have them.
You can buy tons of great games for ridiculously low costs, especially if you want a day or two
@JimmyMcGill Not that I want one, I already have a switch for the last 10 years.
It’s a small device, silent, that fits well next to the Tv.
Can play silly games with the child, and play my own games during the 10 minutes free time I get every two moon eclipse 🙄
In the Australian market the base model is:
- selling for au$700
- if we remove GST we get au$635…45
- and convert to USD for us$383.91
If we compare the listed US price:
- 450 ÷ 383.91 = 1.172
So the US price was already about 17% higher than our local price, a position that may have been taken in anticipation of the US tariffs.
How do the other international pre sales tax prices compare to the US? Is this pattern across the board or is Australia an anomaly?
£329.99 in the UK without VAT, which is ~$425. So a little less, but not a massive difference.
The retail price in Hong Kong is somewhat close to the US. Base costs HKD3450, which is about USD442
Same here. $630CAD, $442US. I’m sorry, but there’s no way I’m paying close to that, Nintendo.
Interesting, maybe we are just getting a good deal.
Then they came for the gamers, but there was no one left to speak up.
Some of the gamers had been loudly asking for it so the historical parallel breaks down a bit
Americans are going to be significantly re-evaluating what’s worth it for them now and progressively become more like consumers in other countries. As in they’ll be spending less and using things longer than before
I can only hope.
Some people I know will blame Obama, Hilary, and Biden.
So, yeah.
I doubt that. As an American, the ones I know will continue to complain and not do anything differently unless they’re absolutely forced to. This isn’t going to force them to. It’s not life or death for a great many of them, and the ones it would be life or death for, well. They voted for the guy who decided to smack every country he could find with tariffs.
Yeah, it is more likely to have the opposite effect. Prices going up as a result of Trump’s tariffs is just going to reinforce the victim mentality his supporters have.
Who knew Trump would come out great for the environment /s
Let’s see if this actually happens or if people just put themselves in more debt. If there’s one thing the systems in America are good at, it’s preying on the poorer people by making all kinds of ways to still buy things and dig holes for yourself by loaning or credit cards.
Most of the family I know on my girlfriend’s side that’s been complaining about the prices going up haven’t done much more than that, complaining and slowly creeping up their credit card debt.
