I would say yes even by tech standards, I don't see other handhelds with this industrial design (control comfort, etc) and power.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Is the Nintendo Switch currently a good value at $299?
- Thread starter eKongDiddy
- Start date
Dropping the price to 249 in 2021 would not be unreasonable if we are talking about hardware and power but we are not, so it's gonna be 299 because it sells a lot.
I think we'll get improved hardware at the same price instead, just as we did with the 3DS.
It's not a good value because of widespread reliability issues (joy-con drift) and because the games are incredibly expensive.
However, even if it's not particularly good, it certainly is decent given its the highest quality portable gaming experience you can get at any price. And if you are a huge fan of the portability or Nintendo's games, that value proposition changes because your perception of the value of those aspects changes.
In conclusion I would say it's not generally a good value for the average person who's not necessarily a fan of Nintendo. But for Nintendo or portable gaming enthusiasts it certainly is, and since I fit in both of those descriptors it's great value for me. Still could be better given the joy-con issues.
However, even if it's not particularly good, it certainly is decent given its the highest quality portable gaming experience you can get at any price. And if you are a huge fan of the portability or Nintendo's games, that value proposition changes because your perception of the value of those aspects changes.
In conclusion I would say it's not generally a good value for the average person who's not necessarily a fan of Nintendo. But for Nintendo or portable gaming enthusiasts it certainly is, and since I fit in both of those descriptors it's great value for me. Still could be better given the joy-con issues.
It's copypasta from a post made from the owner from the previous forum (who is a creep), is used to mock him for his dumb prediction
It's still sold out across the US and fetching premium prices online. Seems like lots of people find value in it at $300
Yes, but 13m is terible, why only 13m, why not 30m, 50m, 70m or 100m+ units like Switch will sell?
So what if Switch lost plenty of multiplatform games? Switch is selling like crazy despite there is no big multiplatform current gen games.
Simple, Switch has plenty of great games and more are coming, and you can play every single of those games like you prefer,
in full handheld mode or full home console mode, its not hard to see that, I mean sales speak for itself, Switch is basically selling to handheld and home console market in same time.
If it's overpriced, Switch wouldn't have such a big popularity and sales, just for comparison 3DS was overpriced so Nintendo needed to do price cut only 6 months after launch, Switch 3.5 years after launch still dont have price cut, because it doesnt need one.
Hell no. As if the other consoles didn't have great games to play as well. The next gen consoles having such agressive prices should make everything gaming related to down to stay competitive. Even pc hardware.
And it's been that way from jump. I imagine that the Venn diagram for the No votes matches well with the folks who thought it was DOA bc they couldn't see how it was better than the Wii U.
Take it lightly! It's just a silly joke. I'm a nintendo fan too!
I understand your point of view. Although the Switch is not all that when it comes to its game library. I mean, it's not bad at all, but I don't think it justifies the price. At least not yet. This year, for example, it was relatively weaker when compared to previous years.
EDIT:
What? Remasters? Musous? The line-up for this year is not strong, sorry.
Multiplataforms are also games and also sell hardwares btw.
But if you think the "unique experiences" justify that price, then it's ok.
I would not pay $299 today for a Switch if I didn't own one
Last edited:
Of course it is. First of all, it's a handheld system and most games are fully enjoyable this way, being unique compared to the other home consoles.
And it has the best exclusive catalogue IMO (diverse games, lots of genres, overall high quality), and most of them are "real exclusives" for Nintendo platforms, so if you like videogames having a Switch seems a no brainer as it has some of the best recent titles.
And it has the best exclusive catalogue IMO (diverse games, lots of genres, overall high quality), and most of them are "real exclusives" for Nintendo platforms, so if you like videogames having a Switch seems a no brainer as it has some of the best recent titles.
Oh I'm not saying there isn't good reason to have it. There are plenty of great games. I have a Switch and a Switch Lite. But I can still say it's not a good value for a 2017 device with those specs and feature set.
I mean you do you but in this case the public spoke rather loudly on this subject.
I'd even argue that it's probably undervalued in Japan all things considered.
People don't buy something they think has terrible value, if it was terrible value they wouldn't bother shelling cash for it.
Now is it good value for the crowd that post here, fuck if I know but considering the size of the market and the size of this place I don't think the answer to that question really matters.
I'd even argue that it's probably undervalued in Japan all things considered.
People don't buy something they think has terrible value, if it was terrible value they wouldn't bother shelling cash for it.
Now is it good value for the crowd that post here, fuck if I know but considering the size of the market and the size of this place I don't think the answer to that question really matters.
Weaker for you maybe, but Animal Crossing is probably the biggest game release of 2020 and you can only play that on Nintendo Switch.
here's the thing
a lot of people here think that consoles become worse values over time, because the technology gets more "outdated"
to a lot of people in the general public, consoles become more valuable over time, because they can play more and more and more games
a lot of people here think that consoles become worse values over time, because the technology gets more "outdated"
to a lot of people in the general public, consoles become more valuable over time, because they can play more and more and more games
Yep that's true. Thing is, as months go, hardware components become cheaper and companies can start manufacturing the same product with cheaper, more efficient components or release "worse" version at a cheaper price.
But as Nintendo is selling every single unit they can produce (thanks to having some real exclusives that sell a ton, amongst other things), they can still sell the same product at the same launch price (and with improvements like battery life) at the same price even if they are making them for less money now.
So the value proposition is great for most consumers.
You gotta blame the consumers. It's certainly overpriced, but it's also selling like crazy at $299
As another first party Nintendo machine yes, but if you are looking for it to solely be an indie player like the vita was then probably not. Most non-nintendo games have way too many compromises and performance issues to make up for their portability.
Nobody cares because the market feels that it's priced fairly.
This isn't complicated.
I don't get the whole I don't think the game's library justifies the price take unless you just don't like Nintendo games. If the Switch hasn't made its case yet and you're not a hardcore Metroid fan waiting for Metroid games to release specifically, I don't think the console is ever going to be able to make its case to you as a consumer. $200 vs $300 isn't really going to change anything about the library at this point and almost every major Nintendo franchise that is still active is now on the system, often times with some of the best titles in those respective franchises. Even if you were burned by the Wii U and hate all of the ports, there's still a sizable library of brand new and generally solid to excellent Nintendo games to try.
It's also pretty much the only portable console on the market right now aside from phones and inelegant other solutions, so it also comes down to the question of, "Is a portable console of value to you or not?"
It's also pretty much the only portable console on the market right now aside from phones and inelegant other solutions, so it also comes down to the question of, "Is a portable console of value to you or not?"
Yes because at the end of the day you buy consoles to play games, and the Switch has some of the best games out there on its platform. Also, the fact that it sells the way it does indicates that the market absolutely feels that the price of admission is a fair one.
Or people are just giving their own perception of what the piece of hardware is worth?
Its a portable console that also plays on the tv, it has the best Zelda, the best Mario, soon to be practically all the marios, FF7-12, Dragons Dogma, Skyrim, DOOM, and a thousand other incredible games. Its honestly my favourite console ever and my most played since it came out.
I bought it at launch price with zero regrets
I bought it at launch price with zero regrets
I'd say no, but the software exclusives are strong and it's the only game in town for handheld gaming so it doesn't really matter.
I'm not looking at it from an unchecked capitalism point of view.
It should cost less but yes it is still selling like crazy so I understand why it's that way, it's pretty clear.
But I don't think it's the right price, the console has been out for three years now.
BotW and Mario kart 8 are still full price, it doesn't make any sense but hey, it still sells.
Why? I mean, I don't play tham many indies tbh, but all my friends that play mostly indies think that the Switch is the best indie machine ever. AFAIK it has more indies than the Vita ever had.
It entirely depends on how much you value the portability of the system. As purely a console, it feels long in the tooth especially at that price and in my opinion the build quality doesn't reflect what you pay for it. At the moment there is still enough demand to drive that price, but the second next gen systems come out, its going to seem extremely overpriced. Honestly if the joycons weren't such a waste of tech that nobody uses outside of rumble, you could probably have knocked the price down enough to be more palatable.
But most have significant performance issues and if I got the switch specifically for that then I would have been seriously disappointed. Other people likely have more of a tolerance for that type of stuff.
The Vita didn't have nearly as many compromises for indies that were out during its life cycle.
Indies have significat performance issues on the Switch? I know that most Ps4/PC/Xbox games need to be heavily compromised to run on the system, and that some Unreal Engine games have severe framerate/resolution problems, but most of the indies I play on PC or other systems are not graphicaly intensive at all and AFAIK run well on the Switch because the games are not demanding.
Also the Vita was not really more powerful on context when it was released, so I don't think indies ran better on the system (even Ps2 remasters like P4G were not even native res).
No - the tech was pretty dated when it launched. No idea why anyone would spend $299 on a switch now. I get it, they have some cool games but nothing that justifies the 300 price IMO. I've owned a Switch since day 1 and its easily my least used gaming device because I can't stand how dated everything looks.
Then we can say that the Vita selling the same is also proof that there is a "fan factor" to consider for the PS4?
Any reason for ignoring one of biggest game of hole generation and probably biggest Switch game (Animal Crossing)?
They are, but Nintendo hardware is selling for Nintendo games on 1st place, not for multiplatform games,
I mean look lists of best selling games for almost any Nintendo hardware and you will get picture.
I just saying what general market "thinks", and Switch sales and popularity proves that, offcourse, not every person thinks like that,
especially people that only care about home console gaming, care about power of hardware and don't care about Nintendo games.
...unlike the Vita, which didn't have compromises and performances issues with it's indie titles and multiplatform titles? I mean, even 6th generation remasters didn't always run the best on it, from what I recall. Never mind that the Switch is getting more of them by a wide margin anyways and most indie games run fine on it
That might also be because it just flat out rarely, if ever, got the more mid to high end indie titles
Actually tech was not dated when Switch was launched, when Switch was launched Tegra X1 was less than 2 years old.
Yeah the Switch launch a little over a year after the Google Pixel C tablet did (a tablet with the same Tegra X1 processor), and that was $500-$600.
As for price drops ... good luck with that when its the best selling game system on the planet. Microsoft has to price Series S at $299.99 because they are the lowest selling hardware manufacturer.
The Vita is a good example. Both 3DS and Vita were released at 250€, having the 3DS weaker hardware (by a huge margin). Both had good price cuts on the following months (both were 70€ cheaper before the year the systems were released ended), being the 3DS a surprise considering how Nintendo manages their prices.
But the 3DS, even if it was less powerful and had the 3D thing that nobody liked, sold like 5-6 times what Vita sold, and this is because Nintendo decided to developer more software for the system and Sony abandoned it really quickly and only niche Japanese games were released for the Vita during the following years.
So keeping software releases for the system seems an important point of the "value" of buying a system.
I really want a Switch but at that price and the possibility of a "pro" model or replacement coming in the next year has me waiting. That's just too much money for what should be a $200 console. Kind of bums me out too because I preordered the special edition physical copy of Stardew Valley on the Switch thinking that I would get one by November. We'll see what Black Friday has in store.
I will say I'm confused by those saying it's less valuable with more content than it had on launch, and assume all of that is a result of the assumed upcoming hardware & the Next Gen of consoles around the corner. Like, as a simple example - at launch day itself there really weren't many titles, therefore it was less worthwhile unless you wanted BoTW (which many did ofc, including me). But now there are so many good titles it's silly - the backlog is massive, and that's not even counting non first-party titles. Yes, this year isn't great, absolutely, but how does that... decrease the value? We know what games are coming, they're big titles, and sure they're not now and instead we've got an ok year at best. I just don't see that impacting the value.
So the only thing I understand is the new hardware for all consoles around the corner, rumored or announced, right?
EDIT: I do also get that the hardware is ofc 3.5 years old. That applies, but still hinges on newer hardware replacing - at the moment literally nothing replaces it, but that may change ?soon?
So the only thing I understand is the new hardware for all consoles around the corner, rumored or announced, right?
EDIT: I do also get that the hardware is ofc 3.5 years old. That applies, but still hinges on newer hardware replacing - at the moment literally nothing replaces it, but that may change ?soon?
