Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

I'd bear in mind that the Switch 2 is priced a lot lower in Japan, so the people there are not only getting a next generation handheld but one that's also a really good deal.

I'm not sure whether that level of enthusiasm will be matched elsewhere in the world, although I'd expect initial stocks to be sold out for a few months at least.

@Matt_Barber I’m guessing that cheaper Japanese-only model deterred scalpers and left enough units for people in Japan.

@Matt_Barber
No doubt price affects demand- that's irrefutable economics, but I don't expect it to have that much of an effect. PS4 sold 120 million units launching at a $400 price point 12 years ago. PS5 is doing just fine having launched at $500 half a decade ago. Strong evidence that a $450 price point isn't enough to dissuade consumers provided the product is sufficiently appealing.

Switch was cheap, but with other in-demand consoles costing the same amount if not hundreds of dollars more, Switch 2 will remain the budget option. Even if the US and China strike a deal and tariffs revert to 54%, with a 32% tariff for Vietnam, that's yet another 22% price advantage for the Switch 2 over its competitors. Switch 2 would need to raise prices by $100 but PS5 and XS would need to raise prices by $200.

I think the higher price ultimately costs them 20-40 million sales, unless they release a Lite version at $350, as the $350 OLED has long been their best selling Switch model. If they do that, I think they'll only lose 10-20 million. So... better than PS4/PS5, but it doesn't reach the height of its predecessor.

@Ralizah
It'll run 720p with a locked 60fps. Now all those games with an unlocked frame rate I actually appreciate, despite hating it at the time.

@JaxonH The Switch 2 is selling for the equivalent of around $330 in Japan. I'm not usually one for pre-ordering consoles but at that price I'd be picking one up without hesitation, even without any must-have games in the launch lineup.

For the rest of the world, it's selling for around $450 and is obviously far less of a bargain. I'd still expect it to sell well, because it's very much the next generation handheld that many were asking for, but nowhere near as well as if they could offer that Japanese price worldwide.

Obviously, they can't, but if they're going to give one country a special deal, it's got to be their home market.

@JaxonH Hopefully without any issues.

XC2 as well, since the resolution in that one is dynamic. Although I'm hoping the Xenoblades all get NS2 Edition releases so I can play them at 60fps. But even just a solid 720p30 for that game would be massive.

@Matt_Barber I'm no economist but I think the $330 for Japan is misleading. This is using exchange rates to USD, but the yen is currently very weak so to the yen to USD conversion will be low. If you adjust for purchasing power parity the Japanese price is more like $522.

@Matt_Barber
Keep in mind, and you may already know this but for the sake of others reading this who may not I'll say it anyways, they're not offering such a strong deal intentionally- it's a result of the weak yen. For years I've bought amiibo from Amazon Japan taking advantage of the currency exchange rate between $ and ¥. It would actually be cheaper for me even after accounting for global shipping, provided I was buying several at once.

It's the same thing here. The exchange rate favors the dollar and euro, so they had to region lock the system knowing people around the world would leverage that exchange rate by importing from Japan and taking all the designated stock. But for the Japanese people, it's not the same deal we'd get by using our strong currency to purchase a product priced in their weak currency.

@Ralizah
More power automatically maxes dynamic resolutions and framerates. Unfortunately, because it wont be outputting the docked image in portable mode the games will be limited by their max handheld resolutions, which iirc was 540p in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Still, it'll look better because it won't be dropping to 360p.

I'd be all over a NSW2 Edition though. 1080p handheld at 60fps, and 1440p docked at 60fps. With HDR of course.

@Buizel @JaxonH Yeah, Nintendo aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts and the economic situation in Japan dictates that they've got to keep the price low there if they want to succeed.

They just can't do the same for every country in the world though, so other places are going to be stuck with unfavorable pricing that doesn't really fit with their economic circumstances. I'd expect that they've probably got it about right for the US though, which has been doing relatively well of late if you look at the numbers, even if not everyone feels that way.

It just occurred to me that Hyrule Warriors DE's at-the-time-unfortunate optimization, which made it run at 1080p undocked, is turning out to be fairly future proofed! 1080p60 on that game is gonna be sweet. I never played as much of it as I wanted, so I might jump back in on Switch 2.

And Age of Calamity will run at a locked framerate. And Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom, even without a free update patch, will have stable framerates. At least, they do for me and Switch 2 is so much more powerful. I haven't tested the entire games- just the most well known problem areas. Kinda made me wonder why they're even getting an update. Maybe Nintendo feels guilty and wants to make it up by giving us 4k 60 and 1080p 120fps options with HDR. I mean, I won't be complaining. Those games will look and feel incredible post-update.

Couldn't care less about Scarlet/Violet update but Legends Z-A NSW2 Edition? Thats my next Pokemon game. I adored Arceus. I played a fair bit of Sword/Shield trying to get into the series but Arceus... that was the one. It was that game. If Z-A is a true follow up in gameplay mechanics, and given it will actually look sharp and run well in Switch 2... that's the Pokemon for me. The mainline series is just too slow for me.

Monster Hunter Stories, Ys IX, Trials Rising, Ni No Kuni 2, Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity... so many games you guys are gonna adore being on a hybrid system once you experience them without dynamic res tanking and with flawless locked framerates.

Preorders just went live in North America and I’ve seen that they already went out of stock in some stores.

I was fortunate enough to snag one for myself and my son through target. It was rough going for a while, but it eventually worked. Now I can officially let myself be excited.

Had a tough time with all 3 of the major retailers. Had a bundle in my cart trying to hit pay with target but it wouldn't go through after trying multiple times.

Then walmart was acting up on the app, and the website left me in que for 20 minutes or so.

Best buy was sold out within minutes, or so I thought. At one point I nearly closed out of all best buy windows and tried to focus on target and Walmart. Thankfully, I kept it open, refreshed my app, and there it was. Got the bundle in Thankfully, but boy it was a rough 30+ minutes.

Fyi I'm seeing all 3 still have a pre-orders going on and aren't sold out.

Got the Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle from Target, BestBuy and Walmart. Neither Target nor Walmart let me use their store CC for 5% back, so I had to add a different CC. But the BestBuy order was able to use their CC. I'll probably keep the Walmart order for release day delivery though. Shame they don't let you change your payment method after the fact like Target does.

Also have the joycon 2, charge grip, pro controller and camera on lock from Amazon UK. Importing those since listings for the joycon 2 and charge grip aren't available to preorder in the US.

Target crashed right at midnight. Was in line for both Walmart and Best Buy. Walmart put me through, it was my time to buy, but just kept saying "unable to add to cart." even after they got rid of the line. Had a friend who had no problem though. Still in line for Best Buy, see what happens

This sucks man. Everything just went wrong and I panicked. Gotta keep my fingers crossed for a Nintendo store invite I guess.

@HyruleWanderer I had the same issue with Walmart with the bundle, but I was able to get the standard edition even after it booted me out of the "line" (technical error maybe?).

@cheetahman91 I’m not sure. I tried both, but neither worked, just kept saying it couldn’t add to cart. Had my friend try and put my card info in on his side cause he could add to cart, but got the same error. I checked with my bank and everything was good. He tried his card and it worked, lol. Right now I’ma just pay him back, but not sure what happened.

@HyruleWanderer I had issues with the standard issue at first too until it eventually worked. It had to have been an issue on Walmart's. I've heard they've all been having issues. Glad you were able to preorder one. One less Switch 2 in the hands of a scalper lol.

It'll be interesting to see if Switch 2 games show up on the Switch 1 eshop after the late April system update. That's what happened with Xbox, the stores for XB1 and Series X|S were identical so you could view and buy Series X|S games on the XB1 store.