Nintendo has probably not caught a break since Switch 2 was officially announced last week. From the egregious pricing across the board to the pushing of the envelope for the price of games, a lot of the backlash is, from the potential customer’s point of view, completely warranted. But nobody should be surprised that the company would try its luck the way it did.
Because as with just about every other console generation, platform holders are quick to cash in goodwill in the past generation. And this is done in the name of fulfilling its fiduciary duties to shareholders in the very next generation.
To use a Sony as an example, the PlayStation 2 was immensely successful during its console generation. Then came the PS3 which faced some degree of backlash thanks to its high price. It may have been a necessity at the time due to the introduction of Blu-ray format, as well as its own unique – and difficult to work with as a result – Cell processor.
But ultimately, for the discerning customer who probably has a limited budget, no amount of tech innovation and “better value than the competition” can make someone pay for something they think has a price tag that’s unjustifiable, or just can’t afford. This is over quadruply so for when things eventually land on our shores.
In the end, the PS3 didn’t do too bad, but it was probably enough for PlayStation to rethink its pricing strategy for the PS4 generation, just when Microsoft was getting too comfortable with the Xbox 360, and started letting its success get to its head with the Xbox One, with its insane DRM implementations.
This let the PS4 be the runaway winner of the console generation, which got to Sony’s head, and so it was its turn to make some backlash-worthy decisions with the PS5, and especially the Pro model. The latter’s price points should go without saying, but for the base model, all you need to remember is the attempt to make gamers buy a game twice, which was fortunately walked back.
Nintendo itself had a couple of important examples that it could pull from its own history, which are the 3DS which succeeds the DS, and the Wii U which follows the Wii. While neither got the level of backlash that the Switch 2 is facing now, both were iterative of what came immediately before, as well as a selection of individual issues, leading to low sales – at least initially.
These two episodes were what propelled then CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, into celebrity status, with his taking a temporary 50% pay cut for both incidents. He would, unfortunately pass away a year and a half after the second one.
Of course, following the Wii U is the Nintendo Switch, the success story of which we are still living through. Which, as you know, has done phenomenally well despite being underpowered for its generation. It is currently the third best selling dedicated piece of hardware for gaming, with a non-zero possibility of still climbing as it hasn’t ceased production. Which would have naturally emboldened the company to announce what it did for the successor, the Switch 2.
You don’t need to be particularly good at pattern recognition to see that history is at the cusp of repeating itself. And as luck would have it, Nintendo was presented with the perfect scapegoat to justify the sort of price tags it is attaching to not only the Switch 2, but also its accessories and games – tariffs. There’s also the argument to be made that the company was also encouraged to do what it did by the PS5 Pro, but the overall point stands.
Of course, history has yet to fully repeat itself, and there’s still enough time to change course. But whether or not that’s going to happen remains to be seen. I’m personally not a betting person, but if I could afford to I would bet on Nintendo not budging, because it’s now easier than ever to deflect blame, what with the tariffs presenting itself as the perfect scapegoat.
Analysts have chimed in saying that these prices are the company cushioning itself from the tariffs’ effects. Which may very well be true, but as I mentioned earlier, the discerning customer is going to start asking questions like “is this really worth this much?” regardless of what happens behind the scenes.
Or maybe they won’t, and will just devolve into the mindless masses that companies call consumers. As an analyst quoted by Bloomberg previously said, Nintendo “will sell boatloads of the Switch 2 in the first months in particular, almost regardless of price”.
And on that bombshell…
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Telegram for more updates and breaking news.
