Ignoring the price change itself. The original switch launched March 3, 2017. The only excuse for this thing costing more than about 90 usd pre-tarrifs is due to the outdated hardware being so old and hard to get (though knowing nintendo they have tooling in-house for “reasons”).
Do people just seriously not give a fuck and buy this ancient thing because of the exclusive games? I mean, I get it, nintendo are royal pieces of shit for locking all their games down inside of a captive platform. But that’s a great reason not to buy this shit.
Regular reminder that prices are not based on what something’s component pieces are worth, but what people are willing to pay.
I know our house got it bc we wanted to play Animal Crossing. A lot of homes get a Switch 1 because it makes the most sense for kids, especially after the durable Switch Lite came out. It’s just cheaper and easier-to-use than competing devices. The only real competition is phones and iPads, and smart parents know that games on those devices can be predatory in a way that Switch games usually aren’t. I know it’s not exactly as black-and-white as that, but I think a lot of parents see it that way.
Do people just seriously not give a fuck and buy this ancient thing because of the exclusive games?
This is pretty much true of all consoles. People play games, not consoles, and they’ll use whatever hardware they need to.
I mean, I get it, nintendo are royal pieces of shit for locking all their games down inside of a captive platform. But that’s a great reason not to buy this shit.
Again, universally true of consoles, though unlike Xbox where games have become more and more crossplatform, or PS where some games are getting licensed for PC ports, Nintendo’s head is so far up its own ass that it won’t even let you record gameplay without worrying about a DMCA.
Fuck Nintendo, but for the same reason as Oracle: because they spend more on lawyers than the people who actually do the work creating something. Also, they could use some modern hardware for a change instead of always being multiple generations behind.
Is it Nintendo? It looks like consumers just pay Trump’s tariffs. In the end that’s just taxes.
Fucking thing is 8 years old. That is now going to cost more than 8 years ago. Sure blame tarrifs, but it should be at least $100 cheaper now than launch.
I think it’s Nintendo being Nintendo and in general, a company being a company. The tariffs will be used as an excuse to raise the prices but even if they’d go away, the prices won’t come down. Because why would they? They got away with it. Might as well continue.
We see this trick over and over again. Usually it’s inflation. Oh, we need to raise our prices because of inflation and then inflation goes down but the prices don’t.
What if inflation goes down?
Price × 1.05 × 1.03 × 1.01… is still larger than the initial price.
Unless there is deflation, prices always go up.
Oh, we need to raise our prices because of inflation and then inflation goes down but the prices don’t.
I mean, this is literally how inflation works. Inflation rates go down, but things don’t magically become cheaper again. It just doesn’t get more expensive as quickly. If they raise prices over what you’re willing to pay, then don’t buy it. That’s how prices drop.
Is it bullshit? Absolutely, no argument there. That’s just how things work unfortunately.
While it hasn’t yet specified whether this means prices will decrease or increase
Dangerous headline, especially for reporting on such a notoriously litigious company.
