When Nintendo announced the Switch 2 would cost $450, my initial reaction was disappointment. “Why does it cost so much more?†I thought to myself. “Why does Japan get it cheaper?†my brain jealously added, once I learned that Nintendo would sell a Japan-only model for the equivalent of just $333.
It felt like Nintendo was about to overcharge the entire rest of the world for a modest improvement to its original $300 console, one that doesn’t come with an OLED display or anti-drift magnetic sticks. Surely it can’t cost Nintendo that much more to make, especially seeing how it’s selling the exact same hardware for so much “less†in Japan?
But while Nintendo might be charging more than I’d like to spend, particularly with its $80 games and its button that makes you pay extra, I no longer think the company’s being distinctly unfair to gamers outside of Japan. The $450 price makes more sense when you consider what’s happened to the dollar and the yen.
Since its March 3rd, 2017, debut, Nintendo basically hasn’t changed the price of the original Switch in either the US or Japan. The portable console cost $300 USD or Â¥32,378 in 2017; it costs the same $300 …
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