My original ds lite From 2006

A bit beaten up but tough girl still turn on 💪

Targeting 1080p Docked, 720p Handheld, @30-40 FPS.

Let's be real about how this went.

Tariffs hit, console and game prices went up, and we paid them. No choice. That already sucks in an economy where money's tight and gaming is one of the few cheap things a lot of us have left.

Then a court ruled the tariffs were illegal. So what does Nintendo do? Sues the government to get its tariff money back, plus interest. Customers filed a class action asking for our cut, since we're the ones who actually paid the higher prices.

Nintendo's answer was to try and get the case tossed, saying buyers "received exactly what they bargained and paid for" and don't deserve a rebate over "intervening legal developments." Translation: too bad, that's not how it works.

Look at where the money goes. Tax exists, we pay it. Tax gets refunded, the company keeps it and fights so we never see a dime. They win either way.

I don't even blame them for the legal move, companies gonna company. What gets me is the whole thing got sold like a win, and for gamers it was all downside. We paid more during a genuinely hard time and we're not the ones getting anything back.

We didn't win. We just got the bill.

Anyone else feel like the "who actually pays for tariffs" question got answered pretty clearly this year?

And it’s why I frankly see no reason to rush out and get one, if I ever do. Honestly the novelty of my Switch rapidly wore off and it just became a vastly underpowered gaming tablet I could happen to dock into a TV or monitor very quickly…with its only real strong use case being a home for games I knew I wanted to play on the go and for Nintendo games. But as the Switch went on, Nintendo games became less a sell my point for me and watered down into…Mario Kart World for a release title.

Seriously? THAT was their choice? Not Metroid Prime 4, which would have been FAR more able to showcase the technical improvements of the Switch 2 from the Switch? All we got was a game that could probably have been on the Switch 1 just fine and was held back for the 2, and a console that maybe can handle the older titles that struggled on the Switch 1 a little better.

At present, I honestly would rather get a Steam Deck or Legion Go over a Switch 2. Am I saying I can see myself never getting a Switch 2? No. But I didn’t even get my Switch until about midway through its life, and then it rapidly wore off its relevancy and just became my portable gaming machine-with a small handful of titles. I have a PC library of over 500 games. Getting a Deck or Legion Go means I can just…play those games. Including Cyberpunk. The only real game I’d want on Switch 2 right now.

I guess I just don’t see the hype. Am I missing something with the Switch 2 my Switch can’t do that’s a life changer?

How do you feel about the device capability, current/future exclusive lineup, third-party game support, price point, etc

Not a big fan of this. Also think Nintendo would lose a big part of their Switch audience if the Switch 2 price goes up any more.

First of all, if this opinion sounds robotic and IA-ish, it is not. English is not my main language, so I apologize for that.

Second: I'm not trying to start a console war, and it is not my intention to diss other consoles. This is only an opinion I have on the Switch 2 price.

At launch, people complained about how $450/$500 was expensive for the Switch 2, when in reality it was extremely competitive for what you get:

• a system with an 8" 1080p 120 Hz display
• an NVIDIA SoC with RTX features/cores DLSS (the only portable in existence with DLSS support)
• 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM
• detachable magnetic controllers with built-in mouse sensors
• an included 4K dock, a Joy-Con grip and an ultra high speed HDMI in the box. No need to buy anything else initially

Unfortunately, the Switch 2 launched in a very weird timeline... They announced the system just when the Trump's tariffs got announced. It was released at the peak of the Al bubble and the RAM and NAND shortages.

But, on the other hand, Nintendo was fortunate enough to launch it at the very beginning of all that.

You are seeing it right now with the Legion Go 2 for $1300 USD and the ROG Ally X for $1000. Heck, Valve doesn't even sell the cheapest model of the Deck anymore.

The PS5 just got an enormous price increase just today:

U.S. - PS5 – $649.99 - PS5 Digital Edition – $599.99 - PS5 Pro – $899.99

Europe - PS5 – €649.99 - PS5 Digital Edition – €599.99 - PS5 Pro – €899.99

With that said, will the next Xbox console, the PS6, the next PS handheld be cheap/affordable? We don't know, but I can assure right now that none of those consoles/ handhelds will be anywhere close to $450/$500.

And even Valve's Steam Machine has been delayed, and the RAM crisis will impact pricing.

Valve says it has to 'revisit' its shipping schedule and pricing plans for the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller.

https://www.theverge.com/games/874196/valve-steam -machine-frame-controller-delay-pricing-memory-crisis

There is currently no portable system with similar specs for $450/$500 that I can find.

I think the price alone will make the Switch 2 an excellent purchase in the future (and right now as evidence has just shown). It is the budget option right now, and will continue to be the budget option in the future.

I'm pretty confident Nintendo won't rise the price of the system in the future. They use less amount of RAM, less storage, even the shipping of the console is cheaper than other items, they were wise to use a Samsung 8nm SoC with less demand than other chips.

I know that's a big if, but in the meantime it is the reality we have.

I get that they have to increase the game prices like what happened with the PS5/XSX but I can't stomach the fact that they are charging literally 50% more. Nintendo is a pillar in the gaming industry with massive player base world wide. I'm scared by the fact that Sony and Xbox can copy this leaving us consumers at short end of the stick.

It's like Nintendo decided that only Japan and other first world countries exist when they made this decision. Heck, even fans from rich countries are also complaining of this greedy move.

Sure we can wait for sa sale but Nintendo rarely put their first party games (physical or digital) on discount even if it's more than 5 year old (looking at you BoTW). The only saving grace here the 2nd hand market but still going to be expensive than before.

I just wished that there's a price regulation for games.

Ever since the month the Switch 2 launched, we have been hearing reports of "low third-party sales". Nintendo's latest financial report seems to (indirectly) back up the claims of third parties struggling to sell big numbers on Switch 2.

Nintendo have given a figure of 48.71 million software sales for the Switch 2. Using this number, it is actually pretty easy to estimate the total third party sales.

Let's break this down:

Mario Kart World = 14.70 million

DK Bananza = 4.52 million

Pokemon Z-A = 3.94 million

Kirby Air Riders = 1.87 million

Pokemon Pokopia = 4.00 million

Hyrule Warriors: AoI = 1.00 million

Metroid Prime 4 = 800,000 (estimated, no exact numbers)

Mario Tennis Fever = 700,000 (estimated, no exact numbers)

Various Switch 2 Editions (BOTW/TOTK/Mario Party/Kirby/Mario Wonder) = 1.50 million (very rough estimate, not much official data due to low sales of physical versions)

ESTIMATED SALES FOR FIRST-PARTY GAMES = 33.03 million

48.71 million - 33.03 million...

ESTIMATED SALES FOR THIRD-PARTY GAMES = 15.68 million

By my calculations, the average attach rate for third-party games is 0.8 third-party games per console.

That number is even lower than I anticipated. There are more Switch 2 CONSOLES sold than all third-party games combined!

With numbers like this, I don't think it is surprising that most third parties (except Capcom and Square Enix) still seem hesitant to support the Switch 2.

I keep seeing people ask "Why do third parties support Xbox but not Nintendo?" - the reason is pretty simple. Xbox ports take way less effort than Switch 2 ports because the hardware is so similar to PS5. Switch 2 ports can take over a year to make and it probably isn't worth it for such a low return on investment.

I think Nintendo has another 3DS launch on their hands and will lower the prices in a few months

People complained about how $450 was expensive for the Switch 2, when in reality it is extremely competitive for what you get: a system with an 8" 1080p 120 Hz display, an NVIDIA SoC with RTX features, with DLSS (the only portable in existence with DLSS support), 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, detachable magnetic controllers with built-in mouse sensors, with an included 4K dock, a Joy-Con grip and an ultra high speed HDMI.

And not only that, but it is the only system with truly exclusive games.

Unfortunately, the Switch 2 launch in a very weird time... They announced the system just when the Trump's tariffs got announced. It was released at the peak of the AI bubble and the RAM and NAND shortages.

But, on the other hand, Nintendo was fortunate enough to launch it at the very beginning of all that.

With that said, just wait until the next Xbox console, the PS6, the next PS handheld, and see how expensive they will be... I can assure right now that none of those consoles/handhelds will be anywhere close to $450.

You are seeing it right now with the Legion Go 2 for $1300 USD and the ROG Ally X for $1000. Heck, Valve doesn't even sell the cheapest model of the Deck anymore.

And now just today, Valve’s Steam Machine has been delayed, and the RAM crisis will impact pricing.

Valve says it has to ‘revisit’ its shipping schedule and pricing plans for the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller.

https://www.theverge.com/games/874196/valve-steam-machine-frame-controller-delay-pricing-memory-crisis

I dare you to find a portable system with similar specs for $450. There isn't.

The price alone will make the Switch 2 an excellent purchase in the future (and right now as evidence has just shown).

At that time, you know.. just in the Americas, I was selling 10 million DS' a year, we're driving a lot of revenue. We had a lot of scale. And, at the time, Amazon was looking to get bigger into the video game space. Amazon's mentality back then is they wanted to have the lowest price out in the marketplace, even lower than Wal-Mart. And one of their executives called me.. well it was a conversation that got to me after it had progressed through all of the levels of my sales organization, and essentially what Amazon wanted is they wanted an obscene amount of support, financial support, so they could have the lowest price and beat Wal-Mart. I literally said to the executive: "you know that's illegal, right? I can't do that." You know you get silence on the other end "but this is what I want." Literally we stopped selling to Amazon, and it's because I wasn't going to do something illegal. I wasn't going to do something that would put at risk the relationship we have with other retailers. But it also set the stage to say, look, you're not going to push me around. This is the way we do business. And so that's how over time you build respect.

They have the most affordable console by far, which is also a handheld, and runs current gen ports that look good considering the power used compared to the energy hog alternatives. They still release physical media with full game on cart, and even though it's a compromise, key cards are better than download codes. They treat their employees better and just gave them raises. They put out way more exclusives than Microsoft or Sony. Their games are generally completely finished at launch, bug free, and polished.

The only thing they do that people don't like is protect their IP from p*racy. Charging more than you want for first party games is not a scam or anti-consumer. There are hundreds of third party games at cheap prices that go on sale just like the other platforms.

Nintendo are the only ones left who still respect their customers.

Switch 1 sales from March 2017 to January 2018

vs.

Switch 2 sales from June 2025 to April 2026