Just a mere hour ago, we revealed that the Nintendo Switch would launch on March 3rd for $469.95 in two wonderful SKUs. Obviously, before the Nintendo Switch launch, many (including us) were predicting the Nintendo Switch to come out for $350-399 in Australia. That might have been a little bit hasty as the Nintendo Switch is packing some incredible tech in the box.
However, just based on us sending out the information, we’re already seeing a lot of backlash from gamers. Some are upset on the price, and some are confused about why it cost so much in comparison to other countries.
It’s actually not that unreasonable when you convert from the $299 USD American price either. $299 USD converts to $399 AUD. Once you add American tax or GST, it honestly ends up not being much worse than the American price.
Nintendo have made some pretty good early impressions with the Nintendo Switch. Sure, we were expecting to have more games to play sooner, but the tech is not even comparable to that of the Wii U, and it’s a more exciting concept than what other developers are serving us at the moment.
We ran a poll as soon as the pricing was announced and quite now, the results are interesting but no really surprising.
A barrage of tweets has revealed much the same.
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The problem is that for the same price or cheaper I can get either a ps4 or xbox one with multiple games. Both powerful, proven systems with a good amount of 3rd party support and an existing library of games.
Or I can pay $470 for a weaker console (the hardware is modified but the tegra x1 isn't new) with unproven 3rd party support and 2 games at launch. 1 gimmicky and 1 amazing that is available on the wii u.
Come on people, it's the 'Australia tax', pretty much ALL tech that comes into Australia does so at an inflated price, even software. Stop pretending it has valid reasons other than PROFIT.
People fail to realise that the US has state based goods taxes which differ by state so $299 is actually the before tax price. Factor that in and the US and AU prices are on parity. Having said that, it is still too expensive for me when you can buy XB1 or PS4 with 3 games for under $450 in Aus.
Incredible tech? Uwotm8 ?
I don't understand I'm just a little kid but wouldn't shipping come into play aswell and didn't you hear there is no region locking for the switch so buy one from America
I think stores will overstock, casual gamers and families will baulk at the price (how many kids are single child households - it will be very expensive very quickly and you can't buy only 1) and then stores will discount to get rid of stock. I'll wait until the price drops or not buy at all.