Hardware The Switch technically could be sold at a low price

[Saiyan Lusitano]

Using the GBP (UK) retail prices for this comparison:

Dock (Inc. HDMI + AC) - £79.99
Joy-Con Pair - £79.99
Grip (Default, No Charging) - £9.99

Total: £169.97

Retail Switch Price - £279.99

Price A) Final total: £110.02 (round up at $140) - Only the Switch by itself
Price B) Final total: £190.01 (round up at $240) - Switch w/ Joy-Cons

While I'm sure Price A wouldn't work due to selling the Switch solely would be a bad call, the second price, Price B could definitely work as there's customers who just want the Switch with its default controllers.

And for those that may bring up the AC charger.. you know, Nintendo could just sell it separately like they've done with the 3DS.

Anyway, with the reports of the "Switch Mini" it could be the answer to this.

 

[DiscostewSM]

That's not how it works.

 

[smileyhead]

but Niny has to make profit.

 

[Snitzle]

No company would ever sell lower than they possibly could get away with, otherwise what's the point? Business aren't designed to give things away at the sum of their parts + labour cost.

 

[Proust]

If the retail price is £279.99 in the UK, you better complain to your retailer and not to Ninty...

 

[Kioku]

Your math sucks...

How much do you think the tablet itself is worth?

 

[tech3475]

You're forgetting that the accessories are likely including profit (especially the dock which is just some plastic and a USB hub/HDMI encoder) and USB-C chargers aren't common and Nintendo don't have the 'upgrade' excuse.

I doubt we'll see a 'basic' system since anytime soon since it's likely that there wouldn't much of a difference since the console likely makes up most of the price.

If we see a cut-price version, I can see it being some kind of 'Switch TV' similar to the Vita TV.

No company would ever sell lower than they possibly could get away with, otherwise what's the point? Business aren't designed to give things away and the sum of their parts + labour cost.

There is the Razor and Blade model which is where you sell the initial product below value and try to make it back through additional sales.

In the case of consoles, you'd make it back through games and services.

If the retail price is £279.99 in the UK, you better complain to your retailer and not to Ninty...

Except that's the price set by Nintendo, or at least the RRP.

 

[DudFunk]

Ninty did a great job providing what they did at the price they did, it's not unreasonably priced (would have been nice to get a game with it but we didn't, life goes on!)

At the end of the day this is a luxury product, a toy, if companies can't profit you will never get another toy again. God bless Capitalism!

 

[Proust]

Except that's the price set by Nintendo, or at least the RRP.

My bad, didn't know the UK received a RRP. The Continent didn't receive a RRP at release. Glad to have bought a Switch for 289 euro from a French retailer.

 

[ktomi96]

AC was mandetory for them to include.As its nearly custom.You cant just hook a radnom usb-c charger to the switch as its need the same watt outputage.Yeah sure it was expensive it was almoste £300 for the switch only in my country , not to meantion most street cleaner in any eu country gets more salery then a engineer in my country.But in the end it was still worth it for me

 

[Hanafuda]

Ninty did a great job providing what they did at the price they did, it's not unreasonably priced (would have been nice to get a game with it but we didn't, life goes on!)

At the end of the day this is a luxury product, a toy, if companies can't profit you will never get another toy again. God bless Capitalism!

Yass!!!!!!

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

Your math sucks...

My maths sucks? What? The conversion rate was made by XE.

How much do you think the tablet itself is worth?

Not the point. I used retail prices.

You're forgetting that the accessories are likely including profit

Yeah, those accessories are something that people wouldn't really buy unless they were forced to, i.e., bundled.

 

[smf]

Using the GBP (UK) retail prices for this comparison:

Dock (Inc. HDMI + AC) - £79.99
Joy-Con Pair - £79.99
Grip (Default, No Charging) - £9.99

Total: £169.97

Retail Switch Price - £279.99

Price A) Final total: £110.02 (round up at $140) - Only the Switch by itself
Price B) Final total: £190.01 (round up at $240) - Switch w/ Joy-Cons

While I'm sure Price A wouldn't work due to selling the Switch solely would be a bad call, the second price, Price B could definitely work as there's customers who just want the Switch with its default controllers.

You cannot compare prices like that at all. The profit margin on the accessories is huge, because they won't sell many & so they need to bribe the stores to stock them.

A shop might sell a ten pack of chocolate bars for only double the price of a single bar, you can't then say you want 8 for free because you've deducted the price of two bars. Which is essentially your argument.

If they sold the switch by itself then to get stores to stock it the profit would have to be much higher than the switch with accessories as nobody would buy it, which would make the cost the same (or higher).

 

[Kioku]

My maths sucks? What? The conversion rate was made by XE.


Not the point. I used retail prices.


Yeah, those accessories are something that people wouldn't really buy unless they were forced to, i.e., bundled.

Not the point? Then what's the point? You're basing your opinion on retail prices while neglecting any possible price on the tablet. Not surprising in the least, but you can't say "Nintendo can sell it cheaper" based on your guesses.

 

[dubbz82]

Nintendo very likely COULD sell it cheaper, but not with the broken logic in the original post.

 

[anhminh]

Well, they not only need money to make the Switch, they also need money for profit, advertisement, distribution and most of all, for capital accumulation so they can re-investment in different things too, like making game or hotel business.

 

[delete12345]

https://twitter.com/mochi_wsj/status/849248529373470720

I prefer a more trusted source from Wall Street Journal than this thread.

TL;DR - Nintendo Switch costs a total of $256.39 to manufacture. ($257)

 

[tech3475]

Not the point. I used retail prices.

Yeah, those accessories are something that people wouldn't really buy unless they were forced to, i.e., bundled.

But they may only be costing e.g. £30 to include them and the console is £249 otherwise.

Youre saying that theres a massive saving to be made when there likely isnt.

 

[Futurdreamz]

But seriously, it simply doesn't work that way. It's pretty obvious that the dock, joycons, and (non charge) grip cannot possibly be worth more than the console itself.

 

[sj33]

Many people in Japan are actually calling for Nintendo to release a basic package without the dock for closer to 20,000 yen. This makes perfect sense in Japan where handhelds are bigger than consoles. Indeed, my dock is packaged away in the box, I never use it. Many people in Japan will be stuck with a dock they will never use.

Nintendo won't do that however because they seem to be trying hard to promote it as a home console you can take with you, rather than a handheld.