We’re Not Getting a 2024 Switch Price Cut Are We? – Editorial
A strong Nintendo Direct showing recontextualizes the Switch’s entire 2024.
Before the morning of June 18, 2024, the unspoken vibe I was picking up was that 2024 would be Nintendo stretching their product line up with niche intellectual properties and ports and remakes of older games.
In that frame of mind, I thought that maybe, just maybe, the long awaited Switch price cut might finally appear this fall. Surely a lower intensity software schedule might mean Nintendo would have to finally lower the Switch’s base sale price to hit their forecast of 13.5 million hardware units sold this fiscal year. By all rights, the Switch should be on its last legs seven years after its debut.
But now I know that in 2024 the Switch is getting a NEW Zelda game (in 2D and where you play as Zelda finally!) in September, a NEW Mario Party game in October, and a NEW Mario (+ Luigi RPG) game in November. These are brand new games that aim to find and build new audiences, not preside over an organized retreat.
Plus anyone looking to buy a Switch can still explore one of the strongest Nintendo console back catalogs you could wish for, or peruse a continuing stream of new third-party treats (like Ace Attorney Investigations Collection from Capcom – half of which never released outside of Japan – or Dragon Quest III HD-2D from Square Enix).
And there’s still the promise of Metroid Prime 4 bringing its prestige lineage to the Switch in 2025, so Switch buyers now know that the console’s future will extend beyond just this holiday shopping season.
Is a price drop still possible? Sure, heck, yeah, maybe. But to me its likelihood has been decimated. I believe Nintendo will try to sell the Switch for the next 9 months at full price solely on the proposition that people will want to play Switch games that much.
But what does that mean if we sail into April 2025 and the Switch is still full price? That raises new questions: will Nintendo finally drop the Switch price when its successor comes out? Or will the “Switch 2” have an even higher price tag and give room for its Nintendo’s hybrid console to sail into year 8 still defying the ravages of time and price drops?
Ouch. My wallet is already feeling the pain from the holiday season… and (Metroid Prime 4) Beyond.
