The Nintendo Switch May Be Cheaper Than The Wii U

One of the talking points about the potential success of the Nintendo Switch oftentimes falls to the price: how much will the Switch cost? A lot of armchair analysts and investors are debating about what the sweet spot will be for the Nintendo Switch to sell like crazy, and some reports indicate that it might actually be cheaper than the Wii U.

Let's Play Video Games is reporting that the U.K., retailer GAME is set to price the Nintendo Switch at £199.99. They also claim that there will be a bundle pack with a game, but they weren't confident enough in the source to reveal what that game might be to publish the rumor. However, they do note that the price of the bundle pack would be £249.99.

The site has based this information on two sources they've talked to in the U.K., region about the matter. They've estimated by their own conversions that this could put the Nintendo Switch at a USD price of $249.99 and $299.99 respectively.

The $249.99 pack would simply come with the Nintendo Switch portable device, the docking station and the controller. The $299.99 bundle would come with a game.

For comparison, the Wii U launched back in the latter half of 2012 for $299.99 and $349.99. The $300 unit came with only 8GB of storage space while the $349.99 unit came with 32GB of storage space.

Essentially, if this report is true, then the Nintendo Switch would undercut the Wii U by $100 across the board when comparing the two different SKU models. This would also mean that the Nintendo Switch would launch at the same price as the original Wii back when it debuted during the holiday season of 2006 alongside the PS3.

The original Wii was Nintendo's golden child during the last few home console generations, moving well over a hundred million units globally. A lot of that was thanks in due part to a simple marketing message, the motion controller scheme and the fact that the Wii was only $249.99. A lot of people picked one up for their kids and the whole family because it was a cheap way to have some fun. During that time the recession was kicking into play, and a lot of people were scaling back on expenses, resulting in them settling for spending the holiday seasons indoors instead of out traveling. Some analysts pointed out that consoles and devices like the Wii were a cheaper alternative than heading out of state or out of country with the family.

For the Nintendo Switch, there's a strong possibility that Nintendo could strike gold again in the console market with a slick price and a focused message on what you can do with the Switch. Again, this is assuming that the $249.99 price conversion is accurate and if GAME really will be selling the console for that price.

There is one stipulation to this that could change up what the actual price is, though. According to Let's Play Video Games, Nintendo doesn't have a MSRP for their products in the U.K., so we can't know for sure if the price is actually a placeholder price from GAME or if it's just the price they're setting for the console in that region. It's also possible that a different price could be set in the U.S. rather than simply doing a currency conversion.

We'll have to wait until early January to learn more about the Nintendo Switch, where they'll hopefully reveal the final price point and more of its features.