I saw a picture on reddit this morning of a Walmart pre-sale sticker listing the Switch price at $399.99 USD. I think if this is real, that is a fair price to ask for a device the is both a home console and a portable console. Although I would much prefer $299.99. $299.99 or $249.99 is a day 1 purchase for me. If it's $399.99, I will definitely wait to hear some impressions before I jump in at that price.

What are everyone else's thoughts on this price point if its true?

I'm trying to find the picture but I'm having issues. I will post it as soon as I find it. (assuming it hasn't been removed already)

Na, I think that's high for the young audience Nintendo relies on. The more expensive it is, less it makes sense as a handheld:

@holycrapitsadam: Here's the image you're on about

@jesus_phish: Thank you. I couldn't find it for the life of me

@liquiddragon You are not wrong but at the same time, I personally don't plan on using it as a portable device much anyways. Just nice to have the option. Who knows, if this is the real price and sales are slow, maybe we will have another 3DS situation on our hands where Nintendo drops the price significantly a couple months after release.

Welp, if that's the case another nintendo console to pass on for me lol.

No thanks. Based on the current info that's way too much for not nearly enough.

In all honesty I didn't grow up with Nintendo stuff, so I'm probably not the target market. That's 400 USD (I'm up in Canada so it's probably closer to 500CAD) that I could use for something way more useful (like a GTX 1070 or a PS Pro).

Has to be fake. They'd be crazy to price they're console like that for something that is supposed to replace both their home and handheld consoles.

Having worked at Walmart, you can put anything you want on those tags. Especially if you're management. They would absolutely never print a price tag out on 1/10 when the release date isn't even out yet. You would print the basic shelf tags when you actually set up the shelving mod. Meaning the night of release or a few days before. Not saying it can't be true, but the past walmart worker in me is calling bullshit. I could have printed a tag for Jif peanut butter at 99.99 and gone on the Internet claiming that Jif will be raising their price soon if I had wanted.

@liquiddragon:I've no figures and I'd love to see them but I'm going to guess that Nintendo's primary audience are no longer kids and that it hasn't been for a while. I'd say there are more adults playing things like Pokemon and Zelda on Nintendo devices as kids doing it.

Anecdotally, I've several nieces and nephews and younger cousins. None of them own a Nintendo device other than a Wii, which was mostly bought by their parents as a party device/Wii Sports device. None of them have DS's or WiiU's. None of them really care who Mario or Zelda are. They have tablet computers and 360's that they play Minecraft on. On the other hand, most of my friends who span an age gap between 34 and 35 and who grew up with either a NES, SNES or N64 and who had a Gameboy or two of some description are the ones still buying Nintendo hardware and Pokemon games.

I really hope not ?

Trolls work at Walmart too.

That must be some sort of provisional price. I can not imagine the Switch retailing for more than the PS4 or Xbox One. 299 or 249 seems realistic to me.

I... really hope that fake. I'm down with what the Switch is offering, but that price is a day one (even year one) no go for me. We'll (hopefully) find out soon.

349 is a no

299 makes me think and debate about getting one

249 I'm there day 1 no question

I think it's fake. Seems like anyone can type anything on those tags. Plus why would they be printing them three months before they're shipped. But yes, $399 is too much. Why I like playing Nintendo games I already have so much to play on Xbox One. I don't see myself buying another console.

400 bucks and I see this thing collapsing out of the gate

Basically my feelings too. $399 seems like it would be complete suicide unless that's a bundle that includes like 4 games.

At $400 you'll have the same issue the 3DS did at launch. It'll come out and then drastically drop months later.

That being said, I think this is fake. I think it'll be $249 for a base model, $299 for a bundle-esque pro model.

@jesus_phish: Right, without numbers, I'm just taking an educated guess. In my view, if you got that many friends in your mid-30s, you're way too close to this thing (video games) like I am. When I lived in NYC, I saw countless school kids with 3DS' on the subway. It's true that the mobile/tablet market satiates a ton of the casual and young audience but I think there is a silence majority that's at the base of Nintendo's foundation. It's the reason why Nintendo's systems seem so ass backwards to people like us and it's the reason why so many of are tired of what Nintendo serves up year after year.

Regardless, I pay attention to prices a ton and PS4/XBO has been floating at $250 + some bouns (i.e. gift cards, extra controller, or extra game) for a good minute. $400 just will not do because if I'm right, it's too expensive and if you're right, were looking at the Switch as a 2nd or even 3rd console which makes that price tag highly unattractive. This is it for Nintendo, they need this thing to hit and they need to be super competitive. But who knows, I could be dead off.

@holycrapitsadam: I think the key word in your comment is "I". You're a core audience. How you'll use it, how the system fits into your life is just a piece of the puzzle. Look at the whole picture much broader.

Yeah I think that's fake as well. At most it will be $350. Honestly I'd be surprised if it wasn't $350. Let's not forget how greedy Nintendo is.

Stores here often overprice upcoming consoles just so that if you do pre-order/purchase them before a price has been announced, they can easily refund the rest of the sum to you. Like in our case the Switch was listed at 5000 nok (580 usd).

callin it as i originally did- this thing's gonna be 3 hundo. start high and work your way low. 250 seems optimistic.

4 hundo is a no go.

There's only one price I'd be happy with.

@liquiddragon: I agree with you about the price being too high and I didn't make that clear. If it is aimed at kids, parent's aren't buying this for them. If it's not aimed at kids and again at this stage I think there are more people who would be classed as adults interested in it, only the most hardcore Nintendo fans are going to be looking to get it out of the gate - look how well that did for the Wii U.

I don't see many people playing anything but mobile phone games on buses, I play a Vita regularly on one, but handhelds just aren't used much here (Ireland) as they seem to be in the US. I do work at conventions though (comic/anime) with a wide range of attendants. Anytime I see a Nintendo console at those it's usually in the hands of someone who can legally drink.

Nintendo games are certainly for the most part child friendly for sure though.

The PS4 launched for $399 and people bought that just fine. Sell it for that with a game bundled in at launch to soften the blow.

Then cut the price six months later for the holidays.

I don't think it's actually going to launch for that much but it's not an unprecedented launch price.

@paulmako: The big difference is the switch is not even as powerful as a PS4 is, you can charge a premium when there is that hardware jump to justify it. Where as Nintendo is coming off 2 straight consoles that got very little 3rd party support hat was worth a damn.

It super wouldn't surprise me if that 399 price was part of a bundle instead of just the unit itself.

Some of y'all are getting worked by some GAF kid that works at Walmart. It takes nothing to print out those things.

It says Pre-Sell, so I'm guessing you can buy it now for that price and then they just pay you back the difference at launch?

I would very much consider it at $249. Once you get higher it's not worth it to me. I haven't had a Nintendo console in years and the only thing that would make me jump on this is a nice price.

There was supposedly a Best Buy price leak @$249.99 which is more in line with the earlier rumored pricing.

Only ~36 more hours until all the leaks/rumors can be confirmed/denied.

If it's over 250, I don't want it.

@jesus_phish: hmm, it's interesting and pretty cool we have such different perspectives on this. We'll be able to debate all day on this 'cause you're probably not lying about your experience and neither am I, so it comes down which one is more in line with a demographic that'll never come to a site like GB. I think again, if you're talking people at conventions, you're looking at a group of folks knee deep in this shit, not representative of a broader crowd. And I don't have a good grasp on Europe as a whole but I'm guessing Ireland is one of the smaller viable markets out there so it's hard to say how it relates to a global scene. Maybe you're right 'cause your older and you're around more people with kids but I'm thinking what I saw in NYC grafts better on to the bigger picture.

Also having worked at Walmart I can confirm this. Probably someone in the electronics department trying to play a joke on the internet.

i do love some people's value propositions on nintendo hardware (though i feel they wouldn't think it was worth it even if they were giving them away).

that said from all i've heard that seems a touch steep, particulary for the markets theyre trying to hit. it may be a bundle deal, though.

It can't be.

Even Nintendo would have to realize that would be a terrible idea.

There have been leaked prices of $249 the seem creditable and I think that would be a more logical and this believable price. And I say that as someone who has really no interest in seeing it either succeed or fail. There is already too "fake news" without trying to spread it here among ourselves.

$299.99 seems like the right price for it. I skipped the Wii U and definitely wanna get the Switch, but anything above that would make it a lot harder to own. I don't think the $249.99 rumors are feasible, but if that's what it ends up costing, I'm all for it!

That's almost definitely a fake.

It's a fake at worst, a placeholder price at best. I think the Switch either launches at $250 or $300.

That would be insane. Dead on arrival.

Didn't the Xbox 360 launch at $399? At some point inflation by 2017 has gotta make $399 a pretty slim profit for companies making electronics. I would be shocked if it debuted at less than $349, personally. It does make it tough for me to justify since my finances are light at the moment of true.

Those labels are super easy to fake for any retail employee btw, we had machines you could just key changes into and print new ones, so if that is the only pic I would take it with a truck load of salt

I would hope not. This is a system that tried to impress us by showing off that it could play a 5-6 year old Bethesda game. I wouldn't even touch it unless I felt Nintendo had more in store for it third party-wise. Promise us better software is on the way and release it timely and I may pick one up later. I doubt that'll actually happen, but I dunno.

Can we lock this thread?

Also: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5n79w7/nintendo_switch_us_price_leak/?st=ixryqdax&sh=1b18266b

This has been quickly debunked, someone who works for a retailer posted just how easy it is to make a price tag like that one.

You only have a few days to wait, stop panicking and stop believing everything you see on the internet. You'll know soon enough.

@jesus_phish: Agreed. As much as Nintendo might like to think that they can Disney and keep targeting children, the real audience that cares anything about Mario, Zelda, etc. are we 30-40 something's who grew up in the 70's and 80's and played those games their whole life.

So this was all bullshit that got people's panties in a bunch for no reason? I think I can wait a day for the real Nintendo press conference on the Switch.

First of all, obviously fake.

Second of all, it can't be 399 because that is way too much for the target audience they are going for. They are not targeting hardcore gamers. They are going after that Wii money in a more nuanced way. It needs to be on the cheaper side. 299 is the highest price they can go for, but I bet it will be even cheaper than that. 249 seems like a good bet to me.

@andythemez that will never happen for obvious reasons. Nintendo can't compete on that front and Nintendo doesn't even work off 3rd party titles. It would be the worst move they could possibly make.