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Nintendo has been grabbling with the price of the Switch ever since it announced it would cost 279 in the UK back in January. At this price, the console is more expensive than both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and it doesn’t have the added bonus of coming with a bundled pack-in title, either.
In terms of sheer horsepower, that makes the Switch look like a bit of a bad bet compared to its competitors, but Nintendo’s deputy general manager of entertainment planning and development Yoshiaki Koizumi has said he believes the quality of experience Nintendo’s packed into its new console is more than worth the price of entry, particularly when considering what’s on offer with the console’s Joy-Con controllers.
"When we talk about the Joy-Con, it’s important to convey that in this very small size and low weight piece of hardware there are a lot of different components, and many were very important to allow people to experience the different play-styles we’re going for in order to further the concept of how to reach more people with these different types of games," Koizumi said in an interview with The Telegraph.
"I think that after people experience they will understand the value of all that’s packed in there. So for those who are making these types of judgments right now, I ‘d really like them to have the opportunity to experience the console and to start thinking about the value of these experiences rather than some of the other factors like power."
Director and general manager of entertainment planning and development Shinya Takahashi added: "And of course we’ll continue to release games that will make people understand why we’ve created the Joy-Con in the way that we have as we release more and more games that take advantage of the functionality and understand that value."
When faced with criticism over the Switch’s rather slim launch line-up, Takahashi once again took a more long-term view to the console’s success.
"Certainly we look at it not just from the perspective of what are the games available on launch day but what we have from a line-up perspective not just from this year but into next year as well," said Takahashi. "This time we feel we’ve launched a system that has great games at launch in Zelda and 1-2-Switch but also a very strong line-up through the end of the year as well."
