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The Nintendo Switch trailer had some time to sink in with the crowd since October 20, which Robin and Sharn uploaded an article on as soon as the announcement trailer went live. And recently, we learned a bit more about the new home/portable console coming next year, thanks to an excited giraffe in Canada. The Toys “R” Us Canada website had a page ready to go with a price of $329.99 CAD (about $240 USD). And a moment later the web page was taken down. At the moment, no other video game retailer has commented on the sale price of the Nintendo Switch.

Screenshot found at GSMarena. No other retailer has mentioned its sale price.

Before I comment on what I believe what happened, I should express that we shouldn’t take this as an indication of an early release. By giving the Nintendo Switch an early release far from its actual date, if the SEGA Saturn taught us this lesson, third-party developers would be under pressure for upcoming games for that system, creating a lackluster library let alone poor-quality games. However, considering that Nintendo has a list of third-party support, between game developers and software/utility engineers, I doubt Tatsumi Kimishima (President of Nintendo of Japan) would let a botch up like that happen.

So why is there a page for the Nintendo Switch already on the Canadian Toys “R” Us website? I came to the conclusion that they whipped up a placeholder for the Nintendo Switch so it would be ready before they had any final confirmations. When the folder was uploaded onto the server, a site moderator may have accidentally set it to live and took it down shortly after they realized what happened.

And just like that it’s gone.

Nevertheless, let’s talk about the price for one of these hybrids. If this is the final sale price for a Nintendo Switch, then it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Personally, I thought it was going to be pricey with the range of $400 USD or more, but this looks reasonable. And I can already tell what some people are thinking: “$240 USD? The hardware must be old and lackluster compared to the Xbone and PS4.” But the way I see it’s a good thing that it may end up this cheap. This is going to double as a home console and a portable handheld hybrid. Would you want to lug around a $400-$500 gaming console like a Nintendo 3DS or PS Vita? No, you would leave it at home duct-taped to the dock, defeating the purpose of the design.

In conclusion, this just looked like a mistake when they were setting up the page for the website. The page may be gone but it gave us an estimate of how much the Nintendo Switch, and while the price tag may show how underpowered, some of us didn’t want it to be but at least it’s affordable. And that affordability comes with the value of not panicking every minute when having an outing with the Switch.

And with that said, what´s your take on this matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!

Source:
Nintendo Switch – A reaction to Nintendo´s upcoming console
Nintendo will drop more news about the Switch on the 13th of January
The Toys “R” Us Canada
gsmarena

Credit:
Robin Ek – Editor

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.