The price of the NX is going to be hugely important.

Let's take a moment and think about a hard fact that Nintendo has to take into consideration.

The NX console is going to be released mid generation and will be competing against two consoles currently priced at $349.99 bundled with games. I also wouldn't be surprised if we saw one, or both of those consoles getting a $299.99 SKU by the end of 2016.

How on Earth can the NX succeed (Home Console platform) if its priced higher than the competition? A premium price wouldn't be a big deal if the NX was released at the tail end of the current generation, but all signs are pointing to a 2016 release. Let's also not forget that 2016 is looking to be a strong year for both the PS4 and XB1 in terms of software. I just don't see how Nintendo is going to have a successful launch. It would literally have to be an incredibly revolutionary product for people outside of the Nintendo hardcore base to even take notice.

And keep in mind NX was seen running "Demo" tech demos? Maybe not a real representation of in-game footage with AI and physics, etc?

It will be less than $400.

How can they put out a very powerful console (not saying they will) without it costing that much or more? Well if it doesn't have a hard drive or disc drive for one.

The lack of a HDD is a not a big issue, nobody's going to get by on Ps4's 500GB anyway so you have to buy something else. That's why Nintendo's idea with Wii U makes sense, just a bit of flash to get you started then you can spend whatever you want on external storage.

These days SD cards can hold plenty of data and I think they load instantly or close to it, and if the handheld and NX are going to share games then a cartridge format would make even more sense.

For me the controller is very important.

They are literally screwed if they price higher than $349.99. Nintendo exclusives are good but they are not THAT good. PS4 and Xbone will be hitting their stride next year and pricing the NX higher than them would be suicidal. Like you said OP, I even see MS pulling the trigger to $299 by holiday next year depending on how much Sony crushes them.

It's really not just "price", or at least it shouldn't be. People should really look at it in terms of price/performance.

I realize it doesn't always work out that way (though it has this gen). Wii-U had laughably bad price/performance ratio, and I think that was pretty much what killed it right out of the gate. It really depends on what Nintendo is aiming for, if Nintendo is just shooting for "parity" - then they will need price parity as well (with the PS4/XB1). The problem with Wii-U, was that it was closer to parity with the PS3/360 in terms of performance, but it was always priced closer to PS4/XB1. The original Wii was like $400 less than the PS3 when it came out, so obviously that was a totally different ballgame.

Basically if the system is PS4 level, except lacking a HDD, then they better be planning on a $299 launch price. If they actually make the system a nice little jump above the PS4, they could get away with $349 or even $399 pretty easily. However Nintendo might be reluctant to do that. But IMO it is a massive mistake if they come to the market late (yet again) with a system that is barely better than the previous gen. That would be the 3rd time in a row. Nintendo needs to do whatever they can to make sure the system is at least 25-50% better than the PS4. I honestly believe it would be reasonable for them to be able to do that with a $299 price at launch - the PS4 will have been out for like 3 or 4 years by the time the NX hits the market so the tech will be there.

it comes down to value.

this doesnt mean having a system with 32GB of ram and the equivelent of a 32 core xeon and quad titan Xs in the box for 300 quid (though it wouldnt hurt :P).

nintendo under charged for the wii at launch. they could have charged as much as an xbox 360 for it and it would have sold just as well (as could be seen by the crazy prices people were paying from resellers). the wii certinaly didnt have 250 quids worth of hardware in it. on the flip side the PS3 had around 800 quids worth of hardware in it and was sold for 600.....and people took no notice.

the wiiu does actually have hardware in it with a value fairly close to its asking price. nintendo had to sell it at a loss at launch (the only manufacturer to do so this gen i think). its streaming tech to the controller is the benchmark for streaming gaming content. but no one sees value in it so they are not going to pay. nintendo have done a very poor job arguing the case.

its the same with phones. there isnt a whole lot of expensive hardware in them but high end phones come with a big premium as people still see value in them.

the reason sony are doing so well this gen is that they have the clearest message and the best value proposition. it costs the same as, or less than, its main competitor, its easy to understand what it is, it gets the best version of multiplats most of the time (PC excluded) and it doesnt have any glaring defficencies. simples.

nintendo can charge what they like for their next console but they MUST justify the cost. it could be performance, it could be a brilliant new idea that has been expensive to implement but adds greatly to gaming or whatever but they have to justify it and it has to be clear and simple to see why this new thing is worth the cost. e.g. if nintendo are going to put 1000 quids worth of gaming grunt into their console then they have to have a game to show off just what this extra grunt can do. i.e. (assuming they do go with the above spec) they release with a big game with visuals that make star citizen look old and crap....at 4K 60FPS.

Well yeah, I mean if the System is $599.99 then we're obviously gonna have problems.

I think it will be $299 and 200% more powerful then the PS4. I think the NX handheld will be 250% more powerful then the Vita and cost $199. So for $500 you can get an epic top of the line bundle.

Honestly, it needs to cost the same as the PS4/XB1 to compete in 2016 - 2017. Nintendo will have to do the unthinkable and actually sell their console at a loss for the first time.

I seriously doubt the original Wii would have sold nearly as well if it were priced at $399.99 like the 360.

The low price was a huge factor on why the original Wii sold so damn well. It was only 2nd to the actual gimmick itself.

@emgesp: Im not sure they would sell at a lost. But they might depending on what they have planned. If i can play my same game on handheld or home console, it will sell like hotcakes.

The Wii U is more than 50% more capable than 360 (a more modern and 50% better gpu with more than twice as much usable memory), and that wasn't enough for "AAA" devs. Granted it has a worse cpu but in most games that doesn't matter, kinda like genesis vs. Snes. Of course the effort needs to be made to get the most out of its cpu which Acti and Ubi didn't want to do for example.

The cpu in NX has to be better than what in Ps4 since they're ditching their power PC architecture, so I think they need a gpu that's 3-4x what's in Ps4 and at a 14/16nm process that would be easily achievable if they wanted to do it.

Make that thing cost $600 dollars for all I care, as long as it's powerful enough to attract third party developers.

We all saw what happen to PS3 at launch and that didn't end well now did it?

@mesome713: 200% more powerful for $299? You realize that means 3x the capability - you think NX is going to be a 4K machine for $299? Good luck with that.

Though I think for $299 there should be no excuse at all to at least make it slightly more powerful - like 25%-50%. Sony was pretty conservative, and also built their console to be "profitable". So if we are coming out with something 3 or 4 years later, it shouldn't be that hard to comfortably make a console that can also be profitable AND more powerful at $299. The only hangup I can see is that Nintendo would want to throw some gimmick in there as an excuse to price it $100 more than it should be based on the rest of the hardware. Nintendo needs to drop the gimmicks and make their machine $249 or $299 and just have great games. Let the gimmicks be optional like they were in the old days (power glove, zapper, power pad)

How many people do you honestly believe would pay $599 for a Nintendo console? Shoot, that would alienate even the most hardcore Nintendo fans.

@2Chalupas: Will be like Gamecube all over again, people still wonder till this day how they made such a powerful machine for so cheap. The so called gimmick your thinking of this time will be sold separately in the form of a handheld.

Why buy both the NX handheld and NX console if the games run on either platform? Seems like the handheld would cannibalize the home console sales. Unless for some reason you need to own both.

@emgesp: Yeah I think NX should be $299 at launch.

Nah it'll just Alienate the Hardcore fans that don't have jobs and are struggling Students...

In otherwords I agree with you $599.99 would be awful.

No way could Nintendo release a console 3-4x more powerful than the PS4 in 2016 without willing to sell the console at a loss. 3 yr gap doesn't mean you get 3x-4x the performance at the same prices.

To have the best of both worlds. If i can play a bunch of games on two totally different devices, im freakin sold in a heart beat. You would have to be crazy to turn such a deal down. Play my Pokemon game on handheld or home console, sign me the heck up now, ill pay in blood.

@emgesp: Well like I said, if it's easily to port third party games and do whatever that the PS4/Xbox One can't do, then I can see them pricing between $400-500. $600 is just way too much for a gaming console to be honest.

Edit: Let's not forget that NX might be a hybrid handheld/console so pricing it like $500, I can understand and handhelds today's standard are not cheap anymore.

They could definitely do that (tech wise) - but IMO they would have to be willing to make the system at a loss for it it be $299. The PS4 itself will probably still be priced around $299 when the NX comes out.

Also I'm not sure the CPU didn't matter for the Wii-U, it seems that it's weakness (even weaker than 360) was a hangup. Hell, even the PS4 CPU is an issue for some devs. I'm no expert, and some of it probably could have been offloaded to the GPU if they optimized better, but we've heard repeatedly the CPU is a big issue (as to why some Wii-U games were even worse than 360 games, and also why some PS4 games are not as smooth as they could be).

As a gamer, obviously I hope Nintendo stuffs as much tech as they can into it and still comes up with a $299 price.

A $400 price during a mid generation launch would be suicidal, let alone $500. It also doesn't help that people don't associate Nintendo with premium level pricing.

Well for starters we don't know if it would launch in 2016 or 17, but that's exactly the kind of performance Nintendo can have for $400 with a disc drive and HDD (same price as launch Ps4). There'll have been a die shrink which doubles performance and before that it's doubled comparing AMD's fury achitecture to the 7xxx series. But like you said earlier they'll have to rush to do that if they want to launch in 2016.

It wouldn't have to be sold at a loss if it had no hard drive or disc drive.

It can't be more than $349, that would be them shooting themselves in the foot, yeah.

Yeah, Nintnedo would be on crack if the ONLY option for the NX is a $400 or $500 bundle with handheld. It would be like the Kinect bundle for $499 that got Microsoft killed at launch ($100 more than PS4).

It seems Nintendo can only be successful when their consoles are cheap, the sweetspot for console has always been $199-299 (PS4 is actually doing surprisingly well at $399, so for the first time the needle may have been moved to $399). Handheld seems to be $150.

Well they need to stop pulling a "scrooge McDuck" and sell their console at a loss if they want to compete with the competition.

I think $350 is doable for a mid gen launch, but only if its a noticeable improvement over the PS4. They need to advertise the fact that they will have all the superior ports of multiplats in the console space. 1080p 60fps could be a big selling point to get hardcore gamers on board and at $350 it would be a no brainer. I would definitely buy the NX if a good amount of multiplats were 1080p 60fps.

Nintendo won't have to compete with Sony and MS on price if they get the hardware right. If they produce a console that blows the PS4 away (as rumoured) and guarantee hugely superior multiplats and exclusives people will buy it. Hell, I'll buy it myself if it has great exclusives OUTSIDE of the standard Nintendo kiddy fare.

I don't believe for a second this will happen though. You're pretty much talking about Nintendo completely re-inventing itself and considering they've got everything completely fucking backwards in what seems like forever it's a bit of a stretch to put money on that happening.

600 is my limit but wouldn't mind if it was $500. I doubt it will be sub 350.

Well we have examples of games running better on Wii U than their last gen counterparts like need for speed U/Mass effect 3 (the latter just has the benefit of no tearing). EA was the only one to put a halfway decent effort into their ports, Call of duty and AC on Wii U had small teams and were obviously poorly coded. The CPU being weaker is an issue, but assuming a good effort is made it would only really matter in games with heavy physics.

I agree it should be $299 and then whatever tech is in the box will have to do.

If it launches in 2016 and is more than $300, I probably won't even look at it.

Nintendo is gonna have to work their magic and make a console that's more powerful than an Xbox One for that price.

I would like to see both a $299-$349 price tag AND respectable power. Power that would put the NX a full generation over the PS4/XONE, and not just a slight upgrade.

I'd be satisfied with a PS4.5. Expecting a full generation difference at $299.99 - $349.99 is just not realistic, especially for a potential 2016 launch.

If the rumors are true I'm surprised people are expecting it to be sub $350. It's probably going to be between 400 and 500. Which is fine if they come hard with games and demonstrate full third party support at launch. Since it's mid gen and haven't really been putting out anything on wii u they have no excuse to not come with games and if it's the most powerful console they will get third party support.

This is true. I thought the conventional wisdom was to take a loss up-front, and then make it up on software (and in 2-3 years when you can start turning profitable on hardware as well). If you get a 20 Million seller like Mario Kart 7 or Mario Galaxy, you are rolling in money from the software side. Restricting the install base early by mispricing the console is NOT a good idea. If anything, in video games the hardware needs to be aggressively priced to get people to adopt early.

That doesn't mean they should build a $600 console and sell it for $299. But the optimal thing might be to built a $350 console and launch it for $299. If they built a $150 or $200 console and sell it for $349, the market might reject it on "price/performance" just as they did with Wii-U. I see people claim the Wii-U was actually selling at a loss, if that was the case then Nintendo just epicly failed in design and in their supply chain. There is no way I believe a teardown would have had that console selling at a loss - even if we include the totally unnecessary (and crappy) tablet.

You don't come back from a failed console generation by making your next console a lot more expensive. You do what Sony did.

Yeah, all these dangers the NX is facing come down to timing. The timing of the NX is unfortunate, and it could be what makes Nintendo fail again, even if they got everything else right... We'll see, but I worry for Nintendo's near future in the console market.

@ianhh6: If they want to make a powerful console, then sooner the better. The competition is weak and hype would help sell Nintendo, all they have to do is, "Now your playing with Power." or "Worlds most powerful console...ever." The longer they wait, the more time the competition has to release a new console to counter. Releasing in 2016 would force the competition to rely on games, which we all know, PC has the best, then Nintendo. Then when Sony and Microsoft do finally release a new one, Nintendo will be right behind them again.

I think they learned from their mistake with Wii U, hopefully they know to avoid gimmicks, just focus on TV, controller, and the games. And, a $300 price point seems to be the sweet spot.

$299 is too cheap honestly.

$350 or $400 is a sweet spot especially if Nintendo has a Killer App from the Get go.

I have to say I absolutely don't understand people saying it better be cheap or they won't be interested. This is a console if you buy it you'll be playing it for a good many years. Would you not rather spend a bit more on it and get amazing games instead of saying give it to me for 300 dollars with games that will be on par with PS4 instead of blowing it out of the water.

The reason PS4 and X1 are so weak is they were really cheap on the components. Wii U as well was fucking ridiculously underpowered. Do we really want all that shit again?

PC's get more powerful every day. If consoles are even to be a thing in 5 years time they need to go up in power AND price and ignore the clowns bleating about how they want super computer consoles for 200 dollars.

true. they could sell at a loss and spend some money for the long run.

@LegatoSkyheart: $350 looks like a good price.

Because I have already invested in several other systems and we are mid-gen. During this specific period, I am looking to invest heavily on software, not hardware.

If it's cheap, I'll get it. If not, I honestly won't give a shit.

That's fair enough. If the NX is worth a shit then, it won't be a system you're looking at. I hope you're not their target gamer, with all due respect.

Personally i'd pay more than $300, but I wonder if the masses would buy a $400 Nintendo console even if it was a vastly better multiplat box. Some would but historically Nintendo's consoles have been sub $300. Nintendo needs to limit the barriers of entry to bring people over from the other consoles and price is one of them. At $350 maybe it wouldn't hurt them too much but I think $400 would be a mistake.

And when I say they can make a beast of a console for $300, I mean only if it has no disc drive or hard drive.

Think about the N64's launch price compared to the Ps1 and saturn, it was $100 cheaper yet much more powerful because it had no moving parts. SD cards are definitely viable for Nintendo right now.

If they release an expensive console, it will kill them. So I hope I am their target.