Over the past few days, netizens everywhere have been rocked by the news of Nintendo’s latest console, the Switch, and its initial price tag in the SEA region. While the Switch features great innovation and some stellar titles at launch, we at TMR feel that it has more form than substance for now, and it doesn’t help that its price tag is ridiculous, even by international standards.
For those not in the know, the Nintendo Switch has recently been confirmed for the retail price of a whopping RM 2,299 in Malaysia, and will come bundled with game titles 1 2 Switch and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The same console will be sold in Singapore for SG$ 659 (RM 2060).
While Singaporeans will be rejoicing that they will be able to get their consoles on the launch day itself and also pay slightly less than their Malaysian neighbours, the console’s retail price is only US$ 299 (RM 1,330) worldwide. Granted that it is a suggested retail price, the mark up of almost RM 1,000 in the Malaysian market simply does not make sense, barring the possibility that you have a cash generating machine in your backyard.
It is also worth noting that the Switch, which has a lower hardware output compared to its competitors, is priced significantly higher than the PS4 Pro and Xbox One, at least in the SEA region. While speculations will be running rampant on why this price hike has occurred, we at the TMR Gaming Panel believe that the Switch has a lot of potential, and all it needs to win over its established competition is to do what the Wii U didn’t, i.e. great, consistent first party content and heaps of third party, triple-A quality titles. Also listening to what fans want once in a while may not be such a bad thing. (Monster Hunter on Switch please?)
We hope that the price tag for the Switch will be a lot more reasonable before its official launch in the SEA region. All we can do for now is hope and pray.
Till next week, stay gold!
