After a few years on the market, Nintendo has decided to lower the base MSRP of the Nintendo Switch all throughout Europe. In the past, the Switch retailed for £279.99/€329.99, and now, after the price reduction, the base model of the console will cost £259.99/€299.99. Switch Lite consoles will not be affected by any price change. For those that haven't yet bought one, you can grab a brand new reduced-price Switch from the official Nintendo Store, unless of course, you're waiting on the Nintendo Switch OLED version.

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[Deleted member 568468]

Is what Nintendo doing even legal? I mean can they get fined for this behavior by the EU or something?

I'm not a law expert, neither do I live in Western Europe to know that. In EE there are third-party distributors of Nintendo products, no official Nintendo store or anything. The prices here are significantly higher even than in WE.

I assume the higher prices in EE can be the effect of no official distribution (extra fees etc.) and no official support in these regions (Has anyone heard of Nintendo of Poland? Nintendo of Czechia? Because for sure I didn't, it's all middleman stuff.)

 

[smf]

It's to ruin the second hand market before the OLED comes out. Why buy a used one for 200 when you can get a new one for 250? Dirty Nintendo is dirty.

It's because they have warehouses full of non oled ones that they want to shift before the oled one launches.

In terms of cost Eu region gets the short end of the stick, coz the Euro has a higher value than the dollar, but the US msrp is $299 and Eu msrp was €330.

US price doesn't include sales tax, while the EU has outlawed that misleading tactic. The price is the price.

There might be additional costs due to geography/import duty/distribution costs as well

Is what Nintendo doing even legal? I mean can they get fined for this behavior by the EU or something?

What law do you imagine they have broken?

 

[Deleted member 568468]

What law do you imagine they have broken?

I believe they mean the whole customer discrimination thing based on the location (as many EE countries are in EU and have to pay more than their Western European neighbors for the exact same Switch console). But I don't know if it's an actual EU law?

 

[mspy]

What law do you imagine they have broken?

I don't know, I'm not a lawyer or anything, it just doesn't seem right to me that the exact same console costs more in Europe than say in the US. If it were cheaper just in japan I guess that would pass as OK because it's Nintendo home country and I guess they would probably be able to sell it cheaper there.

 

[Kunty]

A whole £20! Groundbreaking.

 

[SDA]

imagine buying a switch before the price drop lol

I did, as mentioned in an above post.

 

[smf]

I don't know, I'm not a lawyer or anything, it just doesn't seem right to me that the exact same console costs more in Europe than say in the US.

The EU price includes tax (at around 20%) while the US sales tax is on top of the advertised price.

There are also other different costs to nintendo as US and EU are not the same.

There is a very real possibility that Nintendo make less money out of a sale in the EU than they do in the US.

 

[Deleted member 568468]

The EU price includes tax (at around 20%) while the US sales tax is on top of the advertised price.

There are also other different costs to nintendo as US and EU are not the same.

There is a very real possibility that Nintendo make less money out of a sale in the EU than they do in the US.

Doesn't explain the price difference between Western and Eastern Europe. Hell, even Russia got a cheaper Switch than Europe after price cut (262EUR)

 

[smf]

Doesn't explain the price difference between Western and Eastern Europe. Hell, even Russia got a cheaper Switch than Europe after price cut (262EUR)

Russia isn't in the EU, so it's a different question than US vs EU

Cost of living is lower in Russia.

 

[Deleted member 568468]

Russia isn't in the EU, so it's a different question than US vs EU

Cost of living is lower in Russia.

And I don't think EU is the reason why prices are jacked up so high. Looking at other companies' consoles, the price difference is not that big. In case of Nintendo, it's horrendous, especially in non-Western regions where there are no official facilities of Ninny.

 

[Gamer90Kirby]

It's because they have warehouses full of non oled ones that they want to shift before the oled one launches.



US price doesn't include sales tax, while the EU has outlawed that misleading tactic. The price is the price.

There might be additional costs due to geography/import duty/distribution costs as well



What law do you imagine they have broken?

That makes no sense, why would they sabotage their own new product? It's to capitalize on the used market that will exist once the OLED comes out.

 

[Mikemk]

Is what Nintendo doing even legal? I mean can they get fined for this behavior by the EU or something?

It's not illegal to not do business in a region. If it were, almost every company on Earth could get fined by the EU.

The higher prices are because there's no official sales, and all consoles sold are imports.

 

[mspy]

It's not illegal to not do business in a region. If it were, almost every company on Earth could get fined by the EU.

The higher prices are because there's no official sales, and all consoles sold are imports.

I'm mostly talking about western europe or countries that are part of the European Union, pretty sure nintendo does 'official sales' there since it even has its website localized specifically for some countries. The fact that the Switch is more expensive in the EU vs the US is what bothers me most to the point that I think of it as some sort of exploitation. Generally you see the EU fine the likes of google, facebook, microsoft, etc by the millions for their antitrust behaviors or something alike, yet nintendo manages to do whatever it pleases which leads me to believe that politicians just don't give a shit about video games.

If you do the math the Switch costed more 90$ than in the US! That's a lot, no wonder that they now decided to cut the price off in europe but only after they milked the shit out of it in the first place.

 

[smf]

And I don't think EU is the reason why prices are jacked up so high. Looking at other companies' consoles, the price difference is not that big. In case of Nintendo, it's horrendous, especially in non-Western regions where there are no official facilities of Ninny.

US Switch launch price was $299.99, which in current exchange rate is £217.19, with vat it's £260.628. The uk launch price was £279.99.

For the EU it is more complicated as VAT is different in each member state, but $299.99 is €254.13. Lowest VAT is 17% which is €297.33, while highest VAT is 27% which is €322.74. Official price is €329.99

The PS5 is $499.99 in the US, which in current exchange rate is £362.00. but add VAT and it's £434.4. The UK price of a PS5 is £449.99

For the EU $499.99 converts to €423.48, with 17% VAT it's €495.47 and 27% VAT it's €537.81. The official EU price is €499.99

So the EU/UK seems to be pretty on par with the American price for the switch.
The UK price is on par with the American price for the PS5.
While Sony make less money on EU sales of PS5.

That makes no sense, why would they sabotage their own new product? It's to capitalize on the used market that will exist once the OLED comes out.

No, it's to get rid of the Switch that nobody will want once the OLED version comes out.

Your argument is complete nonsense. Assume then that they don't have a warehouse of soon to be outdated switches to get rid of, it would make no sense to make more now and sell them to destroy the 2nd hand market as that would harm sales of the OLED version as less people would sell their existing switch to upgrade.

By emptying the warehouse now of soon to be outdated models, they won't be stuck with them. That is all they are doing, they don't care if it harms the 2nd hand market or not.

 

[Gamer90Kirby]

US Switch launch price was $299.99, which in current exchange rate is £217.19, with vat it's £260.628. The uk launch price was £279.99.

For the EU it is more complicated as VAT is different in each member state, but $299.99 is €254.13. Lowest VAT is 17% which is €297.33, while highest VAT is 27% which is €322.74. Official price is €329.99

The PS5 is $499.99 in the US, which in current exchange rate is £362.00. but add VAT and it's £434.4. The UK price of a PS5 is £449.99

For the EU $499.99 converts to €423.48, with 17% VAT it's €495.47 and 27% VAT it's €537.81. The official EU price is €499.99

So the EU/UK seems to be pretty on par with the American price for the switch.
The UK price is on par with the American price for the PS5.
While Sony make less money on EU sales of PS5.



No, it's to get rid of the Switch that nobody will want once the OLED version comes out.

Your argument is complete nonsense. Assume then that they don't have a warehouse of soon to be outdated switches to get rid of, it would make no sense to make more now and sell them to destroy the 2nd hand market as that would harm sales of the OLED version as less people would sell their existing switch to upgrade.

By emptying the warehouse now of soon to be outdated models, they won't be stuck with them. That is all they are doing, they don't care if it harms the 2nd hand market or not.

Except it wouldn't harm the OLED's sales. It's only going to appeal to the people looking for a cheaper switch. A $100 price difference is to big to cannibalize OLED sales.

 

[mspy]

For the EU it is more complicated as VAT is different in each member state, but $299.99 is €254.13. Lowest VAT is 17% which is €297.33, while highest VAT is 27% which is €322.74. Official price is €329.99

So like for the Switch if you bought it at 329.99€ from a country with the 17% VAT you were literally giving nintendo almost 40$ US more if we were to compare it with the 299.99$ US price.

 

[smf]

Except it wouldn't harm the OLED's sales. It's only going to appeal to the people looking for a cheaper switch. A $100 price difference is to big to cannibalize OLED sales.

If the 2nd hand price drops then it could harm the OLED sales, because people who would sell their old unit and buy an OLED version won't be able to make enough for it to be worthwhile. But over time the OLED sales will recover.

Their warehouses full of out of date switches aren't going to mature with age, they need to get them out and in stores instead of costing them money to store.

So like for the Switch if you bought it at 329.99€ from a country with the 17% VAT you were literally giving nintendo almost 40$ US more if we were to compare it with the 299.99$ US price.

No, because Nintendo don't get any of the VAT. If you take 17% vat off the 329.99€ that works out at 282.04€ or $332.99. So the retailer receives $33 more in the EU and the US, but the shop takes their cut and so do the distributors. Then the government take their taxes and import duty and shops/distributors have to give their employees more paid holiday & that all costs money.

I don't know how Nintendo do QA, as they will have to do more languages in Europe & so it makes sense that it costs them more to sell into Europe.

Nintendo might still make more profit selling in the US than the EU at that price. The exchange rates fluctuate over the life of the switch and so it is impossible to make it the same in both all the time anyway

You seem to want all the benefits of the EU for the same cost as living in the US. I don't think you can do that.

p.s. If you walk into a store in the US and buy a switch you will be charged additional sales tax on top of the price (the lowest is 2.7%, which makes it at least $308.68).

 

[scroeffie1984]

fake price drop the consoles in the netherlands was always 299 euros

 

[Mikemk]

If the 2nd hand price drops then it could harm the OLED sales, because people who would sell their old unit and buy an OLED version won't be able to make enough for it to be worthwhile. But over time the OLED sales will recover.

Their warehouses full of out of date switches aren't going to mature with age, they need to get them out and in stores instead of costing them money to store.



No, because Nintendo don't get any of the VAT. If you take 17% vat off the 329.99€ that works out at 282.04€ or $332.99. So the retailer receives $33 more in the EU and the US, but the shop takes their cut and so do the distributors. Then the government take their taxes and import duty and shops/distributors have to give their employees more paid holiday & that all costs money.

I don't know how Nintendo do QA, as they will have to do more languages in Europe & so it makes sense that it costs them more to sell into Europe.

Nintendo might still make more profit selling in the US than the EU at that price. The exchange rates fluctuate over the life of the switch and so it is impossible to make it the same in both all the time anyway

You seem to want all the benefits of the EU for the same cost as living in the US. I don't think you can do that.

p.s. If you walk into a store in the US and buy a switch you will be charged additional sales tax on top of the price (the lowest is 2.7%, which makes it at least $308.68).

that may be lowest, but typical is 8%

 

[smf]

that may be lowest, but typical is 8%

The point is that US prices don't include it, EU prices do & the tax in the EU is higher than the US because of things like free health care.

You'll get more days off work to play with your switch in the EU than you will if you work in the US.