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Deleted member 10737

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Oct 27, 2017
49,774
i see it that way too. of course from my point of view i'd like everything to be cheap or free. but if i look at it from their perspective, hell no i'm not dropping the price.
 

Eumi

Member
Nov 3, 2017
3,518
Most people want cheap products for the purely selfish reason of wanting to pay less, but since that's not a very good argument for it, a lot of people work back from wanting it to be cheap to come up with all sorts of reasons why it should be that don't hold up to much scrutiny.
 

Browser

Member
Apr 13, 2019
2,031
Maybe its still selling well but its on a downward trend.

Maybe some new product or service comes along that devalues the price of what you are offering and you need to adapt.

Maybe you want to rapidly increase the installed base and get more money from anciliary products or services related to that product.

Many reasons why one would.
 

Hu3

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,574
I'm fine with paying a premium price for Nintendo products as long as this guarantees quality and keeps this whole Live Service garbage at bay.

Lol.. a premium when the switch is the most problematic console of them all, feels the cheapest and sure as hell performs the cheapest. Nintendo don't guarantee you anything.
 

ABK281

Member
Apr 5, 2018
3,001
Jesus Christ capitalism has you by the balls. You out here defending a mega-corporation's right to not put something on sale because it's selling well. Okay..? Congrats.
 

Shadout

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,801
One reason I only own 4 games on my Switch is the high prices.
I buy lots of games every year, but extremely rarely at full price.
 
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Kieli

Kieli

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Oct 28, 2017
3,736
Jesus Christ capitalism has you by the balls. You out here defending a mega-corporation's right to not put something on sale because it's selling well. Okay..? Congrats.

I'm not defending a mega-corporation's ability to have sales. I'm just explaining why it's unreasonable to expect certain sales so soon when the product is selling well.

If Nintendo wants to cut the price of the Switch Lite by half in next week's BF sale, I'm not gonna sit here and cry about it.

Edit: Maybe I would if I bought it on launch day, but that's my problem for being an early adopter.
 
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Kieli

Kieli

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Oct 28, 2017
3,736
Did the Wii U go on sale? It sold pretty bad, yet...

Another person in this thread asked the same thing. My response was that Nintendo didn't discount it, no. What they did do was far more drastic. They cancelled it and went ahead with the next gen. Bold move.
 

Kain

Unshakable Resolve - One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
7,591
Another person in this thread asked the same thing. My response was that Nintendo didn't discount it, no. What they did do was far more drastic. They cancelled it and went ahead with the next gen. Bold move.

Yeah very bold indeed. Nintendo invented the concept of moving on from a failed product.

Nintendo did discount the GC for example. A few months after launch the original price was reduced drastically. It made it very attractive honestly given it had a strong catalogue of multis and exclusives.
 
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Kieli

Kieli

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Oct 28, 2017
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Yeah very bold indeed. Nintendo invented the concept of moving on from a failed product.

Nintendo did discount the GC for example. A few months after launch the original price was reduced drastically. It made it very attractive honestly given it had a strong catalogue of multis and exclusives.

They also discounted the 3DS, if you recall. They're not averse to discounting products given pressure.

But is there really pressure on the Switch (Lite) right now?
 

Sal_S

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,476
Hamilton
Another person in this thread asked the same thing. My response was that Nintendo didn't discount it, no. What they did do was far more drastic. They cancelled it and went ahead with the next gen. Bold move.
It shouldn't have taken 4 and a half years, and released hundreds of games, to cancel their 2nd biggest failure then.

They actually did discount a failing product once: the 3DS.

I will say you're right that there's no reason to put the Switch Lite on sale. It quite literally just came out. How about the OG Switch tho? The BF bundle even has the older model, why not sell that cheaper?
 

couchNinja

Member
Nov 7, 2017
47
Nintendo's price policy is part of the reason why the last 2 Nintendo consoles I owned were SNES and Gameboy.

I was tempted by WiiU and am seriously temped by Switch. It's not that I can't afford it but I'm not willing to buy into their bullshit about premium quality when every Nintendo console had major technical problems. They have some good games which is a reason why I'm considering getting a Switch, but so does every other gaming company. So even if I would get a Switch I'm not going to buy new games for it but I would turn to a used games market which means Nintendo wouldn't get a cent out of my pocket (apart from initial console purchase). As evidenced by a few others in this thread Nintendo could have a lot more customers if they changed their pricing policy.
 
Oct 29, 2017
4,721
Sadly these discussions always devolve into underhanded attempts to justify whining about Nintendo's refusal to cater to people's desire for firesale pricing.

Most people are not interested in engaging in actual discussion surrounding business models; and simply driveby post in bad faith, as if their efforts will actually result in Nintendo doing what they want.

I think it's actually a really interesting topic, especially seeing as how Nintendo continuously fight against industry Race-To-The-Bottom trends and actually end up winning big, but sadly you will probably not get any sort of meaningful discussion going outside of the sales threads.
 

couchNinja

Member
Nov 7, 2017
47
Sadly these discussions always devolve into underhanded attempts to justify whining about Nintendo's refusal to cater to people's desire for firesale pricing.

Most people are not interested in engaging in actual discussion surrounding business models; and simply driveby post in bad faith, as if their efforts will actually result in Nintendo doing what they want.

I think it's actually a really interesting topic, especially seeing as how Nintendo continuously fight against industry Race-To-The-Bottom trends and actually end up winning big, but sadly you will probably not get any sort of meaningful discussion going outside of the sales threads.
I feel like this refers to me since you commented right after.

My point of view is the one of a consumer. And I'm not "posting in bad faith in hopes for Nintendo to change their practice", but I simply stated why they don't have me and many others apparently as customers.

If you want to discuss this from a business or economic point of view then that is a totally different conversation.
 

DFG

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Oct 25, 2017
3,591
I too as a consumer would like to willingly pay more because business companies deserve whatever cost they charge me.
What even is this thread
 

Angie

Best Avatar Thread Ever!
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Nov 20, 2017
39,310
Kingdom of Corona
I would argue that they should increase the price of their games. To make it even more valuable. And I bet they would have people that would be ok with it and praise them for it.
 

Bluelote

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,024
asking for a discount for a mass produced product from a corporation worth dozens of billions of dollars is not "charity"
 

Sasliquid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,292
From a cultural point of view if you want your product to be enjoyed by as many people as possible you'll reduce the price once development costs have been covered.

But from a business point of view eff the poor. Nintendo subscribes to the latter more often than not.
 

bane833

Banned
Nov 3, 2017
4,530
Lol.. a premium when the switch is the most problematic console of them all, feels the cheapest and sure as hell performs the cheapest. Nintendo don't guarantee you anything.
I have no problems with my Switch whatsoever but I wasn't really talking about the hardware here. Software is what interests me the most.
 

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,710
United States
From the thread title I thought this was about games that sell well but people tell you not to play or are otherwise perceived as bad. Like Ubisoft games or something. As if to say, "people tell me this game is bad, but it's selling well, so why shouldn't I check it out?"

I've seen this thread for days and every time formulated a little bit more of an answer to what I thought was being asked. I finally was ready to post and then read the actual thread and realize I had bamboozled myself. I just needed to share my personal embarrassment.


To answer the actual question: If your goal is to sell as many consoles as possible because then you have an increased revenue stream as people buy software for that console, then having an affordable or competitive cost of entry makes business sense.

Assuming this topic is about sale and promotion prices rather than permanent price drops, discounting your item often encourages a surge of new adopters who want to take advantage of the limited opportunity. You then proceed to make money off of that customer who has bought in to the ecosystem indefinitely.

Promotional prices and sales make plenty of business sense, especially for these kinds of electronics. During a predetermined sale season, if you don't power the price at all, you won't sell any additional consoles. You might sell a certain amount because it's a popular item, but you'd stand to make more money if you inspired a surge of new adopters instead.
 
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IamFlying

Alt Account
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Apr 6, 2019
765
Are people really expecting a discount on a product that sells really well at its price? Thats totally unreasonable.

It feels good to buy a Nintendo game day one, because you can be sure it will not cost half the price a few month later. Anyway if you have little money to spend on games, there are things like short timed price drops for Nintendo games on the eShop or Vouchers, but no constant price drops.

No sane person would buy a game on PS4/XOne/PC day one, because its just throwing away money.
 
Oct 25, 2017
17,897
Assuming this topic is about sale and promotion prices rather than permanent price drops, discounting your item often encourages a surge of new adopters who want to take advantage of the limited opportunity. You then proceed to continue to make money off of that customer who has bought in to the ecosystem indefinitely.

Promotional prices and sales make plenty of business sense, especially for these kinds of electronics. During a predetermined sale season, if you don't power the price at all, you won't sell any additional consoles. You might sell a certain amount because it's a popular item, but you'd stand to make more money if you inspired a surge of new adopters instead.
Precisely.

Giving sales leads to more money potentially coming their way in the long run. You're bringing in people who wouldn't be spending a penny in your ecosystem otherwise.

This would apply to me. I am quite interested in Nintendo's software (I've never had a Nintendo home console), but the price is a factor that keeps me away. So, instead of them getting me in the ecosystem after reducing the price, they get $0.

Obviously, Nintendo isn't sweating over people like me, but it is definitely more money sitting on the side that they could get.
 

Deleted member 135

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Oct 25, 2017
11,682
I mean Nintendo platforms the past while have had a terrible value proposition because of the insane long term price of games.

I'd imagine that a good portion of the userbase only owns a handful of games. I only own 5 Switch games compared to around 200 PS4 games.
 

Dog of Bork

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,988
Texas
It feels good to buy a Nintendo game day one, because you can be sure it will not cost half the price a few month later.
So you feel good about spending full price because there will never be another option? That's a take for sure.

Me, I'd rather pay less on day one (thanks, PC market competition) AND have options to get games I'm less interested in for even cheaper if I wait. But that's just the perspective of someone who isn't trying to make a certain mega Corp's detrimental actions to customers into a positive. Glad your games "hold their value" so you can spend more on games in perpetuum.
No sane person would buy a game on PS4/XOne/PC day one, because its just throwing away money.
Yeah, think of all the bombs on other platforms because people are super worried about a piece of digital content being cheaper for future customers. I don't even know how anyone but Nintendo is in business anymore.
 

Mehdren

Member
Oct 27, 2017
304
Scotland
If people are willing to wait they'll eventually get it cheaper. Some people are willing to wait or don't think it's worth it for them at the current price.
 

Lunatious

Member
Dec 18, 2018
695
To explain in a corporate mindset: most people who bought the Switch Lite are early adopters of the hardware. People who won't/can't buy it at full price won't anyway, so an early sale provides an incentive to target that demographic early. Obviously, you need to balance that with the risk of early adopters who are still interested in buying at full price taking advantage of the discount, but there is a potential benefit to an early sale. Especially if the goal is increasing hardware ownership exponentially to get a boost in software sales.
 
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Kieli

Kieli

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Oct 28, 2017
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Good that you recognise that, so why are you defending them?

I'm not defending them. I'm explaining why it's not logical to expect discounts on the Switch Lite approximately 1 month after launch (it's been selling well).

If they reduce prices, I'll be surprised, but happy for people who were on the fence. I'll probably go get one myself. If they don't reduce prices, I don't buy one.
 

hussien-11

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,315
Jordan
I mean Nintendo platforms the past while have had a terrible value proposition because of the insane long term price of games.

I'd imagine that a good portion of the userbase only owns a handful of games. I only own 5 Switch games compared to around 200 PS4 games.

I have more than 110 games on my Switch already, and i will pass 200 easily. you main PS4 and this is why, i main Switch and i buy all kinds of games for it: Nintendo games, third party games, visual novels, rpgs, Sega Ages, ACA NeoGeo titles, and others.

Wii software was more than 900 million game sold.

Also, if the value proposition was as bad as you say, people wouldn't buy their systems/games. they offered "Nintendo Selects" collection, which are their main games sold at half the price for any of their latest systems.

They also sold a lot of games at very reasonable prices and sometimes made amazing deals like Wii Play, though if I want to be honest, they have not done that after Iwata's death.
 

FrankNitty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
593
SoCal
Switch Lite barely came out a month ago. Yet people are wanting BF deals on it? If it sold like crap, sure. But it's not selling like crap.

Same with Nintendo's games. They're evergreen because they don't devalue them AND they're good games.

You know what you're getting your wallet into when you join the Nintendo ecosystem.

Do I want them to discount it? Sure, as a consumer I do.

As a businessman, I want them to sell it for the maximum price that consumers can tolerate.

The part in bold seems flawed unless you work for nintendo, receive some form of financial compensation based of the revenue they generate, or you are a shareholder. If you are neither of these you are nothing more than a consumer.

As a business man you UNDERSTAND why they sell for maximum amount. However since you are only a consumer unless again you work for them, receive financial compensation or a shareholder you shouldn't WANT them to sell for max price being you are only a consumer regardless of what your profession is.

Being a consumer and understanding and accepting why companies like Nintendo, Apple, companies that offer professional services, etc do not discount their products is understandable.

Being a consumer who understands the above and WANTS them to do it...that's kind of silly as a consumer.

I understand what you are getting at but saying WANT is what makes it kind of weird if you actually really want it
 

P-Tux7

Member
Mar 11, 2019
1,344
IIRC people get this expectation because Sony and Microsoft do indeed do these types of discounts. However, Nintendo has the dual philosophy of desperately trying to not discount Nintendo-brand stuff unless it's an absolute flop AND not selling consoles at a loss (so as to make money off of games).
 

Taco_Human

Member
Jan 6, 2018
4,215
MA
Because I want to pay less. Things go on sale regularly, I'll wait for a price reduction because it'll happen eventually.
 

dead souls

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,317
I love Nintendo, but their most ardent corporate bootlickers baffle me. The affection many videogame fans have for faceless corporations is embarrassing.
 

mrmickfran

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
26,665
Gongaga
They have a right to sell a 5 year old port for full price.

But,

I also have a right to complain about it or buy it used for cheaper 🤷‍♀️