The Nintendo Switch 2 and some of its games are pretty expensive
What does that mean for the next PlayStation and Xbox? Ryan and Max are back, so it's time to get an Xbox and PlayStation expert to take on Nintendo's next machine
Coming up after these messages on Next Gen Console Watch. Welcome back to Next Gen Console Watch, our show following all the latest gaming hardware
and there's been a lot happening with Nintendo's next hardware offering. But what does that all mean for the next PlayStation and Xbox
I'm Damon Hadfield, and joining me this week are Max Scoville from Podcast Beyond and Ryan McCaffrey from Podcast Unlocked
Welcome back. So the Nintendo Switch 2 is the most expensive Nintendo console ever
at $450 for just a console. It's more expensive than an Xbox Series X
It's more expensive than a PS5 that's bundled with Astro Bot today. Then there are the games like Mario Kart World
and the Switch 2 versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. So it's definitely getting more expensive to be a Nintendo gamer
Let me turn it over to my panel. Max, Sony has a high-end console on offer right now with the $700 PS5 Pro
For two decades, Nintendo has been the more affordable option compared to PlayStation and Xbox
Now it has a console that costs more than a PS5. What's your take on this new Nintendo
I think it's great overall. You know, we've seen that it's definitely going to drive industry growth, which is a huge plus for everybody
You know, rising tide raises all ships and all that. as for sort of what this means for Sony
I can't help but feel like this is going to sort of delay the arrival
of the PlayStation 6 I mean there's a lot of other factors at play here but the fact that Nintendo is coming out swinging with
you know the successor to one of the most successful consoles of all time I think the Switch 2, the fact that it is
powerful enough to run a bunch of kind of maybe not next gen games
but you know present gen games I would say you know stuff that's you know
maybe the higher end stuff from the tail end of last gen maybe a little bit overlap with, you know, some of the Xbox series and PS5 games, I could very
easily see, you know, both hardware manufacturers kind of just holding back a little bit on trying to
you know, up the ante any further because we've really seen diminishing returns on
you know, on next-gen hardware and the software to go with it. You know, this console generation
in particular, like, it's really kind of, is it a PS5 or is it a, you know, a PS4 Pro Part 2
Like it's kind of just, you know, it's granular at this point
And we've seen former Sony execs, both Shuhei Yoshida and Sean Layden
pretty much talk about the, you know, the issue that we're running into with AAA gaming
is how expensive it is to develop and maybe the emphasis on, you know
cutting edge next-gen photorealistic graphics and all that stuff. Maybe that's, you know, not really worth the trouble or maybe it's sort of the wrong focus
and given the sort of recent hurdles that Sony's had, I mean, there's been kind of a drought of first-party stuff
I could very easily see the next generation of hardware kind of just maybe in the same way that we saw so much overlap
between PS4 and PS5 games. Maybe the PS6 is just kind of going to be pushed further down the road
to allow for more third-party stuff to come to both PS5 and presumably Switch 2 and, you know, Xbox Series
Again, rampant speculation here, but yeah, with how expensive everything is right now
and how the sort of the future of hardware manufacturing across the board and the fact that, you know, again
there's still so many people playing games on PlayStation 4, I cannot imagine Sony's in the biggest hurry
to, you know, try to make PS6 happen. I mean, they have a PS5 Pro
and we haven't really seen anything that takes full advantage of it
So yeah, we got some wiggle room there. Well, Ryan, last we heard, according to reports, Microsoft was in a little bit more of a hurry to get to the next generation Xbox, possibly targeting 2027
Do you think this reveal of the Nintendo Switch has changed Xbox's plans at all? Not necessarily, but I do think that Microsoft is probably sitting around in their meetings going
boy, are we glad we're not in Nintendo's position right now in terms of having a new platform to launch
because as we all know, we've been doing this a long time, each of us
and these consoles are planned out many years in advance. I mean, we've actually heard, what, on-the-record quotes from Sony folks
and Microsoft folks that say, basically, as soon as one comes out
they start initial work on the next one. So these are really long-term things
and Nintendo's just happening to land their new one in one of the most turbulent economic times globally in
I don't know, maybe in my lifetime. I don't know. I'm getting older
But yeah, I mean, things are so crazy, not just month to month, but week to week
and even day to day at this moment in time, which is bad news for Nintendo
as they're trying to figure out, is $450 even going to be the price
or are they going to, at least in North America, or are they going to raise that
So I think Microsoft and probably Sony too are just glad they're not prepping a console launch right now
And as for what effect it might have on the proper next Xbox I think probably nothing for now but I do imagine that once the election results were what they were and the announced strategy of tariffs were clearly going to probably happen
that Microsoft and probably Sony too, most likely started developing some contingency plans
some alternative plans, and some different strategies, different envelopes that they can open and go with
depending on what the situation is come 2027 or 2028. Now, Ryan, there's a couple of things you touched on
I want to jump off of. One, things are happening day to day
Things are changing very quickly and it's probably worth pointing out, we are recording this on wednesday so by the time this episode goes up who knows anything could have
happened uh second point i i think we saw it called out that the tariffs don't affect digital goods
which correct it's kind of an interesting little wrinkle there well yeah that certainly doesn't
speak as much to the to the game pricing point that damon was leading off with but uh i will say
i guess for as as happy as microsoft and sony are that they're not launching hardware right now
they're probably secretly pretty thrilled that Nintendo is taking all the slings and arrows on the increased game price
Because of course they want to raise prices. All the publishers would love to get more money for their games
So with Nintendo at the tip of the spear there, it just means that they'll suffer all of the public blowback
and assuming no change is made to that game, that software pricing strategy
that's going to be the norm for PlayStation 6 and Xbox series whatever
I'd be willing to make a friendly lunch wager on that. I can't imagine that first-party Microsoft games
and first-party Sony games are going to stay at $70 while Nintendo will have been at $80 plus
for two, three years. by that point. Yeah, it's wild that Mario Kart World is $80, and then two PlayStation and Xbox
games that are coming out around the same time, Doom the Dark Ages and Death Stranding 2, are $70
So again, we're in this bizarre world where Nintendo's offering the highest-end
premium-priced game. So I guess that leaves my next question. What will be the first $80
standard edition Xbox and PlayStation games? GTA 6. And it might be more
I was going to say there's a lot of, yeah, it might be a hundred dollars. I'm not again, not, not sitting here rooting for it, but if I'm take two, I mean, just ask yourself, like, again, you, you, you want the answer to be no, but if you're take two and you have the single most anticipated video game of all time, and I'm sorry, I'm, I don't think that's debatable given GTA five's ongoing success for 10 plus years running
and the fact that it's been so long between Grand Theft Auto games
why wouldn't you charge $90 or $100 for the standard version? I mean, they have smarter economic people than me
because I don't know anything that I'm sure have done all the math, all the research
to figure out, well, you know, we may sell fewer copies at $100
but the revenue might make up for it. They know exactly where that line on the graph
those two lines likely intersect so yeah i i'm sure it's gonna be gta 6 is gonna be the
the next big non-nintendo game to to cross that threshold max ghost of yote 70 dollars 80 dollars
oh man i i feel like that's gonna be still 70 bucks i mean i could be very wrong there i i
imagine they're gonna we're gonna see them heavily pushing the sort of uh you know the
premium edition that's a few bucks more the digital deluxe that kind of thing with the extra
little DLC things thrown in there but yeah I don't know fingers crossed
it's still 70 that would be nice but I'm with Ryan I think GTA 6
really of the games out there this one can get away with it
you know Ghost of Yote this is going to be a big beautiful gorgeous game
but yeah the weird thing is we just got done with the conversation about sony raising the price to 70 how dare they that was like five years ago
and we've kind of come to accept that that's the price for a brand new triple a video game for
consoles and then so nintendo's out here with and it's it's worth noting the physical edition of
mario kart world is 90 bucks so that's only in uh europe that's that's in euros oh is that only
in europe okay well yeah that's but still that's a big part of the market still it's it's wild to
see this stuff um you know getting getting pushed that direction also there was a long stretch there
where you know nintendo games were uh they were 10 bucks cheaper than everybody else they they
kind of were floating around 50 bucks when everything else was around 60 and you know
before that it was like you had stuff like what like conquer's bad fur day was like 80 bucks as
well but that was back in you know 90s pricing yeah yeah i i wonder if we're headed back in that
direction where they really are looking at the scope of the games and kind of being like okay what you know how much should we charge for this because if you know mario kart world mario kart 8 Deluxe is the best Switch game and they did crazy numbers on that thing and it keeps just printing money for them And again it a similar kind of much cuter version of the GTA 6 situation
where they know there's demand for this. They know that people love the last one that came out
and they saw how much money people were willing to spend on that previous iteration
So they've got a brand new one that does even more stuff. Why wouldn't they charge more for it
It's frustrating, but I can't blame them. And their hedge is the discount on packing it in with the system
You know, they'd say, well, you know, you could just buy it with the system and then it's only a $50 game
So that doesn't seem to have quelled the vocal online rebellion, nor should it
But it's going to be interesting to see, too, what if we get any data at all from June onward of what the split is in Switch 2 sales between just the vanilla system itself and the Mario Kart bundle
Yeah. Again, like Max pointed out, best-selling Nintendo Switch game. Who is going out to buy a Nintendo Switch without Mario Kart World
Right. How many of those packages are even going to make it into stores? Ryan, we know Xbox has handheld plans
What does a $450 Switch 2 tell us about what an Xbox handheld might cost
And that's with the note that there's multiple plans. There's going to be third-party Xboxes made and an official first-party Xbox handled as well
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to even try to predict what the officially licensed third-party one that's rumored for
I believe it was next year or this year. I can't remember now my post vacation brain in effect, but, uh, but as far as the actual
Microsoft built handheld that, that will, that we're expecting per the report, uh, at
the start of their next console generation. Yeah. I certainly think that four 50 becomes the floor for the pricing on that handheld
And it's most likely going to be a little bit higher. I mean, we've, we talked back when the PS5 Pro launched on this show that, that we felt that $700 kind of became the floor for PS6 and the next Xbox
And so if you've got your sort of main high-end set-top box at seven, then you've got a handheld option is probably going to be five, you know, maybe even a little more
Still TBD on how much horsepower Microsoft will choose to pack into that, both just in a vacuum but also relative to the Switch 2
Of course, the Switch 2 has its own costs built in with the Joy-Con and the other proprietary hardware that a more sort of vanilla handheld PC, which is what the Microsoft handheld is going to be, that that has
But yeah, I mean, $450, I think, becomes the absolute floor for the Xbox handheld that we're expecting down the line
I know I said at the top of the show that Nintendo, for at least two decades now, has been the more affordable entrance into gaming
And that seemingly has sort of changed overnight that they have this new console that costs more than a PS5 or Series X
However, if PS6 and the next Xbox are $700 consoles, then I guess in this new world order, Nintendo is still the more affordable option, even at $450
And I think it's interesting noting as we transition now from the Switch 1 to the Switch 2
the holy trinity of the best-selling consoles of all time is the PlayStation 2, the Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo Switch
which are all 10 million units apart from PS2 is $160 million and the Nintendo Switch is $150 million
There's not really anything that got close to those three. And what these three have in common is that none of them cost more than $300
PlayStation's second most successful console ever, the PS4, made it to $118 million
So it's like nowhere near. All this to say, I think two things. I think the time of the $300 console is just over
That's gone. Aside from maybe some niche offerings from like, you know, Retroid or like, you know, retro consoles that are aimed at more of a niche market
And I also think the Nintendo Switch could be the last console ever to reach 150 million units sold
I would agree with that, for sure. One final question for both of you. I think a lot of people, when we talked about the Nintendo Direct last week, were really positive about the Switch 2 and about the Direct
Just a lot of people had to stick a shock about the prices. So personally, everything is still up in the air
We're in a holding pattern, waiting to hear what's going to happen with pre-orders on the Switch and the price
But how are you feeling about the Switch 2? How are you feeling about the state of gaming in general
Probably getting more expensive now. Max, I'll start with you. It's a bizarre time in general, but especially around gaming
To your point, I can't help but feel like, yeah, Switch could be the last console to reach $150 million
We're seeing younger gamers just gravitate less and less towards consoles. There's so many people latching onto PC gaming
Mobile gaming has gotten, it's kind of caught up with console gaming in a lot of ways
you see a lot of console games make their way to ios sooner sooner or later which is kind of
impressive and not just you know small indie stuff but like you know resident evil 4 remake
and death stranding are on there which is kind of wild to think about um and yeah if console prices are going up if we seeing them you know hover closer and closer to a thousand at that point maybe just build a PC or get a really nice phone That something you going to use for more than just playing games anyway
Consoles have always been kind of a luxury device, and it's depressing to say that
On a lighter note, I think the Switch 2 looks awesome. I'm really excited about it. And this is the most excited I've ever been for a Mario Kart game
I think I enthusiastically was speculating that maybe it would be like a Forza Horizon approach
where they're like, oh, now it's you can go anywhere and drive wherever. And I'm so stoked that it's, yeah, I'm so excited about that
So yeah, Mario Kart Horizon, I'm into it. But yeah, I mean, it's going to be really weird
to see what hardware does in the next few years. Yeah. Ryan, how about you? I know you like Forza as well
Oh, big, especially Forza Horizon. So yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to Mario Kart
And I mean, the thing for me, I will say, I was surprised at the price point
I thought I was pretty certain, and I guess I wasn't alone
because we ran stories on IGN about how most of the major ysts
were expecting it to be $399, to be $400. And I was right there
I just thought that just seems like the right price for the Switch 2. So $450 is a little bit of a surprise to me
Am I, is it going to stop me from buying one as soon as I possibly can? No, still definitely going to be an all-in day one
And we still don't really know the full extent of the Switch 2's capabilities, like, horsepower-wise
So that remains to be seen. I mean, I've certainly watched some of the Treehouse videos, like Donkey Kong Bonanza
You can visually see, even in just a YouTube stream, it clearly looks better than Switch 1 games
So I'm just, I always get excited for new console generations. I just always do
I think it's ingrained in us, given how old the three of us are
We've grown up with console generations being such a big deal and a big thing
And I know that the longer that our careers have gone on
that it has kind of become a little less of a mega event and more of a gradual transition
And there's good and bad to that, but I'm still super excited for the Switch 2
gonna try and get one on day one Donkey Kong's a pleasant surprise
Mario Kart clearly isn't but it looks great as Max said and for me my
hype will go through the roof whenever they do announce the next
major Mario game and with that 40th anniversary coming up this fall
I'd just be stunned if it's if it's not announced at what I presume will
still be the regular June timed Nintendo direct probably hopefully like i guess right after launch or i don't know how that's nintendo will
will handle that this year in particular but but yeah the next major mario's gotta be coming
probably this year but mario kart's a great start donkey kong's a great start and you know the price
is a little a little less than ideal but uh i'm still all in provided the tariff situation doesn't
suddenly turn it into a $530 console. Exactly. Exactly. Fingers crossed it doesn't come to that
Well, dear viewers, we want to know, when it comes to game prices, where do you draw the line at the cost of new games
$70 is at your limit, or you feel like you could live with $80
or even $90 or $100 for a GTA VI? Make sure to vote at IGN.com
the day this episode goes live, and we'll share the results with you next week. Just like we can with last week's poll
last week we asked, what Switch 2 game are you looking forward to the most? Unsurprisingly, I think, is Mario Kart World
with almost half the votes. That was followed by Donkey Kong Bonanza, then the Duskbloods, and then Hollow Knight's Silksong
which is a little bit surprising because pretty much any time a Nintendo Direct or a PlayStation Showcase comes around
people are hoping to see Silksong. So I know there's a lot of anticipation out there
for that one, in any case. All right, this episode of Next Gen Console Watch
was produced by myself and Jobert Atienza. Technical directions by Jobert Atienza
with technical production by Mariah Franson and Amir Rakib. Audio engineering is handled by Amir Aqib
Post-production editing is by Jobar Atienza. And graphic design is by Justin Vachon
Next Gen Console Watch is an IGN production and part of the Geek Media Network. Viewers, I want to let you know IGN Live is officially returning to L.A. this year
The event will take place June 7th and 8th and will feature tons of playable games on PCs, consoles, and handhelds
Celebrity panels and interviews, trailer reveals, giveaways, and so much more. Tickets are on sale right now, so head over to IGN.com slash live
Scoop them up for early bird pricing. and then I want you to let you know returning this Saturday
the 12th at 8.30am Pacific is Devs React with a Baldur's Gate 3 episode. Tune into that
and then upcoming episodes will include Silent Hill 2 Remake, Turok, Animal Well, Astro Bot, and Indiana Jones and The Great Circle
That's it for this edition of Next Gen Console Watch. Thank you to both Max and Ryan. Thanks to everyone working behind the scenes
to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. We'll be back next week. Maybe we'll have updates on the Switch 2 situation with pre-orders
Maybe not. We'll see. But I think regardless we can count um there'll be lots to talk about next week so everybody we'll see you then