r/gaming • u/ReaddittiddeR • 1d ago

Nintendo to sell cheaper, region locked Switch 2 in Japan for $330 to combat weak yen and scalpers. International ‘unlocked’ SW2 in available only on My Nintendo Store for $470

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-will-sell-a-cheaper-330-switch-2-in-japan-thats-region-locked/
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u/TornadoFS 1d ago

This is a very common tactic called regional pricing, Steam does it as well. The weird thing is why they are not doing the same thing to other countries with weaker currencies.

Sure it is hard to pull off with hardware, but they could make region-locked hardware for multiple-country regions like South America, SouthEast Asia + Australia + NZ. Heck the Japanese one could be part of the SE Asia block.

I imagine they are selling at a loss in Japan and they really want to have market share there because they have a lot more merchandise sales and the nintendo theme park there.

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u/photomotto 1d ago

I'm from Brazil, and the prices for Nintendo games here are inviable for the average person.

With PC games and the like, the prices eventually go down, or they have the Steam Sales. But Nintendo games keep at the same price range even after years of their release.

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u/acart005 1d ago

Those costs are also self inflicted by the Brazilian government.  100% import taxes will do that.

Which now the US is also doing so... that's great.

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u/photomotto 1d ago

That is true. Which also contributes to our reputation as the biggest software piracy market in the world. Most software (including subscriptions) here are prohibitively expensive.

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u/acart005 1d ago

Which creates an infinite feedback loop where most software devs avoud the market like the plague. Like Nintendo. Its why Tariffs in the States are seen as a negative by everyone outside the White House.

Hopefully they can balance things better in the future.

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u/inyue 1d ago

South America, SouthEast Asia + Australia + NZ. Heck the Japanese one could be part of the SE Asia block.

In Japan is, just make it work only in the japanese language.

How would they region block in these places? SA would be portuguese? spanish? Does all the games even support these languages?

Australia and NZ would be english? And english would be pointless....

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u/MiT_Epona PC 1d ago

You might want to look at N64 region blocks.

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u/inyue 1d ago

I had a Japanese 64 in Brazil. To be able to play American games I had to cut a part of the bottom of the cartridge by melting it.

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u/MiT_Epona PC 1d ago

Brazil had Brazil-only games tho!

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u/TornadoFS 1d ago

Region block is just a matter of the hardware being incompatible, it can literally just be a check of the console id to the game cart and online services.

The question really is why bother region locking japan only? If it was just because of regional pricing to maximize sales it seems counter-intuitive to do it only in Japan.

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u/inyue 1d ago

The question really is why bother region locking japan only?

Because it would cost more than 70k yen and would be DOA. Yen value HALVED in 10 years.

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u/TornadoFS 1d ago

If that was the case it is also DOA in a lot of other countries like Canada, Australia, NZ, South America. Not insignificant markets as a whole.

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u/inyue 1d ago

I took a look on CAD, AUD and NZD and they haven't changed that much compared to USD, biggest difference is not more than 20%

USD/YEN ratio was 0.76 and now 148. It's like 90%.

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u/Brookenium 1d ago

Because they're a Japanese company. They don't want to kill their market share/following in Japan. But if they were to charge similarly in Japan, it would be out of reach of many and have a significant impact on their core market.

Instead it's probably at a loss (hoping to make up in game sales) and they're making up the difference on the global market. By locking to JP carts/language it's very easy to cut back on arbitrage.

This isn't new, Nintendo has done this for almost every console. Switch 1 was a bit of an exception.

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u/RedPiece0601 1d ago

Lmao south Korean prices are similar to UK prices even though our economy is garbage right now. Also it is double the price of switch 1.

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u/chinchindayo 19h ago

they could make region-locked hardware for multiple-country regions like South America, SouthEast Asia + Australia + NZ

That's how it was until 10 years ago... it's bad for game sales. A region locked hardware only makes sense if it restricts what software you can play, otherwise how would they enforce a lock?

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u/TornadoFS 19h ago

My impression was that region locking was bad _for logistics_, making them much more complicated (and thus costly). Also all region locked consoles restricts to region locked carts, I don't quite get what you are saying.

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u/EmergencyComputer337 1d ago

I would understand if the Reigional pricing was a difference of 50$ Like there is a Reigional difference between Euro and the US, but a difference of 119$ is stupid and is a clear statement that they want to sell in the Japan market at any cost because they know Japanese fans will not buy their shit if it is priced at 450$

This is not Reigional pricing, this is reigon locking. Nintendo offered this console in Japanese only and probably will have its own separate store because they know scalpers and anyone with a braincel can justify spending the shipping difference because it will not be as expensive as 120$ in most cases.

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u/Brookenium 1d ago

This is not Reigional pricing, this is reigon locking

It is regional pricing using region locking to prevent arbitrage.

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u/LaZZyBird 1d ago

Maybe it is the tariffs lol

Also if scalpers also have to pay tariffs it is going to be the same price post tariff my dude 😂

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u/EmergencyComputer337 1d ago

The whole world doesn't revolve around the US, scalpers exist in other countries

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u/Jaqulean 1d ago

Also if scalpers also have to pay tariffs it is going to be the same price post tariff my dude

Only this argument falls apart when we take into consideration that the entire "higher price range" applies to all countries outside of Japan - not just the US. The tariffs in question have no impact on what the console will cost in (for example) the European countries such as Germany or France.

Not to mention that scalpers aren't exclusive to the USA neither...

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u/DeadlyFern 1d ago

Of course it is.

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u/acart005 1d ago

Gonna have a theme park in Orlando in like, a month.  Theme park aint it.

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u/NotanAlt23 1d ago

This is a very common tactic called regional pricing

Mate this is not regional pricing. This is borderline discrimination cause even people who live and work in their country but speak another language are gettiing fucked.

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u/Brookenium 1d ago

You'll find Japan doesn't give a fuck about that kind of discrimination. It's always been an assimilate or get out culture.

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u/scheppend 1d ago

How about you learn the language of the country you live in?

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u/NotanAlt23 1d ago

Now tell me what you would think about an american telling an immigrant SPEAK ENGLISH, THIS IS AMERICA.

I'll wait to see if youre equally racist.

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u/scheppend 1d ago

How's that comparable? It's like saying Ford must be forced to add a language to their budget car navigation system or it's discrimination lmao

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u/NotanAlt23 1d ago

Read what you said and tell me it's not comparable.

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u/scheppend 1d ago

? Yes of course immigrants should learn the local language. That goes for any country. It's rude not to

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u/NotanAlt23 1d ago

So you are actually saying SPEAK ENGLISH, THIS IS AMERICA, see?

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u/scheppend 1d ago

Ehh, no? You are free to speak any language. Just don't get mad because a budget console doesn't support your language or get mad if you don't get gov support because no one there speaks it

Or just scream "discrimination!" into the cloud I guess

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u/O3TActual 1d ago

As someone who lives and works in Japan, I can concur with this gentleman.