Nintendo Switch Pre-Order Date Announced; Price, Release Date Revealed

Nintendo Switch pre-order date has been announced by the company's retail arm Nintendo World Store, ahead of the global event where the device will be detailed and release date and prices of accessories etc. will be revealed. As per the company's retail arm, the new Nintendo Switch pre-orders will begin on January 13 at 9am (7:30pm IST) at the New York outlet. Nintendo also announced that the Nintendo Switch price is set at $299.99, and the console will be launched on March 3.

The official Nintendo Switch pre-order announcement comes after retailers across world have already listed the console for pre-order, including GameStop’s Italy and US branches as well as UK’s Gameseek and Australia’s EB Games.

Nintendo Switch Price and Release Date Announced

Along with this, the Nintendo World New York Twitter account states that Nintendo Switch quantities will be in limited supply. This is no surprise given how tough it is to acquire a NES Classic. Nintendo consoles in general are painful to get during their launch window. Even the Wii U was hard to find. And it seems that the, apart from those who pre-order the Nintendo Switch, most fans will be disappointed by the low initial availability of the console.

Earlier in the week Japanese financial publication Nikkei claimed that Nintendo Switch's price will be JPY 25,000. Despite a direct currency conversion pegging the US price at around $213, the Nintendo Switch price should end up being $250.

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The reason for the higher Nintendo Switch price is the cost of Nintendo’s previous consoles. At launch, the Wii cost JPY 25,000 (around $213) in Japan with the US price being $250. The difference is because the Japanese edition of the Wii did not include any bundled games while the US version did.

In the past, Nikkei reported that Nintendo stopped production of the Wii U, which the company vehemently denied despite it being true. This latest report is in line with previous ones suggesting a similar price point.

Nonetheless, we should know more about this and other Nintendo Switch features when Nintendo lifts the lid on its price, features, and games later this week.

We discuss everything we know about the Nintendo Switch on Transition, our new podcast on gaming and pop culture. You can subscribe to it via RSS or just listen to this episode by hitting the play button below.