r/NeuxGaming

This one genuinely surprised me. Switch 2 launched at $449.99 in June 2025. On September 1, 2026, it jumps to $499.99, a $50 increase Nintendo confirmed officially, citing memory costs, exchange rates, oil prices, and the AI-driven memory shortage as the biggest factor.

What stands out is the word permanent. This is the second price hike in three months on the world's most valuable game hardware line, and it caps a year where every major console maker raised prices at once, for the first time ever.

For context, Nintendo held the original Switch at $299.99 for nearly a decade. Price stability was core to how they operated. This is a different Nintendo.

The software argument is real, though, Ocarina of Time remake, Xenoblade Genesis, Splatoon Raiders, Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave, all coming through 2026–2027. Nintendo's essentially betting the games justify the price.

Does the lineup justify $499, or does the price make you think twice?

Four months out and I genuinely cannot give you a straight answer on this one.

Here's where my head is at. The game is real, the November 19 date is set, and everything coming out of Rockstar suggests this is going to be one of the most technically impressive open world games ever made. I have zero doubt it's going to be a landmark release, but I'm looking at $80 for Standard, probably 30fps at launch based on Rockstar's entire history with console releases, no physical disc in the box just a download code, and a GTA Online situation that still hasn't been explained. That's a lot of unknowns for a lot of money at day one.

The part that keeps stopping me is the pattern. GTA 5 at launch was not the best version of GTA 5. Red Dead 2 at launch was not the best version of Red Dead 2. Rockstar games famously get better over time through patches, PC releases, and performance updates. The people who waited 6 months for both of those games had a noticeably better experience than day one buyers.

So the question isn't really whether GTA 6 is going to be great. It almost certainly will be. The question is whether it's going to be $80 great on November 19 specifically or $50 great six months later when most of the launch issues are resolved... I keep going back and forth. One day I'm preordering. The next day I'm talking myself out of it LOL.

Where are you landing on this and has anything specific pushed you one way or the other?

Look at what Nintendo has done in the last few months alone.

Switch 2 launched and sold out. Star Fox came back after years of silence. Ocarina of Time remake confirmed for Switch 2 this year. Xenoblade Genesis announced for 2027. Splatoon Raiders dropping July 23. Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave coming September. Switch 2 and Pokemon Pokopia bundle launching this month. The Duskbloods closed network test applications opening July 22. And somehow in the middle of all that they also raised the Switch 2 price to $499.99 in North America starting September and people are still buying it.

The catalogue is moving faster than anyone expected and the lineup through the rest of 2026 is legitimately stacked. Here's the thing though. Nintendo has always operated on a different logic from everyone else. They ignored the specs race for years, built a hybrid console nobody asked for, and it became the best selling console of its generation. Now they're doing it again with Switch 2 while Sony is navigating the disc announcement fallout and Microsoft is still trying to figure out what Xbox actually is.

So is Nintendo genuinely ahead of the curve or do they just keep accidentally being right at the right time? Because the Wii U existed, and that wasn't so long ago.Honestly, I can't tell and that's what makes them interesting to watch right now.

I want to be clear about what I mean by this before anyone comes in with the "the game is too complex to run at 60" argument because I've heard it and I don't fully buy it.

The technical side is real. GTA 6 is enormous. The crowd simulation, the real time reflections, the density of everything happening at once. Digital Foundry looked at the trailers and came out saying 60fps feels like a very difficult target on current hardware and I respect that analysis. The game is genuinely pushing what PS5 and Series X can do, but here's the thing. Rockstar has never shipped a 60fps open world game on console. Not GTA 4, not GTA 5, not Red Dead Redemption 2. RDR2 is eight years old and still hasn't gotten a performance patch. The pattern isn't technical limitation every single time, at some point it becomes a choice, and the choice makes business sense. Ship at 30fps at launch, let the conversation happen, then drop a 60fps performance mode six months later as a headline update that brings people back to the game. Then do it again for the PS5 Pro version. Then do it again for PC. Rockstar has turned "here's the better version of the game" into a release strategy that works multiple times on the same title.

That's honestly what bothers me. Not that the game runs at 30fps, but that 60fps is almost certainly achievable with tradeoffs they've chosen not to make yet because holding it back is worth more to them as a drip than giving it to everyone on day one. You're paying $80 for the version of GTA 6 that Rockstar decided you get to have right now. The version they actually built is coming later and it'll probably cost you again in some form.