Rumor: Nintendo Switch Price and Release Date Leaked

GameSeek, a UK gaming store, has posted a listing showing a plausible release date and price for the Nintendo Switch.

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The Nintendo Switch’s release is coming up soon, that much we know for sure. However, a definitive release date and pricing info have still been unannounced by Nintendo. However, GameSeek (alternate link), a UK gaming outlet, have posted a product listing on their website for the Nintendo Switch that seems to point to a mid-March release for the new console/handheld hybrid.

The GameSeek Nintendo Switch listing shows a release date for the system of March 17. The page also states the Switch is available for preorder for £198.50 which is around $244.06 USD. We’ve heard a general “March” release date for the Nintendo Switch for the last few months. With rumors of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild slated to be out in March as a Nintendo Switch launch title, the March 17 date seems plausible.

Additionally, a listing in November from the Canadian branch of Toys R Us website, which was quickly taken down, had the Nintendo Switch priced at $329.99 CAD, which translates onto around $249.30. With both the Canadian Toys R Us listing and the GameSeek listing prices translating into roughly the same price in USD, it seems too coincidental to ignore.

All these rumors should be confirmed or squelched during the Nintendo Switch reveal live stream coming next Thursday. The Nintendo Switch stream will start on January 12 at 11 PM ET/8 PM PT.

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 7, 2017 7:39 PM

    Jason Faulkner posted a new article, Rumor: Nintendo Switch Price and Release Date Leaked

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      January 7, 2017 7:41 PM

      Sweet. Can't wait.

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      January 7, 2017 7:45 PM

      $250? That seems suspiciously low. But then again, if this thing is as underpowered as the rumors say, then maybe that's right :(

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        January 7, 2017 7:53 PM

        That's been the rumored price for a while. Honestly, for what they sell the Shield stuff for (and not at any kind of mass volume like Nintendo would), that's probably accurate. I'm not sure if Nintendo sold the Wii and WiiU for any kind of lose on launch. I never paid attention to that. But, I could see Nintendo wanting to make a move to ensure a large enough install base to encourage 3rd party developers. That's one of the key problems the WiiU ran into, even according to EA/Activition (can't remember which exec said it), that there weren't enough units sold to warrant developing for it.

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          January 7, 2017 8:10 PM

          Keepp in mnd that Nvida is using their own cards for the Shield. I doubt that Nintendo is getting their cards at the same rate.

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            January 7, 2017 8:55 PM

            Card? It's a DoC . And, it's almost a given it's not the exact same chip. So, the fabrication would be different. And Nintendo has requested at least 2M of them just for launch. That's gotta be way more than Nvidia had made of the shield units.

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          January 8, 2017 1:03 AM

          nintendo made money on both wii and wiiu, i think one of the reasons why its underpowered compared to their competitors is because they don't do the loss leader model.

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          January 8, 2017 6:11 AM

          Nintendo always sells their hardware at a profit.

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        January 7, 2017 7:55 PM

        No that seems about right for the rumored specs... this really seems it's aiming to be more of a portable system that can play games on your TV.

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        January 8, 2017 5:15 AM

        If the Switch is meant as a replacement for both the WiiU and 3DS then a price point between those two makes sense.

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      January 7, 2017 7:48 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 7, 2017 7:56 PM

      Playing Battlefield single player is not how you show off your CPU.

      Still excited for it

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      January 7, 2017 7:58 PM

      Eb games in Canada saying in store preorders on the 13th according to a couple people. It's where I got my launch PS4, will give Southgate a visit.

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      January 7, 2017 7:58 PM

      If $250 is right, then Nintendo has a legit shot at being a success here. Their specs were so underwhelming I thought the switch was going to be DOA, but that was assuming a $299 price point.

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      January 7, 2017 7:59 PM

      Take my money, now!

      So, if that image is accurate, then we should be getting the tablet, side controls, dock (which we all assumed), but also that separate unit to play with the base from the couch. Which, now that I think about it, would have to be included with the dock. They're at least a 1:1 item, so the dock would have to come with one.

      I'm okay with this. Assuming the games are $50, that put's a full system at $300 with a launch game. Probably $380 if you add the pro controller on top of that (I assume it'll be $80 given Wii/U controller pricing). But, it better be really good quality.

      Really eager to see what the multiplayer capabilities are going to be on this thing. I'd like to get this for the family, but I need to be able to play it with my kids.

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      January 7, 2017 8:06 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 7, 2017 8:43 PM

      [deleted]

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        January 7, 2017 8:45 PM

        I'd be surprised if they have any SKUs that don't include the dock. For one, it's super cheap to make.

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          January 7, 2017 10:52 PM

          which means it's a great place to improve your margins

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            January 8, 2017 7:14 AM

            Seems risky though, since switching between portable and TV is such a centrally marketed feature that they named the system after it.

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              January 8, 2017 9:45 AM

              yeah it depends on if they really want to make it a 3DS replacement AND a Wii U replacement or if it's an and/or depending on your interests/price. The 3DS couldn't sell at $250 and handicapping their handheld success to help their home console business is probably unwise given recent history.

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      January 7, 2017 8:57 PM

      That's a logical entry price for a Pascal Tegra powered device. I won't be surprised if there's a $300 version with more on-board storage and a pack-in game.

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        January 7, 2017 9:11 PM

        I'd pay $50 more for extra space, and Splatoon (rumor). If the Splatoon rumor is true, and it included with all versions, Nintendo could make a ton of yen on cosmetic DLC.

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          January 7, 2017 9:25 PM

          Same, I download pretty much all my Nintendo games. I want as much on-board as possible.

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        January 7, 2017 9:15 PM

        On the topic of specs, this guy deduced that the "leaked" Switch specs from July were based on devkits that exactly matched the specs of a Jetson TX1 development board from 2015: https://youtu.be/n3_IE1LMmSY

        The leaked Switch specs are exactly the same as the Jetson TX1. Something we don't have details about is the more powerful, more power efficient dev kits that went out in October.

        The main thing this video gets wrong is that a move from Maxwell to Pascal would yield performance improvements. This is totally incorrect, identical numbers of Maxwell and Pascal cores perform identically at the same clock speeds. Pascal matters because it can be pushed to higher frequencies, something that wouldn't happen with the Switch in order to preserve battery life (don't expect much more than 1ghz).

        What matters the most is whatever custom configuration and optimizations were made with the Tegra that is going in the Switch. This is to be expected given that the hardware going back to the Gamecube was heavily customized for Nintendo's specific purposes. Something as generic as an old TX1 isn't something they would ship.

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          January 7, 2017 9:25 PM

          Here's the TX1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813190006&cm_re=jetson_tx1-_-13-190-006-_-Product

          http://www.nvidia.com/object/jetson-tx1-module.html

          If you scroll down on the Nvidia site they are identical to the reported Switch specs from a few weeks ago.

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          January 7, 2017 9:35 PM

          Why wouldn't they up the frequencies, and power consumption in docked mode? It seems like it's the entire point of it.

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            January 7, 2017 9:46 PM

            GPU clock speeds double when docked in order to accommodate the bump from 720p to 1080p. 1080p has about twice as many pixels as 720p, so roughly double the GPU clock speed (plus other visual bells and whistles, anti-aliasing, etc) when docked follows.

            CPU clock speeds have to remain the same so that things like game logic aren't compromised when its portable. Whatever simulations are running under the hood has to yield identical results in both modes.

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              January 7, 2017 9:57 PM

              Man, I can't wait for temporal AA on Nintendo titles. Aliasing is virtually the only visual flaw on their Wii U first party stuff.

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                January 7, 2017 11:10 PM

                [deleted]

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                  January 7, 2017 11:14 PM

                  It's not finished. We'll see what it looks like when released, but the hardware should support it just fine.

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                  January 8, 2017 12:08 AM

                  All Zelda footage outside of what was on Fallon has been from Wii U

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                    January 8, 2017 1:23 AM

                    That said, I won't be surprised if most anti-aliasing is FXAA since its basically free from a performance standpoint.

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                      January 8, 2017 1:44 AM

                      As a minimum, sure. But I doubt it'll be the only thing. Epic uses TAA very well and they're going to be official on Switch, so I imagine we'll see games that use it.

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        January 8, 2017 1:35 AM

        That is what the rumors are saying and that the pack in is going to be Splatoon.

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        January 8, 2017 7:31 AM

        I would think SD would take over for main storage so there's no need for that beyond storage space for the firmware/OS.

        Plus 50 for the Pro Controller and pack in.

        If I were Nintendo, and I know it's crazy, but I'd do 250 for just the tablet, 300 with the dock, and 350 for a deluxe model with everything and the Pro controller.

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      January 7, 2017 10:22 PM

      [deleted]

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        January 8, 2017 2:13 AM

        From the very article you're commenting on...

        "Additionally, a listing in November from the Canadian branch of Toys R Us website, which was quickly taken down, had the Nintendo Switch priced at $329.99 CAD"

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        January 8, 2017 8:38 AM

        If its below 300€ has a good launch game like zelda/mario I might be in.

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      January 8, 2017 3:45 AM

      I'm kind of interested in the switch, just because of its portability. Though I wonder if the unit itself would have a power in and hdmi out, like laptops. Don't know how bulky the dock would be in practice.

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        January 8, 2017 3:52 AM

        USB type C basically handles everything. Which will also be true of laptops in the future (and today for some new ones).

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        January 8, 2017 3:57 AM

        Power and video goes through a single USB-C port at the bottom. USB-PD means that charging should be pretty fast, about 30 minutes for most of the battery until charging slows down.

        The dock is fairly small, smaller than a Wii U gamepad.

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          January 8, 2017 4:18 AM

          Sweet. Does the tv supply power in this case?

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            January 8, 2017 5:12 AM

            There is no charging power over HDMI. The dock is plugged into the wall which then charges the Switch.

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              January 8, 2017 5:13 AM

              And of course it can plug into a wall or a portable power bank when you're away.

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      January 8, 2017 4:48 AM

      It better be $250. Xbox and PS4 bundles can be found for $250. They won't survive at a higher price with the average consumer.

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        January 8, 2017 8:47 AM

        Man holiday season was insane in that regard. Xbone was thrown away with 5 games for 220€ ps4 with a gamepad for 200€ etc on january second some stores had sales like no vat (19%) for anything until 11 on top of the sales on the consoles.

        People were lining up for that ps4 with second gamepad like it was free lunch. I wanted to buy a router and in front of me there was a continuous stream of folks buying ps4 bundles at a pace that the 2 guys trying to stock up the display area couldn't bring them in from the storage fast enough.

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      January 8, 2017 7:03 AM

      That's not "rumor", that's "speculation".

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        January 8, 2017 7:11 AM

        I don't really understand it either. Unless I'm missing something, isn't this just a company randomly guessing just like everyone else? How is that worth more than anyone else's guess?

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          January 8, 2017 7:25 AM

          That information may have gone out to retailers and the prices here may be legit, but this is speculation. These prices could just as well be a guess or a placeholder.

          249 seems likely for a base model though.

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            January 8, 2017 8:14 AM

            If you can buy one of any model for under $300, I'll be totally shocked.

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      January 8, 2017 7:27 AM

      [deleted]

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      January 8, 2017 8:17 AM

      Poll:

      Do you guys follow these kinds of leaks and rumors because you are trying to find out stuff ASAP or because you enjoy the speculation and discussion?

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        January 8, 2017 8:21 AM

        For myself- I am simply waiting for the official release of date, specs, and price. I kind of enjoy the rumormongering, but more seeing people's reactions than actually considering the rumors.

        For instance, that one article about how it could run similar to the ps4 despite worse hardware given the unreal presets.

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        January 8, 2017 8:30 AM

        I like to know so I can forecast my expenses :)

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        January 8, 2017 9:29 AM

        The hyyyyyyyyype

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        January 8, 2017 9:31 AM

        [deleted]

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        January 8, 2017 9:31 AM

        I like to be aware of news and rumors but I also equally think most of this is "leaks" from a marketing perspective to get people talking about stuff and kinda like a big focus group.

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        January 8, 2017 9:40 AM

        I want to know if I should be planning to buy this. Price point, performance, and game titles will determine that more than the marketing campaign that will start closer to release.

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        January 8, 2017 9:42 AM

        I need to know ahead of time where in my closet this thing will gather dust after finishing Zelda.

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        January 8, 2017 10:01 AM

        I'm just a giant nerd :(

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        January 8, 2017 10:19 AM

        Little from column A, little from column B.

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        January 8, 2017 1:14 PM

        A little of both - I enjoy discussion about real information (which this is not). Speculating is fun too but I can do that without bogus leaks.

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      January 8, 2017 8:30 AM

      If that price is legit, even at the $330 CAD price, I might jump on a Switch instead of upgrading to a new iPad Pro when they eventually come out later in the year.

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      January 8, 2017 9:23 AM

      I've bought several versions of every Nintendo handheld ever made (besides the Gameboy color for some reason) and one thing I can say with certainty... if they do actually release this thing for $250 I will by it so fast my credit card will be spinning.

      I really, really, really, really hope that Nintendo makes more than 3,000 of these things because their plan for the past 15 years seems to be to manufacture about 1 device per 10,000 eager customers... just to piss people off and create demand? I almost can't tell if they do it on purpose or they are extremely conservative... but I hate the way everything Nintendo makes seems to sell out in seconds and is 20x the price on ebay the next day.

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      January 8, 2017 9:42 AM

      This thing is going to be impossible to find at $249.

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      January 8, 2017 10:24 AM

      [deleted]

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      January 8, 2017 10:26 AM

      What a POS

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      January 8, 2017 10:42 AM

      Hmm that's not bad. Haven't had a Nintendo console since the SNES.

      Might be a good impulse buy for a few first party games

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      January 8, 2017 10:56 AM

      Retail stores do not have real leaks, ever.

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        January 8, 2017 11:37 AM

        It would be the worst kept secret ever.

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        January 8, 2017 10:51 PM

        The first slip was in November when, according to Shack News, the Canadian branch of Toys R Us published an online advertisement listing the Nintendo Switch at $329.99 CAD (approximately $245 USD).

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