Nintendo NX price pegged at $299, analysts share thoughts on game support

Fans have been waiting for any updates on the Nintendo NX. But with the company not yet ready to reveal more details on the hardware, analysts have been chipping in their thoughts on the upcoming device.

Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter speculated that the Nintendo NX may even be price somewhere along the lines of US$300 (approx. AU$420). Of course, Pachter did say that he had no idea on what Nintendo has in store for fans. His predictions, however, are based on the current market that the Nintendo NX will be entering once it’s released, Wii U Daily reported.

Considering how the Xbox One and the PS4 consoles have already dropped in price to welcome in the holiday sales, putting the Nintendo NX in the same price point or even somewhere lower may be key. Pachter said that the Nintendo NX will need to be priced reasonably, especially if its features will not be that different with what the two other biggest next-gen consoles are offering.

This is on top of what has been rumoured as the Nintendo NX’s hybrid handheld console. As far as pricing is concerned, the $299 level seems to be the Goldilocks offer that could make the Nintendo NX thrive.

More than the price point, however, there is also one area in which the Nintendo NX should try to compete with the PS4 and Xbox One. According to Nintendo Insider, the Nintendo NX will require third-party support for games to keep the console competitive.

This has been the main trouble for Nintendo’s other platforms, such as the Wii U, wherein third-party games often drop the Wii U off the list of support. Part of this is ensuring that coding and creating games for the Nintendo NX should be reasonably easy as with the PS4 and Xbox One.

“The more this thing looks like a PS4 or Xbox One, I think the better it does, and ultimately, the only people who are going to buy it are people that don’t have a PS4 or Xbox One, or people who have a PS4 or Xbox One and want to play Nintendo games,” said Pachter in a statement quoted by Nintendo Insider. “So perhaps, the NX will capture a third of that remaining market.”

Nintendo is expected to roll out more details on the Nintendo NX in the future. For now, it will not be making an appearance in the last Nintendo Direct of the year, which is devoted to the “Super Smash Bros.”

Nintendo NX - all the news (Credit: YouTube/Nintendo News Network)

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