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The rumors were true. The Nintendo Switch's price has been cut for the first time in Europe and it appears to be a permanent reduction.
The Nintendo Switch has been on the market for four and a half years and continues to impress on the sales front. Earlier this year, Nintendo revealed that the console has now sold in excess of 89 million units worldwide. That already makes it the seventh best-selling console ever. In order to break the top six, the Switch will need to surpass 100 million sold and overtake the Wii.
The console might well get a big boost towards that goal starting this week thanks to a pretty hefty price cut. It was rumored last week that the Switch would be subject to a price reduction in Europe for the first time since it launched. Those rumors have now been confirmed and the console is just £259.99 on Nintendo's UK store right now.
The Switch has been £279.99 in the UK before now. Price reduction are also happening across the rest of Europe. Amazon France has it listed at €269.99 down from €329.99. Nintendo UK has confirmed via a statement to VGC that the price reduction is in preparation for the launch of the Switch OLED model.
“We decided that now was the appropriate time to change the European trade price of Nintendo Switch,” Nintendo explained. It cited the OLED model and exchange rates as the reasons behind the price drop. The OLED Switch, which will have a bigger and better quality screen than a regular Switch as well as some other minor improvements, will be available from October 8, 2021. It will retail for £309.99 in the UK.
Despite the ongoing success of the Switch, Nintendo reported that sales were down 21.7% compared to the same time last year during the first quarter of this financial year. While that seems like a pretty drastic drop-off, this year's numbers were being compared to a time when many parts of the world were plunged into lockdown. Many reacted to having more free time than they knew what to do with by picking up a Switch, which resulted in an unexpected spike in sales.