The Nintendo Switch doesn’t have a pack-in game so it could reach the $299 pricepoint

1-2 Switch is $50

So, 1-2 Switch. You know, that milking mini-game that looks like it should be a pack-in? Well, it’s $50. And when you plunk down $300 on your new Switch console, you won’t get anything else with it.

Speaking to GameSpot, Nintendo of America head honcho Reggie Fils-Aime says it was to get the cost down on the base package. Not only is 1-2 Switch a “wider pallet of experiences,” but decisions were made based on the pricepoint they wanted for the console: “From a US price point, we wanted to be at $299. Certainly, lower is always better, but at a $349 or $399 price point, we just didn’t feel that was the right place to be. So we start there. And then it’s all about, what’s going to be included? Obviously the inclusion of the two Joy-Con, critically important; all the right cables, the dock, critically important. We also have to do this from a financial perspective as well. Once we got to that bundle, it really needed to be at $299 without a piece of software.”

So there you have it. What Nintendo is basically saying is instead of spending $350 and maybe getting a pack-in you don’t want, you can buy something else like Zelda instead. While that’s reasonable enough if they’re saying between the lines that they’re making a profit on each console sold, it doesn’t instill all that much confidence in 1-2 Switch.

Why Switch Doesn’t Include Any Bundled Games [GameSpot]