The Nintendo Switch 2 India Price and Launch: Most Markets Don’t Matter to the House of Mario (For Now)
Also, Death Stranding 2's strong pre-orders, no PS5 Pro, and more
The Nintendo Switch 2 will be available in India. This is despite Nintendo not having an official presence in the country. Several sources in the supply chain have confirmed that while availability on day one may be scarce, stock should flow freely from June 8. I’ll get to the reasons for this delay later on in the post.
The price of the console now hovers between Rs. 58,000 to Rs. 65,000 depending on the store you’re buying it from and the city you’re in. This is a far cry from my earlier estimate of Rs. 45,000 to Rs. 50,000. However there’s a good reason for this which I didn’t account for: Nintendo’s laxness for regions that aren’t the US, Japan, and Europe.
Turns out the Middle East, which has been a considerable source of Nintendo Switch supply in India following its 2017 release isn’t getting the Nintendo Switch 2 on time officially due to late certification. Outside of Saudi Arabia which has a stake in Nintendo itself, all countries in that region aren’t getting it officially.
Nintendo Switch 2 India price is more expensive: here’s why
So while the console has already been sold in the Middle East for over a week, it’s been stock from the US and Europe. The same Europe stock is what some Indian parallel importers are getting mostly through the Middle East at a mark up. Other savvy entrepreneurs are tapping Hong Kong for stock of the console as well (also at a mark up). This is why the price is higher for Indian buyers, now between Rs. 58,000 to Rs. 65,000.
What’s more is, a lot of what’s expected at retail here is the Mario Kart World bundle. Reason being, stocks of the standard Nintendo Switch 2 are on a monthlong back order in most regions which means most early adopters here will be paying more. Over 80 percent of the stock expected is the Mario Kart World bundle.
Several retailers I spoke to were paying about EUR 500 (around Rs. 50,000) plus 15-20 percent at least for the Mario Kart World bundle due to the high demand. This cost is passed on to eager day one audiences or reviewers and content creators looking to do their job.
“Prices should normalise by August or October latest, when the Switch 2 is out in more countries, our costs get better,” says one Mumbai-based store owner. “But if you want it month one, forget day one, you’ll be paying more because we are paying more.”
Nintendo Switch 2 India release date
Most stores should have stock next week, “from June 8” was a consistent phrase I heard due to Eid holidays from June in key markets like the UAE from which a substantial portion of stock is expected.
To borrow a phrase from Led Zeppelin: the song remains the same. Nintendo releases a hyped piece of hardware, parallel markets seize an opportunity to sell at higher prices, prices normalise down the line all while selling more than officially available consoles from companies like Sony and Microsoft. I’ve seen this with the Wii and the Switch, with sales crossing 750,000 and 600,000 respectively. The sales of both in India easily outsold the PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One respectively.
While the verdict is still out on the Switch 2 particularly due to horrible decisions like game key cards which make me feel Nintendo and its publishing partners are looking for a way to play fast and loose with the term ownership in a way that would wreck video game preservation and access even further, there’s no denying that IPs like Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon have sway in this market.
Is there going to be a Nintendo Switch 2 India official launch?
Although Nintendo’s staunch refusal to acknowledge India on the map has resulted in a thriving parallel market that I discussed in the run up to the Switch’s launch, this may change.
Sources familiar with the company’s plans tell me Nintendo is locking in its plans to finally set up shop in India though it would need to set up an Indian eshop first. While a timeline is yet unknown, it’s likely to partner with Redington. I hope this isn’t the case. It would be an unmitigated disaster given how that company distributes Xbox hardware (it doesn’t) and games for Activision and Bethesda in India. Bring up Redington with any game store in the country and you’re bound to be met with laughter, such is its reputation at retail for gaming.
All of this: be it emerging markets like India continuously depending on parallel imports to meet demand or growth regions like the Middle East getting access late despite having an official presence suggest that Nintendo doesn’t really care about markets that aren’t the US, Europe, or Japan. While there are signs of change I wonder if audiences would even care when Nintendo decides it should take these markets seriously.
There’s more in this dispatch courtesy of our sister site, High Chaos Run.
Nintendo Switch 2 games are making it to India officially and on time
Perhaps the only thing funnier than Nintendo not releasing the Switch 2 officially is that third-party games for the Nintendo Switch 2 like Hogwarts Legacy are releasing in India officially and on time. Expect these to be on the store shelves from June 5.
No PS5 Pro for India despite government draft rules for 6GHz delicensing
Given that the PS4 Pro was about 10 percent of all PS4s sold in India, this isn’t a bad thing. Nothing of value lost in my opinion. Markets like ours would be better served with a permanent PS5 price drop over new hardware with less than marginal gains.
Death Stranding 2 pre-order store list shows how important brick-and-mortar retail is to markets like India
This one surprised me a bit. I reached out to Sony India for a list of stores that have pre-orders for Death Stranding 2 live right now. The company provided me with a list of 40, including locations I never even considered like Jammu and Amritsar (yes, my Mumbai is showing). Interestingly, pre-orders for this Hideo Kojima game are strong. A good thing given that the first Death Stranding was somewhat of an acquired taste.
India’s first card collection game discarded?
Bad pun for what appears to be bad news. Studio Sirah is imploding. The Kurukshetra developer's founders have changed their direction (which is the most charitable way to describe what current, former, and soon-to-be former employees have told me). This resulted in over 60 percent of the workforce either quitting or fired.
It's a perplexing turn of events following the team's studio of the year win at the India Gaming Awards in 2024 with sources citing brash, immature management for the tumult.
Kurukshetra is not a focus anymore as per multiple sources familiar with the company's plans. A leaner team will work on an Android and iOS tower defence game called Kalpa, which was panned at a recent event, Indie Game Utsav for pointless gameplay, contentious art, and absolute lack of any world-building or explanations.
It surfaced on the Play Store as well, unchanged from its Indie Game Utsav showing before being removed — and returning again.
It'll be interesting to see if this gamble pays off. If my time with Kalpa at Indie Game Utsav and with the Play Store build was any indication, it's a shallow shell of a game lacking the nuance and deftness that made Kurukshetra entertaining to play.
Following Mayanagari developer Hypernova's shuttering last year, hopefully this Bengaluru-based developer doesn't follow suit.