UPDATE May 11 1:38 ET: The Nintendo Switch price drop has expired. The original story is below.
Nintendo Switch has seen its first significant price drop ever in the US, months after regions such as the UK and Europe saw a similar reduction in price.
The console can now be purchased for $259.99, a reasonable $40 drop from the previous $299.99 price point it’s held onto for almost five years. It is currently not clear whether this will be a permanent price cut, or simply a limited-time sale for the Switch.
Nintendo Switch Drops to Just $260 For First Time
Back in September 2021, Nintendo Switch consoles sold in Europe got an official price cut not long before the Switch OLED Model was released. There was some speculation about a US cut as well, but Nintendo previously responded to this by saying there are “no plans” for a price drop in the US.
But around nine months later, albeit via a sale, the price reduction has come to fruition with Nintendo Switch consoles currently down to $259.99 at Amazon, GameStop, and Walmart.
Nintendo confirmed this week that it sold 235 million games for Switch in financial year 2021 – the highest number sold in a single year in the company’s history. Console sales also continue to bode well, with the three Switch models selling 23 million units in FY 2021. But, while this is a huge number (by comparison, PS5 sold 11.5 million in the same period), it’s also a 20% drop from FY 2020.
Nintendo Switch now sits at 107.65 million units sold in total, only trailing Game Boy (118.69 million) and Nintendo DS (154.02 million) as Nintendo’s most successful consoles of all time.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.