Speculation: The 3DS will cost ~£249.99
Nintendo have already announced that the Japanese price for the 3DS will be ¥25,000 when it releases there in February, but we’re still left guessing what the price might be in the UK. With a little bit of creative estimation and number crunching, I’ve come up with an RRP in pound sterling that will probably be not far from the actual price when it does come out here next year.
Historically, games hardware and software tends to be more expensive in the UK than elsewhere, this is in part because of VAT on top of the price, partly because those sneaky console manufacturers want to make a bit more money from us, and partly because of lots of other complicated business reasons. This chart compares the launch pricing of Nintendo’s recent consoles, and the relative price difference between the Japanese price and the UK price at the exchange rates from when they first came out.
| Console | Japanese release date | Japanese Launch Price (¥) | UK Launch Price (£) | UK VAT rate | UK Launch price, minus VAT (£) | ¥/£ Exchange rate at time of release | Difference between UK and Japanese launch pricing |
| DS | 02/12/2004 | 15,000 | 99.99 | 17.5% | 82.49 | 198.19 | 9% |
| DS Lite | 02/03/2006 | 16,800 | 99.99 | 17.5% | 82.49 | 203.06 | -0.29% |
| Wii | 02/12/2006 | 25,000 | 179.99 | 17.5% | 148.49 | 228.51 | 35.73% |
| DSi | 01/11/2008 | 18,900 | 149.99 | 17.5% | 123.74 | 159.13 | 4.19% |
| DSi XL | 21/11/2009 | 20,000 | 159.99 | 15% | 135.99 | 146.86 | -0.14% |
On average, Nintendo’s previous 5 console releases have been, pre VAT, 9.7% more expensive in the UK than in Japan. If the difference in Japanese and UK price for the 3DS were to match this average, then based on today’s exchange rate of 130.644 ¥/£, the ¥25,000 price would equate to a pre-VAT price of £209.93. When you add today’s VAT rate of 20% to that, we get an estimated UK launch RRP of £252.38.
The current ¥/£ exchange rate is lower than it has been for Nintendo’s previous five console launches, when the Wii came out they got 75% more per GBP than they would today, so even though the Wii and the 3DS had the same nominal release price in Japan, it is fairly safe to assume that Nintendo will charge significantly more than the £179.99 price that the Wii released at. It’s also possible that Nintendo might opt to absorb some of the VAT increase themselves. Perhaps it will be less than £250, but it certainly will be in that region, and I’d hope that £250 would be the absolute upper limit.
£250 is certainly fairly high, but perhaps after extended hardware shortages their previous high profile console launches have had, Nintendo would prefer to get their grubby mitts on the extra money people were willing to pay, rather than letting eBay resellers have it.
If it is £250, do you think you’ll be queuing up on day one?
The Wii at release was also 25k yen, so you’d hope the UK release price for 3DS would be about the same as the Wii’s (£180). Of course, this being the real world, £200 would be about the equivalent now. But since this is going to be in the THIRD DIMENSION, £250 is definitely a safe bet.
It sounds strange to hear that a handheld will be more expensive than their previous console release.
Well you have to remember that Nintendo have historically always broke even or made a profit on hardware. I can’t see them wanting to change that with the 3DS.
I agree, my brain just thinks it odd that a handheld console would be significanlty more expensive than it’s full size bretheren.
In a survey I took about the 3DS last week, the price was given as around £200.
Obviously, that may not be correct, but that’s what it said.
Wow £15 less than I paid for my ps3 250gb is there really still people willing to buy this with the iphone now
For me the issue atm is not if it will be £200 or £250, for although £250 is high, I can still justify it. The issue for me is the region-locking, if it is locked then I will re-consider the whole thing.
RIDGGGEEEE RRACCCERRRRR
Oh god it’s happening again.
I dont think you can really use the Wii price in this list since the 35.73% difference is due to us getting Wii Sports bundled with the console, whereas the Japanese dont. This obviously messes up your average a fair bit.