So you want a shiny new OLED-packing Nintendo Switch, do you? We’ve been awaiting pricing information for South Africa ever since the hardware was announced. Well, the inevitable has happened — you can now pre-order an OLED Switch in SA. The question is: should you?

Come on, Nintendo Switch it up

See, whether you opt for the colourful or the dour white version of Ninty’s portable console, you’re going to wind up spending R8,000 for one, with an official carrying case setting you back an extra 600 bucks. That’s… a whole lot of money, especially when you consider that not all that much is changing.

The OLED version of the Nintendo Switch is just that — the same internal hardware but with a slightly larger 7in OLED screen on the front of it. It’ll do all the same things as the OG Switch, at the same frame rates and resolutions, with slightly tweaked battery life. Asking for eight grand because the display’s changed seems like a kick in the Goombas — especially since you can buy a Microsoft Xbox Series S for less than that.

For the price of a new OLED 64GB Nintendo Switch with zero (0) games, you can pick up a brand new 512GB Xbox Series S (which will set you back R7,000 if you’re not buying it on special) with enough left over for six month’s worth of Microsoft Game Pass Ultimate and more games than you can possibly eat. Sure, Nintendo’s hardware is great but considering the first model turned up at R5,200, asking R8k for this upgrade might be a little bit of a stretch. Maybe there’s something to those rumours of increased profit margins for this console after all.