Nintendo Switch release date, news: price leak teases more affordable console than thought

A promotional image for the Nintendo Switch.Nintendo

For such a new concept, Nintendo is sure offering its latest console, the Switch, at a reasonable price — that is, if the latest reports about the hybrid gaming device's price turn out to be true.

The Canadian Toys "R" Us website seemingly revealed pricing details for the nifty console. The listing indicated that the Nintendo Switch can be purchased for $329.99 CAD which is around $250 USD. Not bad for a new device that is tipped to take the gaming world by storm with its slogan of being able to play "anytime, anywhere and with anyone."

Putting things into perspective with respect to other consoles, the upcoming device from the Japanese company will retail for just about the same price as the Nintendo 3DS handheld when it first debuted. Unfortunately, the listing on the retailer's site has since been taken down but not before media outlets got a wind of it.

Backing this particular development is that of Let's Play Video Games writer Laura Dale's tip coming from her sources at U.K. retailer GAME that the Nintendo Switch will hit the shelves with a base price of £199.99 (about $250 USD). However, those who want more internal storage can pick up another iteration that will sell for £249.99 (about $310) with a bonus game already included.

Nintendo has long been reiterating that they are not planning to sell the Nintendo Switch at a loss much like the Wii U, which they are officially retiring soon. Understandably so since the tech company has also been upfront about their goals for the aforementioned device.

Nintendo Switch is offering players a brand-new way of gaming and NVIDIA is totally on board with the idea even expressing support for the company which they have seemingly avoided doing for quite a long time.

"In the case of Switch, it was such a ground-breaking design. Performance matters because games are built on great performance, but form factor and energy efficiency matter incredibly because they want to build something that's portable and transformable," NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang explained to Venture Beat on what made them decide to take the plunge after only catering to PCs. "The type of gameplay they want to enable is like nothing the world has so far. It's a scenario where two great engineering teams, working with their creative teams, needed to hunker down. Several hundred engineering years went into building this new console. It's the type of project that really inspires us, gets us excited. It's a classic win-win."

The Nintendo Switch is scheduled to hit the market in March 2017.