Nintendo has unveiled its holiday hardware plans for 2023, including the return of a very familiar Nintendo Switch bundle alongside two new Nintendo Switch Lite options.
Beginning October 6, Nintendo will sell the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Nintendo Switch bundle for $299.99. This will include a Base Model Nintendo Switch, a digital copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and a three-month individual membership for Nintendo Switch Online.
The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle has become a holiday tradition for Nintendo, as the company has rolled with this strategy for several years in a row. In IGN’s recent interview with Doug Bowser, the Nintendo of America President explained why the company continues to offer this package every year.
“Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is in pretty much everyone’s catalog, and so we think it’s a great entry point for families who are coming into Nintendo systems because it’s got this plug and play type mentality to it where you can just… When you get the unit, plug it in, start playing Mario Kart and having fun as a family,” Bowser said.
But Nintendo will also release two brand-new hardware bundles on the same day the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle returns to shelves. The Nintendo Switch Lite Animal Crossing: New Horizons bundle comes in two different variations: Isabelle’s Aloha Edition and Timmy & Tommy’s Aloha Edition. These two bundles will each retail for $199.99, and include a Switch Lite with a new leaf design on the front and back, and a digital copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Isabelle’s Aloha Edition comes in coral and is exclusive to Target, while Timmy & Tommy’s Aloha Edition comes in turquoise and will only be available at Walmart.
Nintendo still doesn’t appear to be considering a price drop on Nintendo Switch hardware, even as the machine approaches its seventh birthday. Instead, the company opts to bundle software with the unit while keeping the price steady.
“[We have] Switch Lite at $199.99, Base Model at $299.99, and then OLED at $349.99. We think there’s tremendous value in those price points for consumers, and you only have to look at our results in the first quarter of this fiscal year to see the demand is still there,” Bowser said when asked where NoA stands on a potential price drop.
“And so as a result, we think about opportunities to bring more consumers in and encourage people to come in, especially during the holiday period. We think the best method, and it’s worked well for us in the past, has been through the bundles themselves, and by offering a software that they can engage with and get their catalog started with. So that’s really the direction we’ve been taking.”
For more, check out our full interview with Doug Bowser, where we chat with the NoA boss about Charles Martinet’s new role as Mario Ambassador, why Nintendo Switch is still in high demand, and how 2023 has been a “banner year” for Nintendo.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
