Nintendo and Sandisk are teaming up to Price Gouge and take advantage of Nintendo Switch Customers

[AlTech]

Nintendo and Sandisk are teaming up to price gouge Nintendo Switch customers looking for a Micro SD Card.

 

They're doing this by manufacturing certified Nintendo Switch Micro SD cards at a significantly higher markup compared to regular Micro SD cards which are compatible with the Nintendo Switch.

 

In fact, they have identical specifications compared to many cheaper Micro SD cards.

 

Nintendo and SanDisk are hoping that nontechie consumers won't know that any regular Micro SD card will work and buy the more expensive certified micro SDs instead.

 

The pricing of the Certified Micro SD Cards are $99.99 USD for 64GB or $199.99 USD for 128GB.

 

Rich (from ReviewTechUSA) also mentions that consumers can easily purchase a 256GB Micro SD which is the same speed as the certified 128GB model for the same price.

 

Source:

 

So yeah, this is a really scummy move on SanDisk's part and Nintendo's part. Frankly it's just disgusting imho.

[Guest]

It's nothing new - look at WD Mac drives, Seagate XBox drives and more.. 

[iRileyx]

Sounds alot like the PS Vita SD cards that you had to buy if you wanted extra storage.

 

Kind of, anyway, I think the PS Vita SD cards were actually a different size/shape to regular SD cards.

[minibois]

At least they don't block 'regular' microSD through software.. (inb4 they see this idea and do this) and it's not a proprietary standard.. (cough Sony.. cough)

But yea, quite high prices. I can see it from their perspective: they know for sure these cards will work, but seems just useless.

[Princess Luna]

Certification costs money. Certainly not worth it for gaming, certifications only make sense in super high end professional environments.

[Napper198]

But look, there is Mario on the box!

[minibois]

2 minutes ago, Napper198 said:

But look, there is Mario on the box!

Parents: "Oh hey it's Super Mario and Zelda on the box! That would work good on my son's new portable Wii!"

[Guest]

Actually to add to this, Nintendo are no where near as bad as HP or Dell or any of the other enterprise brands. They''ll take an SSD: e.g. Intel S4500, slap the HP sticker on and the RRP goes from $408.18 ex GST to $1311.00 ex GST for the same damn drive.

[Kobathor]

8 minutes ago, RKRiley said:

Sounds alot like the PS Vita SD cards that you had to buy if you wanted extra storage.

 

Kind of, anyway, I think the PS Vita SD cards were actually a different size/shape to regular SD cards.

The Vita cards are Sony's proprietary card size (specifically??) for the Vita. IMO one of the reasons the Vita died so quickly was because you could get a Vita, install one game, then you had to get a memory card to install more. They were priced absolutely exorbitantly for what they were. There was an adapter for regular Micro SD cards, tho.

 

At least these are just gimmicky regular Micro SD cards. You can put cheaper ones in there, even ones better than what Nintendo/Sandisk sell. Still think this deceptive practice is terrible, though.

[pas008]

2 minutes ago, Kobathor said:

The Vita cards are Sony's proprietary card size (specifically??) for the Vita. IMO one of the reasons the Vita died so quickly was because you could get a Vita, install one game, then you had to get a memory card to install more. They were priced absolutely exorbitantly for what they were. There was an adapter for regular Micro SD cards, tho.

 

At least these are just gimmicky regular Micro SD cards. You can put cheaper ones in there, even ones better than what Nintendo/Sandisk sell. Still think this deceptive practice is terrible, though.

if they say you need it then its deceptive

 

i dont see how this isnt any different from others examples in this thread and many not mentioned that we all know we could go on about

[TheCherryKing]

Nintendo right now:

[General Winter]

while fools by mirco sd'd at retail price; im auction sniping mirco sd's for dirt cheap

 

 

 

[LAwLz]

1 hour ago, Windspeed36 said:

Actually to add to this, Nintendo are no where near as bad as HP or Dell or any of the other enterprise brands. They''ll take an SSD: e.g. Intel S4500, slap the HP sticker on and the RRP goes from $408.18 ex GST to $1311.00 ex GST for the same damn drive.

Don't forget Cisco.

This 150 dollar Crucial M550? Let's sell that for 500 dollars (or whatever the price is in USD).

[PlayStation 2]

Here's a tip that's obvious: don't buy the official fuckin' cards.

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, General Winter said:

while fools by mirco sd'd at retail price; im auction sniping mirco sd's for dirt cheap

 

 

 

Enjoy your fake card

[demonix00]

59 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Here's a tip that's obvious: don't buy the official fuckin' cards.

I wouldn't even touch any sandisk memory card or USB drive since every one I've gotten ends up getting rather hot.

[Phentos]

Sandisk SD cards are steaming piles of hot trash. Literally.

 

I used to have a 128GB Sandisk SD card for my phone, and I've seen it mount and unmount more times than an entire cavalry unit from the Middle Ages. 

 

Junk.

[ARikozuM]

This isn't new. Companies have done this since the dawn of time. Toyota literally sells Delco belts (it says Delco on the timing belt) for $30 more than Delco themselves. The good thing here is that they aren't locking you to only their micro SD cards and they aren't using a proprietary format like others would (Xbox 360 uses 2.5" HDD in a proprietary enclosure). 

[General Winter]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

Enjoy your fake card

it works fine; a mirco sd is a mirco sd after all

 

popping it into my switch yields no issues after formatting it

[PlayStation 2]

56 minutes ago, demonix00 said:

I wouldn't even touch any sandisk memory card or USB drive since every one I've gotten ends up getting rather hot.

Had a 64GB SanDisk Cruzer flash drive where the fucking USB input literally fell off because it wasn't attached right.

[General Winter]

2 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Had a 64GB SanDisk Cruzer flash drive where the fucking USB input literally fell off because it wasn't attached right.

that fucking sucks, that happened with a freebie that i got from an IT tour

 

i could only imagine how pissed i'd be if i wasted money on that (especially retail price is always stupid high)

[Deletist_Jerk]

1 hour ago, Phentos said:

Sandisk SD cards are steaming piles of hot trash. Literally.

 

I used to have a 128GB Sandisk SD card for my phone, and I've seen it mount and unmount more times than an entire cavalry unit from the Middle Ages. 

 

Junk.

There are many fake SanDisk branded cards out there on e-commerce websites...I'm certain I have a fake SanDisk, but it's working fine still. 

[Gullerback]

I know its nothing new, But hot damn that markup

[Phentos]

25 minutes ago, Deletist_Jerk said:

There are many fake SanDisk branded cards out there on e-commerce websites...I'm certain I have a fake SanDisk, but it's working fine still. 

Mine is legit. Maybe a fake one would work better

[Herman Mcpootis]

3 hours ago, General Winter said:

while fools by mirco sd'd at retail price; im auction sniping mirco sd's for dirt cheap

 

 

 

inb4 it's a 256MB SD card made to look like a 256GB SD card