Queues in Spain for the new Nintendo Switch 2

Queues in Spain for the new Nintendo Switch 2

A shopping street in Spain. A line of people waits to enter the store selling the new Nintendo Switch 2, according to the video that opens the debate, which speaks of “long queues” in the country. The discussion cites 500 euros per console and 80 per game, figures cited by participants and not an official source. It is pure leisure; nobody disputes that. And for that very reason the scene has become a thermometer for the country.

What the Switch 2 costs: 500 euros for the console and 80 per game

The new Nintendo console doesn't come cheap, judging by the figures being tossed around in the thread: the debate cites 500 euros for the console and 80 per title. One post also compares that expense with paying 30 euros extra to get a video game three days before launch. The final bill depends on how many games go into the basket.

Against that figure, some set much cheaper alternatives. Catalogs like Steam and GOG keep classic games at minimal prices, and a modest computer still runs titles from decades ago without breaking a sweat. To each their own, but your wallet notices.

The fine print: no disc drive and gigs to spare

Doubts have also arisen about the device's details. Some argue that consoles without a disc drive are a bad deal because the drive is sold separately, which for some buyers turns the purchase into an outlay in installments: console, optional drive, memory card and games at launch prices. Add to that, according to another participant, the most ambitious titles take up hundreds of gigabytes, so storage runs out sooner than you think.

The clash: queues for leisure, not housing

The most repeated reproach doesn't target the console but the timing. With access to housing out of reach for a large part of people under 40, it's hard to understand waiting hours in line for a product that isn't a basic necessity. The paradox is summed up in a phrase circulating in the discussion: if yesterday they spent 500 euros on a video game console, how are they going to buy a 200,000 house.

The argument is easy to make and misleading in equal parts. A one-off 500-euro expense is not why a home costs 400 times more. Someone who cannot pay a mortgage wouldn't pay it by giving up the console either; they would simply end up without a console and without a house. The complaint mixes two different problems and almost always comes much cheaper than talking about wages.

Everyone with their own money: in defense of the purchase

There is no shortage of those who defend the spending unapologetically. Everyone does what they want with their money, and if someone prefers to invest it in leisure rather than something else, that's up to them. The criticism is also seen as selective: the same people who clutch their heads at a queue say nothing about what gets spent every weekend on football, bars or the latest trendy phone.

Behind that defense another reproach emerges, this one of the opposite sign: that the same people are not seen demanding housing. The complaint is not that they buy, but that they mobilize for that and not for other things.

Ordering online or enduring the queue: the logistics debate

The second front is purely practical. Ordering it online and receiving it a few hours later avoids the early wake-up, the wait and the sun. Some don't understand the sacrifice when the result is the same package, and compare it to paying extra to get a game three days early, something that in practice turns first buyers into testers of launch bugs.

From the ration book to the queue for a console

Underlying the debate is a historical irony. More than one person has looked back to the years when queues in Spain formed to collect products from the ration book, not to get a new leisure device. The comparison is exaggerated, needless to say, but it measures how much the country has changed and what people buy when there is some spare cash in their pocket.

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In the end, the Switch 2 queue says less about the console than about the context. One can debate whether 500 euros is sensible spending, and there are arguments for all tastes. What admits no debate is the arithmetic thrown around in the thread: according to the comparison circulating, to pay for the housing that the most critical demand would require 400 consoles at 500 euros. With that differential, the outrage over the line sounds more like venting than diagnosis.