A Nintendo logo (file image)

Here’s a sentence that makes no sense and yet might actually be true: Nintendo is planning to launch the Switch 1 in India. Switch No 2. Original. Console which came out in 2017. One that has been available grey, modded and second-hand in the market for more than a decade.According to sources who spoke to the DeZero Podcast under anonymity, a February or March 2027 window is being targeted, with Reddington handling distribution on the ground. The price being quoted is around Rs 20,000. First-party titles are also part of the plan—Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart are early speculations. Pricing on software? No one knows yet.

House of Mario is run by a very small team from India

The people making these decisions are not full-fledged regional offices. DeZero’s sources describe Nintendo’s India operation as consisting of three or four Japanese executives and one Indian who moved to Tokyo and is working with them. It’s a small team for a big market, and what they’ve landed on is the official launch of a console that people are already starting to feel nostalgic about.To understand why the timing seems bad, consider this: According to Nintendo’s own financial results, the Switch 2 sold nearly 20 million units globally in its first fiscal year. This is not yet part of India’s conversation. Not officially anyway. Rishi Alwani, who closely covers the gaming industry through his 0451 newsletter, has accurately discovered that the gray market stock of the Switch 2 is already running at Rs 58,000 to Rs 65,000 in India.If Nintendo Shows Up, Here’s the Fine PrintSwitch consoles are already floating around in unofficial channels. The original Switch is so old that it can hardly be resold anymore – a used Switch sells for Rs 20,000-25,000 in good times. The price of the light is around Rs 20,000. The price of OLED is Rs 35,000. So Nintendo’s official India entry gives you a brand new base Switch 1 that costs almost the same as the second-hand original, available gray, modded, and sometimes even cheaper with a ton of games. Of course, it’s not a terrible deal. It’s not particularly exciting either.There’s no Indian eShop confirmed, no Switch Online gift cards at retail, and there’s the real possibility of a region lockout given what Nintendo did with Tencent in China. Distributor of choice, Redington has had a complicated relationship with gaming retail in India – Alwani’s 0451 newsletter notes that Redington and gaming retail have a history together in India, and it’s not one that most store owners take kindly to – the availability of Xbox, or lack thereof, tells that story well.This does not mean that the launch will not make any difference. Nintendo’s official presence means shelf space, visibility, and the kind of awareness that the gray market quietly never built. A person walking into a brick-and-mortar electronics store today doesn’t necessarily know that there are gaming consoles worth considering besides the PlayStation. This changes when there is a box with a price tag on the shelf.But Nintendo’s biggest competition in India at the moment is not PlayStation. Its own hardware is already here, already sold, already in people’s hands. For Rs 20,000, it would be nice if they at least came up with a 10th anniversary special edition. Something to make the occasion feel intentional rather than casual.