Buy them separately, pay $20 more for the same thing
After nearly four years of quiet frustration from its player base, Nintendo acknowledged in October 2020 what many had long considered an obvious imbalance: buying Joy-Con controllers individually cost meaningfully more than buying them as a pair. Beginning November 9th, the company reduced single Joy-Con prices from $49.99 to $39.99, closing a gap that had quietly taxed loyal players for years. The adjustment, mirroring a move already made in Japan, speaks to the slow but real pressure that accumulated consumer discontent can exert even on the most entrenched pricing structures.
- For years, players who needed a single replacement Joy-Con were quietly penalized — paying up to $20 more than those who bought a matched pair.
- The frustration had become a fixture of gaming communities, compounding alongside other Joy-Con grievances like drift and durability to erode goodwill toward Nintendo's ecosystem.
- Nintendo of Japan moved first, signaling that the price correction was a deliberate, coordinated strategy rather than an impulsive response to criticism.
- On November 9th, Nintendo of America followed, dropping individual Joy-Con prices to $39.99 and finally aligning solo and paired purchasing costs.
- The fix arrived late — four years into the Switch's life — but it removed a concrete layer of friction for players weighing replacements or expanding their setups.
Anyone who owned a Nintendo Switch long enough felt the sting of its controller pricing. A pair of Joy-Cons ran $79.99 — the same as the Pro Controller — but buying them individually cost $49.99 each, meaning two separate purchases would run $99.98. That $20 penalty for buying separately frustrated players for years, and Nintendo finally moved to address it in October 2020.
Beginning November 9th, Nintendo of America cut individual Joy-Con prices to $39.99, effectively eliminating the disparity. The company had telegraphed the shift when Nintendo of Japan made a similar announcement weeks earlier, suggesting a coordinated global adjustment rather than a reactive one. The initial reduction applied to Neon Blue and Neon Red — the colors bundled with most Switch consoles — with other variants potentially to follow.
What made the moment notable was less the price cut itself than how long it had taken. The Switch had been on the market for nearly four years, and the individual pricing complaint had been a persistent undercurrent in gaming communities, layered atop broader concerns about Joy-Con drift and durability. The adjustment didn't resolve those deeper issues, but it removed one visible friction point — a modest concession that nonetheless signaled Nintendo was, at last, listening to what its players were willing to pay.
Anyone who has owned a Nintendo Switch long enough knows the sting: Joy-Con controllers cost a lot. A pair runs $79.99, which happens to be exactly what Nintendo charges for its Pro Controller. But buy them individually, and the math gets ugly. Single Joy-Cons were priced at $49.99 each—meaning if you needed two replacements, you'd pay $99.98 instead of $79.99 for a matched set. That $20 penalty for buying separately made little sense to consumers, and Nintendo finally acknowledged as much in October 2020.
On November 9th of that year, Nintendo of America announced it would cut individual Joy-Con prices to $39.99 each. The move eliminated the pricing disparity that had frustrated players for years. Now, buying two Joy-Cons separately would cost $79.98—essentially the same as purchasing them as a pair, though still a significant chunk of money for replacement controllers. The company had already signaled this shift weeks earlier when Nintendo of Japan made a similar announcement, suggesting the price adjustment was part of a broader strategy rather than a sudden reversal.
The initial price cut applied only to Neon Blue and Neon Red Joy-Cons, the classic colors that ship with most Switch consoles. Nintendo left open the possibility that other color variants—the various special editions and limited releases that had accumulated over the Switch's lifespan—might eventually see the same reduction. For players who had been holding off on replacing worn controllers or adding extras to their collection, the timing offered a concrete reason to finally make the purchase.
What made the announcement noteworthy was not the price cut itself but how long it had taken. The Switch had been on the market for nearly four years by the time Nintendo addressed what many saw as an obvious pricing problem. The disparity between individual and paired pricing had been a running complaint in gaming communities, a small but persistent frustration that accumulated alongside other Joy-Con issues—drift problems, durability concerns, and the general expense of maintaining the console's ecosystem. The price adjustment didn't solve those deeper problems, but it at least removed one layer of consumer friction.
For Nintendo, the move represented a modest concession to market pressure. Controllers are a significant revenue stream for console manufacturers, and pricing them aggressively has long been standard practice. But as the Switch's installed base grew and more players needed replacements or additional controllers, the individual pricing became harder to justify. The company's decision to act, even if delayed, suggested it was paying attention to what players actually wanted—and what they were willing to pay.
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did Nintendo wait so long to fix this? The pricing problem was obvious from day one.
It's hard to say exactly, but console makers have always treated controllers as premium accessories. The profit margins are good, and most players buy them in pairs initially. The individual market was smaller, so it wasn't a priority until enough people complained.
But the math was absurd—paying $20 more for the same product depending on how you bought it.
Completely absurd. And that's what made it unsustainable. Once the Switch had millions of owners needing replacements, the pricing looked less like strategy and more like punishment.
Did this price cut actually matter, or was it too little too late?
It mattered for people in the market for controllers in late 2020 and beyond. But it didn't address the real issues—the drift problems, the durability questions. It was a pricing fix, not a product fix.
So Nintendo was essentially saying, 'We hear you, but only about the money part'?
Exactly. It's the easiest thing to change and the least meaningful. But it's still better than ignoring the complaint entirely.