Nintendo has confirmed that it has no plans to increase the price of its Nintendo Switch console.
Despite a drop in sales of around 23 per cent year-on-year – chiefly due to the tech industry’s ongoing shortage of semiconductor parts stifling manufacturing – Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told Nikkei that Nintendo wanted to “avoid pricing people out”.
“We’re not considering [a price increase] at this point, for two reasons,” Furukawa said (thanks, NME). “In order to offer unique entertainment to a wide range of customers, we want to avoid pricing people out. Our competition is the variety of entertainment in the world, and we always think about pricing in terms of the value of the fun we offer.
“Our products also include software,” he added. “Nintendo has sold more than 100 million Switch units so far, and it’s important to maintain the momentum of our overall business. Generally speaking, a weak yen makes domestic Switch sales less profitable.”
As for what’s ahead for Nintendo’s hardware business?
“Nintendo will continue to sell three [Switch] models: the standard model; the Switch Lite with reduced price, size and features; and the OLED model,” Furukawa said. “We’ll work out the best strategy as we go along. We’re doing our best to procure high-quality products at an appropriate price with an eye toward the next few years.”
Furukawa wouldn’t be drawn on whether or not the company would hit its hardware sales target, but did admit that “all I can say is that we’ll try to keep up sales at the same pace. Having hit software also gives a boost to hardware”.
Nintendo won’t launch another new Switch model during the current financial year, ending in March 2023. During its recent financial results, Nintendo said it faced manufacturing issues due to component shortages and sorting these was now Nintendo’s immediate goal.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nintendo Switch console sales slowed over the past quarter, though the company has not updated its estimate for the year.
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