Don’t expect the Nintendo Switch to drop in price anytime soon
Don’t expect the Nintendo Switch to drop in price anytime soon
Nintendo is sticking firm on the price of the Nintendo Switch
Nintendo has all but ruled out a price cut for the Nintendo Switch in the near future and suggested the cost of its hardware and software will remain unchanged.
In the company’s latest financial earnings report, president Shuntaro Furukawa responded to several questions about Nintendo’s sales plans, including one query regarding its future pricing strategies for hardware and software.
“As we continue the Nintendo Switch business over the long term, we have tried to preserve the value and prices of both hardware and software as much as possible,” Furukawa said. “We do not believe that policy needs to be changed at this point.”
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Nintendo Switch
💲 Nintendo won’t lower the price of the Nintendo Switch anytime soon
👎 President Shuntaro Furukawa said the console’s price doesn’t need to change
👴 The Nintendo Switch is nearly six years old
🤷♀️ At least that’s better than a price increase
The Nintendo Switch currently sells for $299, the same price at which it was launched back in 2017.
The hybrid console has proven incredibly popular and just recently surpassed the PlayStation 4 and Game Boy to become the third best-selling console of all time, sitting behind the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS for total unit sales.
But it’s no longer flying off the shelves. Sales fell last year from 18.95 million units to 14.91 million, despite the release of new installments in major Nintendo series. Even Pokémon Scarlet and Violet couldn’t buoy the flagship console, which is now coming up to its sixth birthday.
Although all the best Nintendo Switch games are still a joy to play, the console is starting to turn grey, and many people expected Nintendo to drop its price to reflect that. Now the PS5 stock shortage has come to an end and the Xbox Series X|S is in ready supply, the hybrid console is no longer looking quite so current-gen. But Furukawa is confident it’s got life left in it.
“We believe that [the Nintendo Switch] is entering uncharted territory in Nintendo's dedicated video game platform business,” he said.
“Our new challenge for the seventh year is finding ways to encourage users who are considering new purchases, replacement purchases, and additional purchases to pick up a Nintendo Switch.
“We believe that both new titles and evergreen titles can create opportunities for new users to purchase hardware.”
So, bad luck if you were hoping for a Nintendo Switch 2 or Switch Pro to arrive anytime soon. It sounds like Nintendo is putting all its eggs in the humongous Switch basket and hunkering down on its current retail price. Still, that’s better than Sony’s decision to hike the price of the PS5 last year.
If you still haven’t picked up the console, check our breakdown of the Nintendo Switch vs Nintendo Switch OLED and Nintendo Switch vs Lite to see which model is right for you.