Nintendo has confirmed that it will not be increasing the price of Switch models any time soon. VGC reached out to the UK arm of the company to confirm that Nintendo does "not have any plans" to bump up the prices of the console yet.
This statement follows the news that Sony would be increasing the price of both PlayStation models in the UK, Europe, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico, and Canada due to "challenging market conditions" (thanks, Push Square!). Now Nintendo has reassured customers that it doesn't plan on mirroring Sony's actions.
The spokesperson from Nintendo UK said that prices are determined by retailers, but that trade prices will remain the same. Previously, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stated at the company's 82nd Annual General Meeting that Nintendo wouldn't be increasing the Switch's price point for now. In a later interview with Nikkei, he also reassured us that — despite rising shipping costs and uncertainties in the market — the company still doesn't plan to increase the price yet.
You can read the full statement from Nintendo UK — which quotes Furukawa from the AGM — over at VGC.
Interestingly, Microsoft has also confirmed that it will not be increasing the price of Xbox Series S or X models (thanks, Pure Xbox!), and prices will remain the same for the foreseeable future.
Further reading
- Nintendo President Says Switch Production Is "Uncertain" Next Year
- Nintendo Rules Out Any Price Increase On The Switch In Japan... For Now
Do you think Nintendo will keep Switch prices the same? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 86
Good, can't wait for someone to spin this into somehow Nintendo secretly raising the prices.
Well done Nintendo! 👏
Sony must think people are made of money. Raising the prices during a global cost of living crisis... not a good look tbh
it is easy to raise prices without that mess sony did. Just take a game or two (they are free to print nowadays), bundle in and charge more, then stop supplying the gameless version of the console.
Tomorrows article, “Nintendo Raises Prices of the Switch”.
nintendo is saving money by reducing the package the switch comes in.. it is like food companies that reduce the size of food like sports drinks or ice cream but still charge the same price
I don't think they NEED to increase the price, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't at least consider it. Not with Sony making the bone headed move. Lol
It's pretty obvious Nintendo is not going to follow Sony's lead and raise Switch prices, because they already did--and they did it in a much smarter, more stealthy way: the OLED Model.
It certainly wasn't $50 worth of improvements over the original model, but at the same time it was technically somehow better than the original models in a few (although mostly negligible) ways. At least it's something--Sony won't even upgrade the storage capacity for the people in affected price-gouging territories.
We’re just not gonna talk about how the Splatoon Switch OLED is retailing more than the regular Switch OLED when past LE Switch models costed the same as regular models?
A sinister smirk spreads across Emperor Palpatine's hideously scarred face.
"For now ..."
(Seriously though, I doubt Nintendo will raise any prices until next gen at this point, the OLED model already did it in a much more 'consumer friendly' way. Sony's way of doing it is one of the worst, most tone deaf and blatantly greed driven things I've ever seen.)
@Kyloctopus I don't think that would be a fair comparison since that could be considered a collector's edition, and collector's editions--especially over time--are also worth more. I have spent more money on countless collector's edition items in the past where otherwise it's just a new paint job or artwork. My 20th Anniversary Xbox Controller is the latest example, but Nintendo themselves have released tons of products in the Game Boy and DS lines over the years. Hell. remember all those brightly-colored translucent N64s?
@johnedwin That doesn't make sense.... It's not like I an getting less console. Food and drinks, I get less food for the same price. I still get the same amount of Nintendo Switch no matter the packaging.
@johnedwin it's not the same, bc you still get the same dang console. The worst a smaller package will do is annoy collectors a little bit lmao
My guess is that the margin on a Switch has always been healthy and that the hardware (considering it’s relative age) is still making a generous profit with each sale. Probably not the case with the newer (and harder to source) components in the PS5. I mean, who is competing with Nintendo for the components inside the Switch???
@UltraZelda64 not really, when they are printing the regular Switch quite a bit
@HammerKirby Fair enough--Nintendo is still giving everyone the choice. But someone who wants "something better" will automatically gravitate the OLED model, thinking it is somehow better, and although it technically "better" in a few minuscule ways the biggest difference is in the price.
Why would they? Unlike playstation Nintendo don't sell their console at a loss. Plus the amount of software Nintendo shift which costs them way less to make compared to playstations games. Nintendo can make 4-5 Pokémon games in the same budget sony use to make one the last of us game, don't get me wrong though that's sonys fault/problem.
Nintendo should be raking it in right now.
@EliSweetG even after the increase Japan players are still paying less than the original price in the US and Europe.
@UltraZelda64
Not really then if you use that example then when they brought out the Switch lite they lowered the price. You can also get the Original Switch for the same price. Oled Displays are more expensive so it make sense in this case. Sony made no changed other than some small revisions to make it cheaper to manufacture. Sony didn't raise the price and give people a better system. Problem is who ever is making the decisions at Sony right now is not very smart. Release a model that at least is a LE or a bundle or more storage do not just raise prices on the exact same model.
Wouldn't make sense for Nintendo to raise prices on a 5 year old console anyway. They would get crucified worse than Sony is right now.
would anyone care if they did? it costs about a day's wages for an adult, and has been out like 6 years. if you never had one, you've had the better part of a decade to save up, and if you already have bought 3-4 like many people have, just save up a day or two
even a 20% price increase is barely anything for something as low as $250
@Rika_Yoshitake It's likely Nintendo is on the verge of releasing a new console model and that one will be a jump up in price (possibly as high as $450). That will be the "price increase".
Sony raising prices, huh?
Wasn't Sony the one to pioneer the shaving razor business model for games? (selling the hardware for a loss to push software sales)
Supposedly Atari wanted to sue Sony for that, as just one of the excuses for why they were almost dead in the game market. (I mean the real Atari, not Infogrames)
Bless Nintendo. And why is Sony increasing their prices when the newest console is already sporting a whopping $500 price tag?
@Clyde_Radcliffe Agreed 100%
@Rafie Also a fair point
@shred5 I am not arguing that an OLED screen doesn't cost more than the original Switch screen. What I am saying is that it sure isn't $50 more, and even if you double the amount of storage to 64 GB, put slightly better speakers in it, etc., there's still no way in hell it comes up to the full $50 extra you're paying for it. That's all.
Whether it's worth it or not, depends on the person. Honestly, if I played my Switch primarily in handheld mode, I'd probably get the OLED for the better screen and audio. But because I play mine exclusively docked as a home console it's impossible to justify.
But no matter how you look at it, the OLED model is not $50 worth of equipment upgrades. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if old 32 GB chips are actually getting harder to find and therefore more expensive, making the "upgrade" to 64 GB internal storage in the OLED model actually cheaper for Nintendo! Of course, I don't expect them to pass on the savings when they can just list it as technically a feature/spec improvement, though.
Upping the Switch’s price, with no improvements or incentives, would be an absolute PR nightmare worse than what Sony’s suffering.
I’m amazed how brazen Sony is with that artificial increase. Have they not learned what happened with the PS3?
@johnedwin i was at the store yesterday and noticed the OLED version is already half the size if OS Switch.
Honestly, I have never hoped for a company to fail as much as Sony right now. It's like they've been running down the checklist of "things not to do" for the past few years.
Upping the prices of first party games to an absurd £70, the PS5 console price increase, the new PS Plus tiers, which at the highest tier is a borderline scam. Even their general PR image and interviews could not be more out of touch with reality.
The Team Asobi "We want our games to feel like they're made in Japan" quote was particularly laugh worthy given Sony's treatment of the JP market over the last 5 years and the fact that the person in charge of the supposedly Japanese studio is not even Japanese.
It's like they think they're too big to fail, but even if the hardware is selling out the plummeting software sales for PS5 show a different story. It's a shame because old Playstation consoles used to be great, but my PS5 is basically acting as a glorified PS4 Pro at the moment.
Hopefully Nintendo steer well clear of the crappy buisness practices Sony have been adhering to. I just pray the runaway success of the Switch doesn't give them a big head and make them "do a Sony" so to speak.
@PepperMintRex It's Sony... they think that just because they're at the top of the gaming world right now, they are invincible. Only problem, all it will take is just enough f---ups like this to cause them to lose their throne, allow the competition to catch up, and then they will be forced to play nice. Really, Sony just seems desperate to me with this move.
Im pretty sure Nintendo had better margins on the Switch to begin with than Sony has on PS5
@abdias They were basically already doing that what with the Horizon Forbidden West bundle being practically the only way to get a PS5.
Good. I'd be rather pissed if all consoles followed metas dumb prices raise move ugh. Could meta be anymore anti consumer.
Smart move. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo makes a good profit on their actual hardware, because of its weak specs.
Now Nintendo needs to bring more games for this holiday!
Based.
Not that this is surprising. Raising prices on a five-year-old hybrid that continues to sell extremely well would be profoundly stupid.
@UltraZelda64 It's worth mentioning that the OLED model also seems to have a metel frame.
So: high-quality glass OLED screen; double the on-board memory; and higher-quality materials used for device itself.
Probably not $50 extra in raw materials per unit, but it does end up making it feel like a much more premium device.
@Clyde_Radcliffe Definitely not a good look. Smacks squarely of greed, pure and simple.
Challenging conditions abound for everyone, not just multi-billion dollar corporations and their stockholders. Instead of passing the challenging conditions on to their customers along with additional increase to boost revenue, why don't they protect their customers from it by absorbing some of the profit.
Yet again, Nintendo leads the way.
@Clyde_Radcliffe it's just the market finally exploding of all the constant inflation. Prices go up, profit needs to rise to get investors, people can no longer afford the products, so the products get more expensive to maintain rise in profit, people get paid less for the same reason, companies lose more money,... Everyone knew the market was dead on arrival, profit always comes at a loss, and no economy can survive without balance - meaning EVEN and FAIR trade, NOT profit. They just tried to make us believe that that obvious fact was a lie, and their obvious lies were facts. Lying in the end always catches up with you, so no sympathy here, for the entire "job market" slave system, let it collapse sooner rather than later, because as long as it exists, people and all life, and the planet itself, are losing for the profiteers to look good. They can block bank accounts, fine the ones unable to keep up with bills, extort more taxes left and right, hide money everywhere around the world, spread more lies even thinner, say less is more all they want, but they can't make it TRUE, and they can no longer save their faces when truth is finally revealed. They remain in this ship, they'll sink with it, and the ones forced to row may have mostly drowned by then, they will face their mutiny, their anger, when the people finally realise even a little bit of how hard they have been lied to constantly. Too late to quit while they're still winning now, I guess.
But don't think it's just one company, or one branch of the market, it's the entire market, the entire monetary system, the bankers, the governments, all of them. You could even almost say "humanity".
People hate on Nintendo for not being bleeding edge but it works for them. And with 3 skus they could also phase out the OG system. To cut internal costs. (Granted they are having issues meeting demand so that isn’t needed either).
"For now," "yet," interesting language used here.
For now only Sony is stealing from the consumers (from the big 3. All the other companies in the world are stealing. The war is a very bad excuse to get filthy rich), though it must be said: The Switch was overpriced from the start, especially with those faulty joy-cons!
Ha ha ha, good for Nintendo!!!!! Sony's problems should only sell more Nintendo systems and games.
What do we care. We already own one or maybe multiple switch’s by this point 😆
It seems people are really worry they had to ask Nintendo twice about it. So Meta Facebook raise the price of the Oculus headset, Sony raise the price of the PS5, even Intellivision whose console the Amico doesn't exist yet and it too had a price raise. That's dope.
@russellohh um...thank you for this "contribution"...
smh
I'm pretty sure all those people who complain about Nintendo not dropping their game prices would riot if they hiked the price on a 5-year-old console. Though if the component shortages keep up, their next hardware might be $50 more than some people are expecting.
Last gen I had a PS4 then the Pro and played them a lot, with the Wii U and then Switch being my 'second console'. As the gen went on, however, Switch became my main console, and the PS4 Pro got used less. Nowadays I game on my Switch all the time, and honestly have zero interest in a PS5. I want fun. I want joy in games. I care more about being happy in my hobby than about endless generic shooters and 120fps and 4K everything. Nintendo get it. God knows they're not a perfect company and make plenty of their own bizarre decisions, but articles like these are exactly why I've slowly phased Playstation out. Jim Ryan is treating the brand and its consumer base like his own personal piggy bank. Sony is not in a good state so far this gen, at least not for my own gaming wants.
Using cheaper hardware has paid off big time for Nintendo during this time of inflation and supply chain issues.
@15roundTKO no problem! always here to keep things in perspective and remind people that even a $50 price hike is barely 1-2 hours pay for an average adult. so who cares?
@UltraZelda64
Nintendo has made it clear in their financial reports that the Switch OLED model is less profitable than the Switch and Switch Lite.
Good for them and I respect it. They seem to have the right idea. Make it so people can get the systems then they’ll most likely spend more on games. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out for them in the long run.
Good to hear.
It's crazy to see Sony RAISE prices of the PS5 in most regions. They conveniently didn't do it in the States, where inflation has definitely hit us too. Honestly, don't know what's going on with Sony these days, it's like every week they remind me why it was a good thing that I stopped buying their consoles and games.
@russellohh: And what about adults with families to support making at or close to minimum wage, living paycheck to paycheck? Going by the numbers, that is not a niche group of people. Yeah these price hikes don’t affect you, me, or anyone you mentioned who can “save up” for a day and buy a console. But that’s not everyone dude.
Nintendo's been overcharging for the switch for a long time so it's not surprising still makes Sony look really bad when even Nintendo dunks on them lol
@UltimateOtaku91 'Unlike playstation Nintendo don't sell their console at a loss.' ... You do know Sony's been selling the ps5 at a profit for a while now lol
@Would_you_kindly since when? I remember reading ages ago it was being sold at a loss
@UltimateOtaku91 it was reported back in August last year
@Would_you_kindly strange how they can record a loss for almost a year then start recording profits, unless its due to bundles etc
The last time Sony raise their price, there wasn't any known demand to begin with. Now, they know the PS5 demand is high, so taking this risk is more viable.
@Rika_Yoshitake let me spin it a different way for you. Nintendo is over chraging so much for their hardware, that they can easily eat the cost of the switch increasing in price. It's 6 years old and was already sold at a profit. They'll find some other way to get around this issue, but expect profit to be down year on year and some marks to be missed in the fiscal year report.
Microsoft is just throwing money at the problem in order to offset the cost. Drop in the bucket for them.
@ModdedInkling It's not in their best interest even with the demand. It is exactly as they claim. If Nintendo had actually dropped the price fo the switch in the last 6 years and wasn't already selling at a profit, you could bet the prices would have gone up. MS isn't raising them because it would hurt Xbox further and they can eat the cost better than sony. Sony likely couldn't justify an increased loss and a lot of that judgement likely still echos from teh PS3. PS5 will come down as they refactor the design.
Sony can’t stop failing. They probably thought Nintendo and Microsoft would follow along and buy their BS. Funny that they didn’t. You might as well invest into a gaming laptop then a PS5 at this point. PC is steadily getting Sony games anyway.
@UltraZelda64 The OLED is better objectively especially if you wanted to upgrade from launch Switch. The better battery, better screen, better stand, better internal memory, and better speakers is worth the extra $50. If you were a portable heavy gamer it was absolutely worth the upgrade as the sale numbers have shown.
Not sure I can praise Nintendo as much as others for this statement, their usual practise would be discounting by now.
But in the current climate I guess that it goes against the grain that much it’s a good thing.
To me going from 299.99 to 349.99 is a big jump for that tech. If they had two SD slot I can see that. Then I can expand with 2 2tb and have 4tb of storage.
@Rika_Yoshitake Always seeking to be as negative as possible with the top comment, what a guy!
@ShadowSniper7 they've literally had 6 years to save up a dime a day and get a big kid job.
Havent been able to get one here in aus as they keep selling out super fast. Now they raise the price. I think im done. Dont think i need a ps5 anyway
Sony is showing its greed glands. Luckily I don't want a PS5 anyhow.
@NotSoCryptic Microsoft also manufactures many of their own chips which garauntees cheaper costs.
@Baler 1 hacked, one stock for online play, and one lite lol.
Nintendo: no Nintendo Switch new Prices
But...
Let´s create games with light content (more than normal) for $60....and more $$$$ for almost full content...... and more $$$$$$....for maybe full content.....
@Rika_Yoshitake how would that even be possible?
Fair one Nintendo wise call, Fony BS will go downwards upcoming years missing out on big IPs to Microsoft.
Lower average family homes won't even afford to run this so called generation home consoles in upcoming months.
If i were Nintendo I'd use energy consumption as a selling point.
@NotSoCryptic
But they already broke even though, and at this point it's just a matter of how much profit they're willing to make against supply. With the amount of scalping for the PS5, the value that people are willing to pay vs MSRP has effectively gone up already, so all Sony is doing is taking advantage of that to make more money.
@arnold337
Nintendo isn't known to passive-aggressively call out issues. They seem to be only focused on their own well-being and if energy consumption isn't controversial on the Switch, then they don't have any reason to bring it up.
@Arawn93
I so badly want an OLED for the reason of using it everywhere I go, but there is absolutely no way I can sell my 2017 Switch for launch price to make it worth the upgrade.
@ModdedInkling didn't say that. Merely mentioned energy use as a alternative in crisis mainly for children I apologize you taking the wrong way
I do feel sorry for people regarding PS5 scalping I'd would have treated it like event ticket sales myself I might pick one up on second hand sites in time.
@ModdedInkling
Got $200 for selling my launch Switch. It was in good condition, but far from new. Hundreds and hundreds of hours on that thing that will take its toll on the battery.
Only paid around $150 for the OLED so not only I reaped the upgrades from launch > OLED, but I got a brand new machine without the years of usage
If you work out energy consumption for a BS5 add an average size TV with an average energy class rating believe me its on par with a tumble dryer and thats being generous.
I mean who in the right mind works it out without a television how absurd!
Plans change, especially corporate ones, so I wouldn't be surprised if this changed in a short span of time. That's to be expected and prepared for anyway. It's ignorant to enter into this hobby thinking it would be an inexpensive pastime.
@Jokerwolf eh not really. Microsoft sources their manufacturing out to a lot of companies, but they don't really produce their own. They may have a hardware designer, but those components are still sourced from a third party. Even the custom CPU and GPU are AMD property, not Microsofts. Sony is closer to this truth than MS has ever been. Optical drives for example are made by sony. The 4k Drive in the PlayStation 5 is manufactured by them. I believe MS went to samsung who sources from sony? It's a huge chain of ownership there. Of the three companies, sony is hte only one coming from a hardware background as its origin and actually has manufacturing plants. Even if they've taken many of those down over teh years to outsource. As it turns out making your own stuff isn't always as cheap as you think. Even the Cell had its manufacturing pushed outside of the company after the second year of the PS3 to Toshiba if memory serves.
@NotSoCryptic They are building a very expensive facility to produce secondary chips aside from the intel chips they already produce, it may already be completed.
@ShadowSniper7 sounds like those families making garbage wages should reconsider having kids they can't afford?
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