Nintendo Says It Won't Raise Switch Prices, But Will Continue To Monitor The Situation

Or you know, a new model with minor upgrades at a higher price, then you can discontinue the OG model.

We are coming up to 2 years since the OLED and 4 since the Lite models.

Lol switch is already overpriced.

I would only accept it if a new more powerful model arrives.

Man i miss those old commercials where you heard "Nintendo! Now you are playing with POWER!"
I wish nintendo comes back like that lol.

@Angelic_Lapras_King or better yet a more powerful system that can run game RE village and KHs without resorting to cloud.

Investors are really upset that Nintendo won't pull a Sony and arbitrarily raise the price of the Switch, look at the stocks in the past 24 hours... they're livid.

@liljmoore - it should be able to run KH natively now, as far as I'm aware.

A price rise at this stage seems to be a pretty reductive. Yes, it would reduce the profit margin, but after 5 years a price cut would seem like the thing to do. If that is not possible due to component costs, then keeping that price point is the next best thing.

@Rika_Yoshitake Investors are bonkers. Instead of looking at hardware sales, they should be rubbing their hands together over the software ones. I mean, that is why they sell the hardware in the first place. smh.

So instead of making anew model? They will make the price higher? Dude I would just rather a new one at that point to at least justify the price increase.

I'm sure more people would buy a Switch if the price is decrease, not increase.

Considering raising the price of something 6 years old due to demand and a continuous supply issue for parts...and people STILL think there's going to be a "pro" model somehow haha 😂

Any increase should come with a new, more powerful Switch. If Nintendo are monitoring the whole situation, maybe they’re aware that many of the new ports are running embarrassingly poor. A true Switch 2.0 is long overdue.

@Angelic_Lapras_King The Lite came put in September 2019 so three years ago.

@Angelic_Lapras_King

The OLED came out in October 2021. It's only been one year.

I dread to contemplate how much more expensive a successor would be if they're even thinking about raising the prices of a mostly unimproved console close to 6 years after the fact.

Nintendo raising the price of the Switch would be a crime.
They are already selling with high profit margins by this point.

@WaltherP99 @CazSonOfCaz You see the pattern? 1 every 2 years. That could mean a new model by next Sep/Oct...

...assuming the successor isnt around the corner of course.

@Angelic_Lapras_King You're living one year in the future it seems.

There would be no justification, absolutely none, for a Switch price rise considering it has not had a price reduction since it launched in 2017.

The gains and cost reductions they will have gained in 5 years will vastly outweigh the global price increases we are seeing right now.

People still on about the pro at this point. A switch "pro" as powerful as a ps5 yeah that's not an upgraded switch that's a completely different console that's backwards compatible with the Switch , which would be priced like a Ps5/xbox x/ steam deck . Would split switch games into regular switch ganes and only for New Switch labels. Be like that New 3ds only games confusion again . Any upgrade will be minor to keep current users onboard. Think its time we consider its successor in 2023/24 rather than an upgrade

How can anyone still want a pro at this point. Surely people's switches have long since moved into at best their second choice console. Nearly 6 years of samey looking games at this point that can't run games nearly a decade old. It's time for the successor not an slight upgrade.

If they raise the price on a 5 year old console using a 7 year old chip that would be ridiculous.

Even with inflation you can’t justify a price increase on a console nearing the end of its run. Even an absolute fool would figure this out.

Just hurry up with the Zelda TotK OLED already, only 183 days until release of the game and my day one switch is getting a bit tired.

Whatever you guys think of the hardware, Switch is still selling strongly. 23m units over the last 12 months, 25m the year before that, 27m the year before that. It's a gradual decline but I don't think we're at a point where Nintendo need to be releasing a new console.

The longer they wait to release the next console, the more successful it's likely to be on launch - the 50 million people who bought a Switch in the last two years wouldn't want to buy a Switch 2 next year, for instance. Plus, waiting means better specs when it eventually arrives. I'm personally still happy with my Switch, playing it every day, and I'd be happy to wait until 2024 or even early 2025 for a new one.

Why would they raise prices? The Switch isn't exactly cutting edge hardware anymore, if anything they should be lowering the price.

Yes, lets increase the price of something that has the power of a mobile phone from 2013.

Do it, I can sell mine for a higher price before the Super Switch comes out.

They've not ruled it out they've said maybe ,maybe not ... Wait & see lol the switch should have a price decrease not an increase they've been overcharging for it for years now

@Silly_G exactly lol should do what Microsoft & Sony do & take a loss on the console they're software sells crazy amounts & with a more powerful console they could get more games on it to make more money aswell as microtransactions in cod & what not

@Bunkerneath I hope a Zelda TotK OLED Switch comes out for you. I bought an OLED Switch last year and I was surprised at how much I like it. Totally recommend the upgrade.

@GrailUK
I agree that investors are ridiculous, but in the case of Nintendo they actually make a ton of money off of hardware. Like 1/3 of their profit or something.

@Ara I'm not sure which new Switch ports are running "embarrassingly poor". One of the newest ones is Persona 5 Royal and I've had absolutely no issues with it.

As for a Switch 2.0 being long overdue, I very much disagree. It was already a bad look when Nintendo dumped the Wii U for the Switch when the Wii U had only been out a little over four years. It can certainly be argued that the Wii U was problematic enough for Nintendo that dumping it in that way was justified, but Nintendo can't do something like that again if they want to keep consumer confidence in the Nintendo brand high. To that end, I think that 2024 would be the ideal year for Nintendo to release a Switch successor. Giving the Switch 7 years on the market before releasing a new one would bolster consumer confidence in the new one, and a 2024 release would give Nintendo more time to hopefully take advantage of lower costs on more powerful components.

The Switch OLED was a price increase. I think somebody did the math and calculated that the OLED only increased production cost by +$10 US Dollars per unit compared to the the base Switch. Additionally, when the Switch was first launched, Nintendo was actually selling the console at a slight net positive for profit (I don't remember the exact margin but this was back in 2017). Nintendo has no need to increase Switch prices and will probably bump up prices of successor console models.

https://www.nintendo.destructoid.com/switch-oled-reportedly-costs-only-around-10-more-to-manufacture/

I remember a time not long ago when a console was out for awhile it would receive a price decrease, due to it being old technology. I bought a bunch of power tools (Milwaukee tools) two years ago and I’ve noticed almost all the prices on these tools has gone up. Be careful with your money everyone.

Inflation is hitting everyone. But no need to burden the market if you don’t have to.

New Title: “Nintendo execs contemplate raising cost of aging Switch hardware to pad investor pockets.”

Subtitle: Company won’t yet but is “monitoring the market” to see if they can get away with it.

@InJeffable

There are a handful of exceptions, like Nier or Persona 5R, but from the games I personally wanted to purchase physically for my Nintendo collection:

It Takes Two — as the NintendoLife reviewer concluded in the cons sections “The usual Switchification with the visuals”.

Alan Wake “Remastered” — from the NintendoLife reviewer “Visuals have taken a severe beating (…) which is only exacerbated during combat sequences”

Factorio — as the reviewer wrote “Pop ups block important text on screen” and “Initial loading screen is very long”

Sifu - in reviewer’s own words “Frame drops more prominent in handheld” and “Long initial and level loads”

Resident Evil Village & A Plague Tale: Requiem — both on the cloud and not even good for what they’re suppose to be.

And that’s only for the last couple of weeks, but almost every modern port for over year suffers now from the old underperforming Switch hardware. Nintendo is a multi-billion dollar corporation. Personally I expect more than this.

Makes no sense releasing a new model. I’ve only just managed to get a PS5 thanks to Scalpers. Too much chaos at the mo to sort the supply chain.

Maybe they can cut back on the quality of the Joy-Con analog stick / potentiometer parts to keep the price low?

Over under on the date for the first $65 retail game?

Yeah, but I have a feeling they have Switch 2 for either next year or 2024.

The PS5 price increase is unprecedented. It's definitely not something Nintendo should be copying.

Arguably they should be looking at introducing Switch 2 without a price increase.

The world has gone mad, in the past with time the prices are supposed to REDUCE in price over time, not INCREASE cost of living in the UK is astronomical and these game companies are taking the mick honestly, smdh

@Madao it's 330-340 currently? for a bit more you are better off getting a steam deck or save a bit more and get a ps5, it's robbery at this point imo

@InJeffable

Persona is a slow paced game with turn-based combat. Try playing Hyrule Warriors (try playing with a friend, in fact) and watch how things slow to a crawl when things heat up. The game becomes genuinely unplayable with friends.

Heck, just try walking into the Korok Forest in Breath of the Wild, a flagship 1st party game, and watch as everything drops to 5 frames per second. Even Link's Awakening had slowdown issues.

The Switch is clearly in need of an upgrade. This is clear to anyone who plays faster paced games. The people who say otherwise must only be playing Stardew Valley or Mario Party and so can't see what's plain as day for the rest of us.

@Ara I would say that there's a difference between devs not putting in the effort to make a good port and a port just being impossible on the Switch. I've really enjoyed Doom 2016, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt on Switch, all of which would have been disasters on the console if the devs doing the porting hadn't cared enough to do the job right.

I think Alan Wake Remastered is one of those porting disasters I mentioned. If it wasn't possible to deliver a good port of the remastered version of the game on Switch, then either the project should have been scrapped or the original Alan Wake should have been ported to the Switch. What the devs delivered is pretty inexcusable.

As for It Takes Two, the "Switchification" of the visuals still looks good to me in the footage I've seen, and it didn't matter enough to the Nintendo Life reviewer for him to give the game less than an 8 out of 10.

I'm not familiar enough with Factorio and Sifu to comment on them, but I will say that cloud versions of games have been pretty dire for the most part on Switch. But that's not a knock against the Switch hardware since those games aren't even running on it. That's a knock against either the developers for not doing the cloud versions right or against the publishers for not providing quality servers for them to be played on.

Also, there's a fairly recent Nintendo Life video that points to the fact that better Switch hardware isn't going to stop bad ports. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkFNJ-pInF0

@CazSonOfCaz I've played Doom 2016 on Switch and had a lot of fun with it, and that's a fast-paced game if I've ever seen one. And even though I haven't played it yet, praise has been heaped onto Panic Button for the amazing Switch port they did of Doom Eternal. I don't know what went wrong with Hyrule Warriors or certain sections of Breath of the Wild, but it's definitely possible for faster-paced games to run well on Switch.

Would it be nice to have a more powerful Switch? Sure. I just don't think it's the right time for one. After the Wii U debacle, Nintendo has to show consumers that they're willing to stick by a console for the long haul. In my opinion, 7 years into the Switch's lifespan (2024) would be just the right time for them to release a successor. I'm definitely willing to ride things out with the current Switch until then.

“At this moment”

That’s the keyword.

@Axecon I believe Nintendo themselves took the unusual (for them) step of challenging this report. They stated that the profit margin was actually smallest for the OLED model. Nintendo rarely responds to speculation but this narrative seemed to strike a chord with them

@Axecon Here is a link to this very site covering Nintendo's denial of the OLED's profitability: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/07/nintendo_denies_itll_make_increased_profits_with_switch_oled_no_plans_for_other_model_at_this_time

Yeah, can't see this happening with any of the current Switch models. Just because Sony did it doesn't mean Nintendo will follow suit.

Sony has been really egregious with their pricing this gen.(raising prices on an already expensive console, $70 games, $200 controller, VR for $550 etc.)

I recall the Wii actually having a price increase in Europe due to exchange rates and taxes, so this actually wouldn't be unprecedented. In any case I just picked up a Pokémon SV OLED so as Reggie would say, not my problem!

@InJeffable This is exactly what I think as well.

a price increase for a 6 year old/ 7 year on the market console that is very outdated and has a year on year decline in hardware sales will only further decline in sales, it should be a price decrease

A typical corporate response: we won't until we will.