Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has stated that the Nintendo Switch will not be getting a price increase "at this point," despite the higher costs to produce the hardware, as the company wishes to "avoid pricing people out."
Speaking to Nikkei Asia, Furukawa said Nintendo has no plans to adjust the price of the Switch to "offset rising production and shipping costs," and these comments follow Meta's decision to raise the price of the Meta Quest 2 by $100 as "the costs to make and ship [Meta's] products have been on the rise."
"We're not considering [a price increase] at this point, for two reasons," Furukawa said. "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. 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."
Furukawa also shared that the OLED model of the Switch will continue to be the least profitable Switch, and it doesn't help that costs have "increased for shipping not only by air, but also by sea."
"We're thinking about what we can do," Furukawa said. "The weak yen may be seen as a benefit for Nintendo, since such a large share of our sales comes from abroad, but our overseas promotional and staff costs also go up. We're making more inventory purchases in foreign currencies to counter that."
The statements also come after Switch sales dropped "23% on the year by volume in the April-June quarter amid shortages of semiconductors and other parts." Nintendo is expecting a 29% drop in annual net profit in the fiscal year ending March 2023, even though it is planning on selling 21 million Switch consoles.
In regards to the ongoing semiconductor shortage, Furukawa believes that the situation will get better in the "latter half of this summer," but the future is still unclear and Nintendo isn't able to give a definite outlook for Switch sales beyond this fiscal year.
For those hoping for any word on the unconfirmed but much-desired Switch Pro, Furukawa has doubled down on Nintendo's commitment to focusing on just three models of the Switch - the standard model, Switch Lite, and the OLED Model. Obviously, things can change at any moment, but Nintendo is staying the course for the moment.
"I can't say specifically what is in short supply," Furukawa said. "Nintendo will continue to sell three [Switch] models: the standard model; the Switch Lite with reduced price, size and features; and the OLED model. 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."
In closing, Furukawa said that keeping prices down isn't impacting Nintendo's ability to procure parts, it's simply that demand is exceeding supply. Furthermore, he believes Nintendo's strong software lineup for 2022, including Splatoon 3 and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, will help the company reach its goals and overcome some of the challenges caused by shortages.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
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