Despite widespread issues regarding part shortages, Nintendo has recently confirmed that it has plans to increase the price of the Nintendo Switch.
Earlier this month, Nintendo did report that Switch sales had fallen by 23% due to the semiconductor components shortage, but company president Shuntaro Furukawa has confirmed to Nikkei that the company wants to “avoid pricing people out,” (thanks NME).
“We’re not considering [a price increase] at this point, for two reasons,” said Furukawa. “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 touched on the future of Nintendo’s hardware business, though obviously there’s no mention of any kind of Switch Pro. “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.”
While Furukawa didn’t go into whether he believes the company will actually meet its hardware sales target, he did say “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 currently doesn’t have any plans for any new Switch models for this fiscal year (which ends 2023), though whether there are any plans past that point is anyone’s guess.
The most recent addition to Switch’s hardware lineup is the Nintendo Switch OLED, which launched last year, October 8. It improved the Switch in a number of ways, particularly a 720p OLED display, as well as a dock that includes a wired LAN port that’s actually built in rather than as an extra you have to pay money for.