There will be no major Nintendo Switch price hike in spite of the rising costs of parts, so rest easy if you still haven't got your hands on your own device.
This was the confirmation from Nintendo head honcho Shuntaro Furukawa, who CNET reports addressed specific concerns regarding how the pandemic has affected component supply. According to him, a price increase is just one way of shutting people out, even if the company might actually need a sales boost. The company recorded a 23% decline in sales for the past quarter.
Even if the prices of parts to build electronics have indeed risen, this hasn't prevented the gaming giant from making the consoles. Furukawa goes on to say that demand still exceeding supply as of this moment is the biggest problem that they have. That's despite the Switch being already over half a decade old.
Furukawa's original statement was given to Nikkei Asia, where he detailed where the company was in terms of sourcing electronic parts. He claimed that Nintendo is still "on track for improvement" in this area, while also projecting that they expect to sell 21 million Switch units until March 2023. But with that, he did say that things are "uncertain" past the aforementioned point.
When asked about whether Nintendo can actually reach its sales target for the Switch this fiscal year, Furukawa had this to say:
It's in its sixth year since its launch. 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. We have a lineup of new games that will allow us to take a crack at meeting our sales forecast, including Splatoon [3] coming out in September and Pokemon [Scarlet and Violet] in November.
That strategy makes a lot of business sense for a company like Nintendo. By refusing to increase the Nintendo Switch's price, they would sell it at a loss - as they've done so with all their consoles ever since. Then, they hope to make a profit on the software, because the old adage in the gaming industry is that "games sell consoles."
So sleep tight, you folks who've been worrying about a Nintendo Switch price hike. It's not going to happen anytime soon.
Read Also: NVIDIA Is Reportedly Back To Making The RTX 3080 12GB
Nintendo Switch Price Watch
As of this writing (mid-August), the pricing for the Switch remains largely under control. Add that to Nintendo's confirmation that they don't plan to raise prices, and things are good on this front.
Nintendo Switch 2 Release Is Cancelled this Year - Report
Switch prices on Amazon range from under $200 for the Switch Lite, under $300 for the base Switch, and under $350 for the Switch OLED. That's technically all under the MSRP for the three models, which is good. The same thing goes for other big retailers such as Walmart (where prices remain at MSRP), and even your local GameStop.
On other markets like eBay, it is again more of the same. You can easily find a base Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED all for under MSRP. At the time of writing this article, we even spied a Switch OLED priced at $299.99 - $50 less MSRP. That's a pretty sweet deal, all things considered. But the thing with the likes of eBay is that prices could change without prior notice, so just consider that.
Now, if only the PS5 and Xbox Series X would have their pricing under control.
Related Article: Nintendo Reports Switch Sales Decline as Chip Shortage Continues
