Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has discussed the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 in a recent Q3 financial Q&A, confirming a range of factors will help determine the final cost for consumers. Per Furukawa (via VGC), what is most important to consider is affordability, and what the company’s customers “expect” from its products.
The reality is the Nintendo Switch 2 is launching in a very different economic environment compared to its predecessor. The cost of living has dramatically inflated over the last few years, and consumers have far less expendable income at hand.
At the same time, production and development of the Nintendo Switch 2 has been impacted by inflation. Japan, as a whole, is currently dealing with very high inflation rates, and the exchange rate is poor.
All of this will contribute significantly to the final cost of the Nintendo Switch 2 – although Nintendo has made clear that affordability remains one of the most important factors. Customers need to be satisfied by the price of the console, and it must be affordable for everyone. That extends to the price of Nintendo Switch 2 games, which are expected (although not formally confirmed) to be slightly more expensive than their predecessors.
Read: Everything we know about the Nintendo Switch 2
It’s a difficult balance, but Nintendo appears well aware of this challenge. There is hope that when the Nintendo Switch 2’s price point is finally revealed, it’s reasonable within the market circumstances.
Analysts so far have speculated it will be around the AUD $600-700 price point, but we’ll have to wait to see what Nintendo has planned.
Nintendo is biding time until the Switch 2
Elsewhere in its latest financial update, Nintendo has revealed a 31.4% drop in consolidated net sales, with consumers clearly holding off on new purchases as they await news of the Nintendo Switch 2. This pattern is likely to continue into the next quarter, until Nintendo locks in pre-orders and other new announcements for the upcoming console.
As noted, hardware sales are down 30.6%, and software is down 24.4%. While a bunch of newer titles performed very well in the last financial quarter – Super Mario Party Jamboree sold 6.17 million units, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom sold 3.91 million units – the reality is fewer games are being sold as the Nintendo Switch enters its twilight years.
While the results are disappointing, they are likely expected by Nintendo, as the company is currently biding time for its formal Nintendo Switch 2 announcement on 2 April 2025. There’s big things on the way, but there will be at least one more middling financial quarter to tread through before an expected uptick in sales.
We expect to hear much more from Nintendo in April, so stay tuned.
