Nintendo Switch handset price will not be reduced: although sales slow, procurement costs remain high

CTOnews.com May 12, Nintendo recently released its last fiscal year report and expects to sell 15 million Switch consoles in the fiscal year to the end of March 2024, which means that sales will decline again by 16.5%.

However, although the Switch has been launched for many years, Nintendo President Toshitaro Furukawa said on the company's earnings call that cutting prices to boost sales is not an option currently under consideration.

"in terms of hardware, the prices of some materials have fallen, but the overall cost is still very high," Mr Furukawa said. We must also continue to consider the impact of factors such as inflation and exchange rates, and production in the last fiscal year was greatly affected, so we need to ensure that enough parts are purchased in advance to ensure stable production. Even if the price of raw materials falls, it will take time to reflect on manufacturing costs. At present, we have no plans to reduce the price of hardware in this fiscal year. On the other hand, we have no plans to raise prices, but the yen remains weak and procurement costs remain high, so we will continue to monitor the situation closely. "

CTOnews.com previously reported that as of March 31, 2023, Switch sales had reached 100 million units. Nintendo said hardware sales fell 22.1 per cent year-on-year to 17.97 million units, below its sales target of 21 million at the beginning of the year (later revised to 18 million), and officials said production was affected by shortages of semiconductors and other components.

Toshitaro Furukawa also said that Nintendo does not have new or upgraded hardware in its annual plan, which means we will not see a new Switch model until the second quarter of next year.