Nintendo justifies price increases in games and hardware

Nintendo has come out to clarify the criteria behind the recent price increases of its games and comment on cost expectations for the next generation of consoles. During a question and answer session with investors, the company's president, Shuntaro Furukawa, addressed the multiple factors that influence pricing decisions, both for hardware and software.

According to Furukawa, the pricing of the future Nintendo Switch 2 is not based solely on manufacturing cost.

"When determining prices for the hardware, we consider not only the cost of manufacturing, but also various factors such as consumer perception of price, various currency exchange rates compared to the launch of the Nintendo Switch, and market conditions in each region," he explained.

The statement comes amidst growing expectations about the Switch 2, which has not yet had technical specifications or official price disclosed, but according to recent rumors is expected to be released in the first half of 2025, with substantial performance improvements, including support for NVIDIA's DLSS and possible backward compatibility with games from the previous generation.

In the case of games, the executive stated that the increase in development costs has directly influenced the new prices being practiced.

"For software, in addition to the same factors, we also take into account increases in costs, due to aspects such as the increase in game file size and extended development periods, when determining the price," Furukawa added.

The trend is already visible in recent titles: for example, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released at $69.99, above the previous standard of $59.99, a practice that is expected to be repeated in games with larger scope or longer production. The executive also emphasized that prices will be adjusted individually:
"In the future, we will continue to consider appropriate prices for each title, with regard to software prices," he concluded.

Furthermore, the so-called enhancement packs - paid upgrades for games on the Switch 1 that will receive optimized versions for the Switch 2 - will have variable prices depending on the inclusion of new content or just graphical and performance enhancements.

Furukawa's statements reflect the same strategy adopted by other industry giants, such as Sony and Microsoft, who have also adjusted prices for recent releases citing increased production cycles and technical demands. Nintendo's response indicates that the company seeks to balance rising costs with consumer value perception in an increasingly pressured global market by economic and technological factors.