As a result of several years of presence on the market, popular game consoles, as a rule, fall in price and are cheaper than at the start. but Nintendo Switch demonstrates resilience and confidently goes against this trend. The Japanese platform holder not only does not reduce the price of the starting model from the mark in $ 299.99, but also recently announced a new version with a larger screen, but the same filling, for $ 349.99…
In its new material, the publication Bloomberg calls this situation quite unusual. In the past generation Microsoft and Sony released PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox one x with advanced hardware in the middle of the life cycle of their consoles – they cost more than the base versions Playstation 4 (Slim) and Xbox one (S), but no more expensive than the original systems at launch in 2013. On the other hand, if you look at the portable segment, there new models of Nintendo consoles have repeatedly cost more than their predecessors, but the difference was not $ 50.
According to the first unofficial estimates from industry experts, quoted by Bloomberg, Nintendo Switch OLED production will cost Nintendo approximately $ 10 more expensive production of the current flagship, while the total difference in retail for players will be $ 50.
“Nintendo expects its rich gaming lineup to keep console sales strong and enable the company to increase profitability,” the report said.
According to the co-founder of a research firm DSCC Yoshio TamuraSamsung’s new 7-inch 720p OLED display will cost Nintendo $ 3-5 more than the current one. An increase in internal storage from 32GB to 64GB is another $ 3.50. The rest of the components, like the LAN port and new speakers, are a few more dollars. The current Switch models have been selling positively since launch.
Bloomberg claims that Sony Interactive Entertainment is closely following the Nintendo Switch OLED story and market response.trying to meet demand for the PlayStation 5…
“Sony could have raised the price of the PlayStation 5, as demand has significantly exceeded supply, and in the gray market, the console costs twice as much,” Bloomberg writes.
“The company is currently closely monitoring the market reaction to Nintendo’s latest development,” said a PlayStation spokesman, who asked not to disclose his name as he is not authorized to discuss competing companies. “
It is clear that Sony will not raise prices for the current PlayStation 5 models (and no price cuts are expected at all in the coming years), however, many believe that in the future it could release additional versions of the console with the same hardware, but, for example, with increased internal memory – at a higher cost.
Returning to Switch OLED, Bloomberg writes that analysts are divided on the new model. At the same time, the value of Nintendo securities fell by 5%.
“The changes are not enough to justify the $ 50 price increase,” said a spokesman for the rating agency. Morningstar Kazunori Ito… “The new model will not help at all in maintaining sales momentum. The Switch peaked last year and will only slow down from now on.”
Independent analyst and consultant for gaming companies Serkan Toto disagree with Ito. He believes the new display will be enough to attract buyers given the Switch’s popularity. Total sales of the hybrid family consoles are set to surpass the coveted 100 million mark this fiscal year…
“I see no reason why this console would fail in sales. Nintendo has made the new model more expensive because it doesn’t need to cut prices on current versions due to high demand,” Toto explained.
For the 2023-2023 fiscal year, Switch sold 28.83 million, more than the annual sales of any competitor in history. Previous Best Switch – 21.03 million in fiscal 2019-2020, PlayStation 4 – 20 million in 2017-2018…
In the current fiscal year, Nintendo is going to sell 25 million more consoles of the Switch family. If she fulfills this plan, then by March 31, 2023, the total sales of Switch break the 110 million mark…
Read also: Games for Nintendo Switch took 26 places out of 30 in the fresh Japanese sales chart, Scarlet Nexus dropped out of the top ten…
