Nintendo eager to avoid Switch 2 price hike but cannot rule it out

Last week, Reuters reported that Nintendo isn't considering increasing the price of console hardware amid an ongoing AI-driven component storage. That's true, for now at least.

The company upwardly adjusted the price of Nintendo Switch 2 hardware in Japan in May, and in September in other regions—but how long will those prices hold? 

According to an official translation of a recent investor Q&A, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said the company will strive to maintain current price points by improving production efficiency and bearing additional costs—until, at least, profitability starts tanking.

"Currently, manufacturing costs are trending upward due to various external factors. Our basic thinking is that if costs rise by a moderate amount, we will work to keep sales prices unchanged through measures like improving production efficiency to absorb those increased costs, and by bearing the remaining costs ourselves, to the extent possible," said Furukawa. 

"However, considering the overall profitability of the business, if the impact over the mid-to-long term is such that we cannot absorb the costs through our own efforts, and we determine that it would be difficult to maintain a healthy profit structure, we will need to consider price revisions"