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Japan Today
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Nintendo aims to match Switch success with new console
Nintendo hopes to match the success of the Switch when its levelled-up new console hits shelves Thursday, with strong early sales expected despite the gadget's high price By Katie Forster and Kilian Fichou Nintendo hopes to match the runaway success of the Switch when its leveled-up new console hits shelves Thursday, with strong early sales expected despite the gadget's high price. Featuring a bigger screen and more processing power, the Switch 2 is an upgrade to its predecessor, which has sold 152 million units since launching in 2017 -- making it the third best-selling video game console of all time. But despite buzz among fans and robust demand for pre-orders, headwinds for Nintendo include uncertainty over U.S. trade tariffs and whether enough people are willing to shell out. The Switch 2 "is priced relatively high" compared to the original device, company president Shuntaro Furukawa said at a financial results briefing in May. "So even if there is momentum around the launch, we know it will not be easy to keep that momentum going over the long term," he warned. Sales of the Switch, which can connect to a TV or be played on the go, were boosted by the popularity of games like "Animal Crossing" as a pandemic lockdown pastime. The Japanese company forecasts it will shift 15 million Switch 2 consoles in the current financial year, roughly equal to the original in the same period after its release. The new device costs $449.99 in the United States, over a third more than the Switch. A Japan-only version is cheaper, at 49,980 yen ($350). New Switch 2 games such as "Donkey Kong Bonanza" and "Mario Kart World" -- which allows players to go exploring off-grid -- are also more expensive than existing Switch titles. Most original Switch games can be played on the Switch 2, and some Switch blockbusters such as "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" will have enhanced editions released for the new incarnation. "People were a bit shocked by the price of 'Mario Kart World', the first $80 game that we've ever seen," said Krysta Yang of the Nintendo-focused Kit & Krysta Podcast. While the company is "going to have to do some work" to convince more casual gamers that it's worth upgrading, Nintendo fans are "super excited", she told AFP. The Switch 2 will have eight times the memory of the first Switch, and its controllers, which attach with magnets, can also be used like a desktop computer mouse. Although the new console is not radically different, "a lot of people (are) saying, 'this is what I wanted, I wanted a more powerful Switch -- don't mess with a good thing'," said Yang, a former Nintendo employee. New functions allowing users to chat as they play online and temporarily share games with friends could also be a big draw, said David Gibson of MST Financial. "It's a way to appeal to an audience which has got used much more to the idea of streaming games and watching games, as well as playing games," he told AFP, predicting that the Switch 2 will break records in terms of early sales. And success is crucial for Nintendo. While the "Super Mario" maker is diversifying into theme parks and hit movies, around 90 percent of its revenue still comes from the Switch business, analysts say. Nintendo delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the United States by two weeks as it assessed the impact from President Donald Trump's global assault on free trade. But its pre-orders have since sold out in the U.S. market and elsewhere, with the company boasting of particularly high demand in Japan. Furukawa said in May that Nintendo's financial projections are based on the assumption of U.S. tariffs of 10 percent on products produced in Japan, Vietnam, and Cambodia, and 145 percent on China. "Hardware for North America is mainly produced in Vietnam," he added. Trump's hefty so-called "reciprocal" tariff of 46 percent on goods from Vietnam is on pause, while those on China have been slashed. Tariff uncertainty could in fact push consumers to buy a Switch 2 sooner, because they are worried that the price could go up, Yang said. Charlotte Massicault, director of multimedia and gaming at the French retail giant Fnac Darty, told AFP that pre-sale demand has been "well above what we imagined". "For us, this will be a record in terms of first-day sales for a games console," she said. The Switch 2 is "less of a family-focused product, and more of a 'gamer' product" compared to the Switch, she said. "That's what Nintendo wanted, and it works." © 2025 AFP
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Tariffs set to level up game console prices
By Kilian Fichou Paris: The US tariffs barrage and the bounding cost of producing games have prompted manufacturers like Sony and Microsoft to announce price hikes on consoles, in an industry shift experts say is set to last. Sony's 2020-vintage Playstation 5 has seen its price hiked by tens of dollars worldwide in recent weeks, a move matched on Microsoft's Xbox Series X. While tech products usually fall in price as their release date fades into the past, games industry analysts say these are clear impacts of US President Donald Trump's border levies on major trading partners. Last year, "75 percent of all consoles shipped to the US... were made in China," market research firm Niko Partners wrote in an April note. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad said Microsoft's global price hike aims "to soften the actual price increase in the US, which is Xbox's largest market" -- and the only one affected by Trump's swingeing tariffs on imports from China. Nintendo's hotly anticipated Switch 2 console appears for now to be spared a big price hike ahead of its June 5 release. The Japanese heavyweight moved some production to Vietnam in 2019 -- a country hit by Trump with 46 percent additional tariffs which have been delayed for 90 days. If Vietnam does face such a steep trade bill "we're looking at costs increasing by hundreds of dollars" for every console, industry specialist Christopher Dring warned last month on his website "The Game Business". The United States and China agreed on Monday to reduce massive tit-for-tat tariffs, also for 90 days -- but the effect of the temporary pause on the games industry remains to be seen. Broad-based hikes As well as console hardware, games software is getting pricier too. Fans reacted angrily when Nintendo announced that flagship Switch 2 game "Mario Kart World" would bear its highest-ever price tag of $80 in the US and up to 90 euros ($102) across the Atlantic. Microsoft plans to increase prices of games developed by its studios to as much as $80 -- a $10 hike. "These price points are set to become industry standard over the next two years," Niko Partners predicted. Behind the sticker shock is a crisis in growth for the games industry over the past two years, leaving developers scrambling to protect their profitability. For many gamers, especially the younger generation, that may mean cutting back. "I'm going to have to be a lot more selective" about purchases, said Nassim Amegrissi, an 18-year-old high school student in Paris. He said he had already decided to "pass" on the Switch 2, priced at 470 euros ($450 in the US). Matthieu Rodolphi, a 31-year-old French policeman, said price would be "the deciding factor" in which titles he picks up. Many gamers are turning to releases from smaller studios that are often less prohibitively priced, such as "Split Fiction" or surprise hit "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33", both of which have shifted millions of copies. Other fans are signing up to major console makers' subscription services that allow access to a library of titles on demand for around 15 euros per month. Inflation delayed Even with prices soaring, most experts agree that games are in fact historically affordable when looked at in real terms. Taking inflation into account, many consoles were far more expensive in the past, such as the 600-euro release price of the 2007 PlayStation 3 that would today put it at over 700 euros. "Game prices have never been lower in real terms than they are today," said Matthew Ball of consultancy Epyllion in a report on the state of the games industry in 2025. By contrast, "development costs have as much as tripled over the past five years," Dring wrote. If sold at $70 -- the standard price for new video games in the United States -- Grand Theft Auto VI "would be the cheapest-ever GTA" in real terms, Ball said. But the game cost significantly more to produce than the previous instalments, which is why Ball expects it to break the $100 psychological barrier when it is released in May 2026.
