Nintendo Comments on PlayStation 5 Price Increase

Following Sony's surprising announcement that it'd be raising the prices of the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition consoles in select regions, Nintendo has now weighed in on its pricing strategies for the Nintendo Switch family of consoles. Nintendo's comments on the topic follow a response from Microsoft which similarly addressed concerns from prospective buyers who worried that the other major hardware manufacturers might follow Sony's example and increase their own respective prices.

Fortunately for those who are still considering buying a Nintendo Switch or one of the newer models, it doesn't look like that'll be an issue. Like Microsoft, Nintendo didn't guarantee that it'd never raise prices seeing how things can always change later, but for now, the Nintendo Switch prices will remain the same.

In a statement shared with Eurogamer, a Nintendo spokesperson referenced a quote from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa who said recently that the company currently has no plans to change hardware prices.

"While we cannot comment on pricing strategies, we currently do not have any plans to change the price of our hardware due to inflation or increased procurement costs in each country," Furukawa's quote referenced in Nintendo's statement said. "We will determine our future pricing strategies through careful and continued deliberations."

Nintendo's statement continued to suggest Furukawa's assertions still hold true months later by saying "While the final price to consumers is always determined by retailers, as Mr Furukawa stated, Nintendo has no plans to increase the trade price of its hardware."

Sony's plans to increase the prices of the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition consoles were laid out on Thursday in a blog post detailing what these new prices would look like. These price hikes were attributed to "global economic environment, including high inflation rates" and will affect Europe, the UK, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico, and Canada. The United States, surprisingly, was omitted from the list of regions where the prices would be increased with Sony specifically saying "There will be no price increase in the United States."

While it's not one of the big three in terms of gaming hardware, Meta also announced recently that the Meta Quest 2 prices would be increased with those changes now in effect. That price hike was attributed not to inflation but rather Meta's desire to continue investing in virtual reality and to "invest for the long term and keep driving the VR industry forward with best-in-class hardware, action-packed games, and cutting-edge research on the path to truly next-gen devices."

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