Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has confirmed the company has no plans to increase the recommended retail prices of its Nintendo Switch consoles "at this point".
In an interview with Nikkei, Furukawa talked about what's on the horizon for its fan-favorite handheld system, and revealed that while Switch sales have dropped 23 per cent compared with the same period last year - something he attributes to the industry's ongoing shortage of semi-conductors - the company is always thinking "about pricing in terms of the value of the fun [it] offers".
"Keeping prices down isn't giving us any trouble with procuring parts," Furukawa explained. "The problem is that demand exceeds supply.
"We're not considering [a price increase] at this point, for two reasons," Furukawa added (thanks, NME). "In order to offer unique entertainment to a wide range of customers, we want to avoid pricing people out. Our competition is the variety of entertainment in the world, and we always think about pricing in terms of the value of the fun we offer.
"Our products also include software. Nintendo has sold more than 100 million Switch units so far, and it's important to maintain the momentum of our overall business."
Consequently, whilst the OLED model "will continue to be less profitable than [the] other models" and costs have "undoubtedly increased for shipping", Nintendo is considering "what it can do" to offset those costs without passing a price hike onto consumers.
On August 3, Nintendo published its latest fiscal quarter results and revealed that sign-ups to its Nintendo Switch Online subscription services were slowing down because people own multiple Switch consoles.
Analyzing sales over the last financial quarter, Nintendo stated that "growth in the number of members has become more moderate" with regards to Nintendo Switch Online memberships because "more consumers have now purchased multiple consoles".
The company goes on to explain that when you take into account the new subscription figures of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service, overall Nintendo Switch Online subscription numbers are still growing.
The original Nintendo Switch Online subscription service offers members cloud saves, online play support, mobile compatibility features such as transferring screenshots, and access to an NES/SNES games library, too. However, The Expansion Pack, also offers bonus N64 and Mega Drive games for its customers, as well as DLC for select games, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
If you're struggling to pick between Nintendo's two services, head over to our should you buy the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion pack guide for a comprehensive rundown.
