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[Michele]

https://nintendoeverything.com/nint...rice-cut-not-currently-being-considered-more/

For peoples who can't access the link:

Another brief interview with Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has emerged from Japan. This time around, it was The Sankei News that published the discussion.


Furukawa commented on a few different topics, including Switch’s success towards the end of 2018. He also weighed in – yet again – on looking to sell 20 million units by the end of the fiscal year, and it’s here that something interesting was said. According to Furukawa, Nintendo is trying to focus on selling Switch and is “not considering a successor or a price cut at this time.” Given the system’s success, perhaps that isn’t an overly surprising statement.





Here’s our full translation of the brief interview:

— It seems like you had a lot of success with your year-end sales.
Furukawa: We had great sales for our home console, Nintendo Switch. Super Mario Party sold 1.5 million copies worldwide in just one month after its October launch. The newest entry in the Pokemon series sold 3 million copies in the first week of sales. And Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold 5 million copies in its first week.
Could you tell us how your goal is going for the Switch to sell 20 million units within the [fiscal] year?
Furukawa: It is an extremely ambitious, but worthwhile achievement. So, we will maintain this goal. Nintendo Switch is our primary sales objective, and we are not considering a successor or a price cut at this time.
— How about your games for smartphones?
Furukawa: Smartphone gaming for us is not a business where we sell our consumers a product once and that’s the majority of it. Our operational model is to continue to build a relationship with our consumers. It is very different from what we do with our dedicated gaming hardware, so we are in the midst of accumulating experiences in this field. We certainly want to release games across a wide variety of genres. We want this to continue to be one means of supporting our pillars of revenue.
— Is it becoming progressively difficult to keep talented workers during booming economic times?
Furukawa: We’re increasing our intensity in the competition of acquiring highly-skilled individuals, but we are up against other sources of competitive power, so we will be tackling these situations thoroughly. Nintendo is a company in the entertainment industry and our mission is to give people a reason to smile. Since our business is linked to the ebb and flow of our times, we are requiting those who can adapt in flexible manner. In the past, we have increased our internship programs and such to interest people in how we do things; we want to continue to spread Nintendo’s ways of thinking.​

Thanks to Oni Dino for contributing to this post.

So it seems like the rumor about new hardware may have been debunked.

 

[iconmaster]

He wouldn’t say anything about it until it happens – that’s bad for sales.

But I’m not expecting a new model this year. Minor internal changes at most. A price cut by end of year seems entirely possible though.

 

[kyubajin]

I’m on the fence of buying one expecting either one of those... might still wait a bit longer.

 

[DeepEnigma]

As long as it keeps selling, price ain’t being cutting.

 

[BigBooper]

I did think they'd have a revision this year, possibly one without portability, but with the Metroid delay I'm extremely doubtful now.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Nintendo barely budges on price cuts.

Even when Wii U sold like ass, you still didn't see Wii U's at $99, nor first party games dumped at bargain prices.

Nintendo's strategy is to ride out full prices. If things go bad, not the end of the world because they'll just usher out a new gen of consoles and restart full priced products.

 

[Wings 嫩翼翻せ]

Yeah. Like iconmaster said, it's not like Furukawa is going to sabotage his company by hinting at a cheaper version (or a successor, at that). They'll do it when they feel they should, and that's that. I'm sure that is the consensus.

 

[Sejan]

Obviously he isnt going to announce anything in an interview. It is normal business policy to deny everything until it is the right time to announce. A poorly timed announcement could easily kill the momentum that they currently happened. When the 3DS price cut was announced, it cratered sales until the cut went into effect. Granted, sales were already bad, it they got much worse.

I would imagine that an announcement of significant hardware revisions either a pro version or a stripped down kids version would cause a negative impact on sales overall.

I’m fairly confident that a cheaper version aimed at children will come out eventually (Possibly even by this Christmas). It just makes sense to have something in the $150-200 range to make it easier for parents of young children to buy Pokemon.

Consider the 2DS as a proof as to this possibilty. It completely eliminated the key differentiator of the 3DS (the 3D screen) in order to capture more of the youngest market. I know tons of parents that were not interested in the 3DS for their kids, but quickly jumped on the 2DS.

I personally expect a fully portable system without detachable controllers or a dock. Of course it’ll be compatible with a dock (sold seperately for $50 and all the normal Switch controller options. I personally see it releasing for $150 with something like NSMBUD, MK8D, or Pokemon Let’s Go included to justify the cost to parents. To me, this is the clincher to the goal of having multiple switches per household.

 

[Dr.brain64]

If the game does not sell well they'll just port the game for the next console at full price!!

 

[InterMusketeer]

I think we'll see something this year, be it a cheaper unit aimed at families/children, a different bundle (no dock and/or including a game at the regular $300 price point). We're entering the third year for Switch, so I don't think it's too early for some kind of revision or price cut. Obviously this guy isn't going to talk about future plans in some random interview though. They wouldn't announce a superior device or price cut months in advance. People need to keep buying the stuff that's on shelves currently.

 

[Codes 208]

Probably worth noting that the Title should’ve included “at this time.” As it’s not a definitive decision (obviously) but we could see a price cut down the line maybe by the holidays or so.

 

[iconmaster]

I’m fairly confident that a cheaper version aimed at children will come out eventually (Possibly even by this Christmas). It just makes sense to have something in the $150-200 range to make it easier for parents of young children to buy Pokemon.

Agreed, I think we’ll see a “Switch 2DS” eventually.

(Folks expecting a Switch Pro on the other hand should maybe not hold their breath.)

 

[Zog]

It's so ridiculous that people wanted a revision within the first year. Do people just love throwing their money away?

 

[Sejan]

Agreed, I think we’ll see a “Switch 2DS” eventually.

(Folks expecting a Switch Pro on the other hand should maybe not hold their breath.)

I don’t think a Switch Pro is crazy. Nintendo has a habit of releasing improved versions of their handhelds.

Gameboy>Gameboy Pocket>Gameboy Color
GBA>GBA SP
DS>DS Lite>DS XL>DSi
3DS>3DS xl>New 3DS regular and XL

It is silly to expect it so soon.

 

[TLZ]

Key word is "Successor".

Of course no Switch 2 now.

A Switch revision however is not a successor and is still a Switch. He's just playing with words.

A revision is inevitable.

 

[zwiggelbig]

Nintendo barely budges on price cuts.

Even when Wii U sold like ass, you still didn't see Wii U's at $99, nor first party games dumped at bargain prices.

Nintendo's strategy is to ride out full prices. If things go bad, not the end of the world because they'll just usher out a new gen of consoles and restart full priced products.

The thing is.. with many other games at release u think.. oh i wil get it when its in the budget bin. Or i get it next year when its cheap. With nintendo u know that nevet gonna happen so u just buy it.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

.

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/rumo...ware-upgrade-this-year.1471521/post-253745466

 

[Jubenhimer]

Nintendo barely budges on price cuts.

Even when Wii U sold like ass, you still didn't see Wii U's at $99, nor first party games dumped at bargain prices.

Because they were already selling the Wii U at a loss to begin with. What did you think they would do, massively slash the price and bleed even more money? As for games, Nintendo doesn't do massive price cuts on games because they have no need to. Their first party games have massive legs, so why undervalue them when they're selling so well already?

I’m fairly confident that a cheaper version aimed at children will come out eventually (Possibly even by this Christmas). It just makes sense to have something in the $150-200 range to make it easier for parents of young children to buy Pokemon.

Consider the 2DS as a proof as to this possibilty. It completely eliminated the key differentiator of the 3DS (the 3D screen) in order to capture more of the youngest market. I know tons of parents that were not interested in the 3DS for their kids, but quickly jumped on the 2DS.

I personally expect a fully portable system without detachable controllers or a dock.

I don't see this happening at all. 2DS only happened because the 3DS struggled in NA, and its main gimmick was harmful to kids under 7. 2DS was created for the North American and European markets for this reason alone. There's no reason to do the same with the Switch because it's already succeeding worldwide, and doesn't have anything that's potentially harmful to children. There's no need for a stripped down, handheld only nightmare that defeats the point.

 

[hecatomb]

Price drop happens also when a console is having low sells, seems like switch isn't having low sells. Also they might be working on new games besides trying to do anything else right now.

 

[CloudStrife_ca]

Nintendo barely budges on price cuts.

Even when Wii U sold like ass, you still didn't see Wii U's at $99, nor first party games dumped at bargain prices.

Nintendo's strategy is to ride out full prices. If things go bad, not the end of the world because they'll just usher out a new gen of consoles and restart full priced products.

This is completely true and resellers know this too, the mom and pop type shops, Gamestop, EB Games. I was in a used games store today and just looking at some of the WiiU games, like was thinking about Paper Mario Color Splash, the last WiiU game I intend to buy and nope still $59.99 used, crazy! The WiiU technically was a failure and first party games still don't decrease in price.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

I love my switch, i really do. But I turned it on for the first time in months to play Mario deluxe and couldn’t even finish it... I did beat it on Wii U though. Oh well, here’s to Yoshi in March I guess.

A big problem with Nintendo is they don’t drop prices. I would be willing to double dip on some things, or just go in blind even. But £45 for Skyrim and Dark Souls, Games I already own but would happily buy again for portability... When I could get better versions for 4x cheaper... Its not exactly a good deal. I don’t know why Nintendo prices never come down. I know Nintendo prints money but do they not see when sales start flagging in some titles maybe a price drop will help?

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

President of company who's product is selling well in doesn't need a price cut statement.

In other news, bears still shit in the woods.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I love my switch, i really do. But I turned it on for the first time in months to play Mario deluxe and couldn’t even finish it... I did beat it on Wii U though. Oh well, here’s to Yoshi in March I guess.

A big problem with Nintendo is they don’t drop prices. I would be willing to double dip on some things, or just go in blind even. But £45 for Skyrim and Dark Souls, Games I already own but would happily buy again for portability... When I could get better versions for 4x cheaper... Its not exactly a good deal. I don’t know why Nintendo prices never come down. I know Nintendo prints money but do they not see when sales start flagging in some titles maybe a price drop will help?

I agree with you there regarding Nintendo's Pricing in the UK.

You literally have to find deals on their games that are considered Full price on the PS4/XBO and this is on top of the fact that Nintendo isn't a big player in the UK either.

Nintendo mostly makes a Profit in the US, France and Japan as that is where their biggest audiences are, but they rarely ever do well in smaller and (in many cases) poorer countries such as Brazil/Mexico/UK etc. (Uk isn't poor but very price sensitive)

I understand that they want to sell a premium product but like you say, Nintendo sometimes prices their stuff way too high in certain countries.

£35 is the sweet spot I think for their games in the UK (for reference, I bought Splatoon 2 at £32.85 and BotW on Wii U for £20 simply because I cannot justify £42 to £50)

Hardware wise I am okay with their pricing for the most part.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

Yeah I don’t mind paying for the hardware, I expect that. But Nintendo love to keep a game out for 5 years and still be charging full price, even though the same game can be played in higher quality with more on other formats and be a tenner.

Such a ball ache. It’s why I have 160+ Xbox games, and like 10 switch ones.

I would happily pay to play their games, but they don’t make it easy.