Nintendo Aims to Stabilize Memory Supply, Avoid Price Hikes
▼ Summary
– Nintendo is actively working to secure stable memory component supplies as sector prices rise faster than expected, though this hasn’t yet significantly impacted hardware profitability.
– The company has not ruled out future hardware price increases, stating any decision would consider profitability, installed base, sales trends, and the market environment.
– President Furukawa noted Switch 2 sales in Japan outpaced other markets, partly due to holiday titles encouraging a higher transition rate from the original Switch.
– Nintendo views large-scale updates for popular Switch titles as crucial for maintaining user activity and creating a natural flow of players to the Switch 2 over time.
– For the nine months ending December 31, 2025, Nintendo reported ¥1.9 trillion in net sales, with the Switch 2 selling 17.37 million units since its June 2025 launch.
Nintendo is actively working to ensure a consistent flow of memory components for its hardware, navigating a market where costs for these essential parts are climbing. The company’s leadership acknowledges the challenge but remains focused on maintaining stability without immediate plans to increase consumer prices. President Shuntaro Furukawa stated that while memory price increases are happening faster than anticipated, they did not significantly affect hardware profitability in the most recent quarter. He also indicated that the current fiscal year’s final results are not expected to be impacted. However, the situation remains fluid, and prolonged cost pressures could eventually strain profitability, prompting a comprehensive review.
Furukawa made it clear that any future decision to adjust hardware pricing would not be made lightly. Such a move would require careful analysis of multiple factors, including overall profitability, the platform’s installed base, current sales trends, and the broader market environment. This cautious approach highlights Nintendo’s strategy of prioritizing long-term ecosystem health over short-term financial reactions. The industry-wide component shortages have already caused disruptions for other companies, such as Valve, which delayed a hardware launch due to memory and storage supply issues.
Turning to sales performance, the Nintendo Switch 2 has seen notably stronger adoption in Japan compared to other regions. Furukawa attributed this trend partly to the successful holiday sales of specific bundled titles, like Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and Kirby Air Riders. He suggested that Japanese consumers viewed these releases as a compelling reason to upgrade to the new console at a higher rate than observed internationally. This regional success story provides valuable insights into consumer behavior during a hardware transition.
The company is also strategically leveraging its extensive software library to facilitate the move from the original Switch to its successor. Furukawa emphasized the importance of maintaining user engagement through large-scale updates for major existing titles, such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Splatoon 3. The goal is to keep players active within the Nintendo ecosystem, creating a natural pathway for them to adopt the Switch 2 when new, appealing games are released. This method of sustaining touchpoints with a massive installed base is a core part of Nintendo’s multi-year transition plan.
Financially, Nintendo reported robust results for the nine-month period ending December 31, 2025. The company achieved net sales of ¥1.9 trillion ($12.3 billion) and an operating profit of ¥300.4 billion ($1.9 billion). The Switch 2 console has sold 17.37 million units since its launch in June 2025, with 7 million of those sales occurring in the last quarter of the calendar year. These figures underscore the platform’s strong market entry and the overall health of Nintendo’s business as it manages component supply challenges and guides its user base toward new hardware.
(Source: Games Industry)
