Nintendo shocked the games industry last night with a sudden reveal of a new Star Fox game, a remake of Star Fox 64, coming exclusively to Switch 2. This surprise announcement comes off the back of Nintendo investors reportedly voicing concerns that the Switch 2 is “deeply unprofitable” due to the ongoing components crisis, resulting in a push for a price bump.
Per Bloomberg, we know that Nintendo will hold an earnings briefing this Friday, which may or may not start with comments on the console’s pricing strategy from president Shuntaro Furukawa. Some analysts theorise “the stock will continue to struggle until the price is adjusted” as the market is currently “punishing stocks that lack inflation-hedging power”.
On the other hand, some investors fear a price raise – at a time when the average consumer is facing more financial pressure – could hurt demand for hardware: “I think they would be foolish to raise prices… The consumer is hurting – people are paying more for gasoline and food, and when prices go up, entertainment budgets are one of the first things to go”, said analyst Michael Pachter.
According to Bloomberg’s article, the current situation increasingly feels like a lose-lose scenario unless the components market goes back to normal soon (and it’s not looking good): “The choice is stark: permit the shares to continue their decline by holding the Switch 2 price firm and hoping for a major software hit to change the narrative, or increase the price to steady the ship and risk alienating customers at a sensitive time in the product’s life cycle.”
On the software front, things are looking brighter, however – especially after Pokémon Pokopia’s massive success. Right after last night’s chunky Star Fox Direct (which you can watch below), Nintendo also opened the digital pre-orders for the game and, at least in the United States and European territories like Spain, the game will be cheaper if bought digitally versus the physical release.
In the US, Star Fox is selling for $49.99 if bought through the eShop versus the recommended retail price of $59.99. Spain’s storefront shows the same price tag and difference between the two versions (but in euros, of course). As for the UK, the digital version has been set at £41.99. As always, retailers might choose to offer discounts, so the ten-dollar gap between digital and physical might get smaller. But it’s refreshing to see cheaper digital products offered right out the gate.
This shift in Nintendo’s pricing strategy was first announced for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book back in March, though several regions outside the US had already been getting this treatment since Switch 2’s release.
