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Nintendo has put a possible price increase on the table. President Shuntaro Furukawa said manufacturing costs are trending higher, while adding that the company wants to hold its retail prices as long as it can. He also said that if, over the medium to long term, those costs cannot be absorbed through Nintendo’s own efforts alone and maintaining a healthy earnings structure becomes difficult, the company will need to consider revising prices.
Look at the numbers and you see how much weight that statement carries. Inventories ballooned from $3.53 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year to $5.32 billion as of the end of September. That is a $1.80 billion swing. On top of that, Nintendo says it expects the impact of rising component costs from the third quarter onward to be larger than it was in the first half.
Meanwhile, Switch 2 is selling just fine. As of the end of September 2026, the console has moved 26.35 million units cumulatively, with 73.21 million units of software. There is nothing wrong with the adoption curve itself.
Selling well and still talking about price revisions. Let’s work out what that combination actually means, using the numbers Nintendo has published.
*Yen amounts in this article are converted at ¥153 = US$1 (November 2026 rate).
Is Nintendo going to raise console prices?
No price increase has been decided at this point. Furukawa’s comment came with a condition attached: the company would need to consider it if certain circumstances line up.
It is worth noting how the statement is structured. First, he acknowledges that manufacturing costs are trending higher. Next, he says Nintendo wants to maintain its retail prices as much as possible. Then comes the line about needing to consider a price revision if, over the medium to long term, the costs cannot be absorbed through the company’s own efforts and a healthy earnings structure becomes hard to maintain. The order matters. The intent to hold prices comes first, and a revision is parked at the end as a conditional last resort.
That said, when a company phrases things this way, that option is usually already on an internal whiteboard somewhere. If the situation didn’t even require mentioning the possibility, it would have been easy enough to say nothing.
What does a $1.80 billion jump in inventories mean?
It is an increase from $3.53 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year to $5.32 billion at the end of September. The $1.80 billion gap works out to more than a 1.5x level.
Inventories grow for several reasons. Some of it is stock built up in anticipation of demand, and some of it is the result of locking in components early. Either way, it is cash parked in the form of stock. When component prices keep climbing, buying ahead becomes a rational defensive move.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Inventories (end of previous fiscal year) | $3.53 billion |
| Inventories (end of September 2026) | $5.32 billion |
| Switch 2 hardware, cumulative (end of September 2026) | 26.35 million units |
| Switch 2 software, cumulative (same date) | 73.21 million units |
Nintendo has also explained that it expects the hit from rising component costs to be bigger from the third quarter onward than it was in the first half. In other words, the cost picture gets tougher from the holiday season forward. The inventory build looks like a move to get ahead of that squeeze and soften it.
How many Switch 2 units have sold?
As of the end of September 2026, 26.35 million consoles and 73.21 million pieces of software, cumulatively.
Divide the software by the hardware and you get roughly 2.8 games per console. That is a healthy ratio for a platform this early in its life. This isn’t a case of hardware shipping while nobody buys games.
Price revisions have already happened, too. Console pricing was adjusted in the U.S. and Europe in September 2026, and in Japan back in May 2026. So Nintendo has already been touching prices market by market this year. These latest comments sit on that same line rather than coming out of nowhere.
Should you buy a console now?
With the possibility of a price revision now on record, buying before the end of the year is a defensible call.
No increase has been decided, so there’s no need to panic. But the only direction anyone has pointed to is up, and nothing suggests prices coming down. The explanation that component cost pressure expands from the third quarter onward is not the sort of thing that sets up a discount, either.
Here’s the downside, too. Locking in hardware early means nothing if you don’t have a game to put in it. As that 73.21 million software figure shows, Switch 2 already has plenty to play. The realistic approach is to budget for the console plus one game and decide based on what that combined total is worth to you.
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Summary: no increase decided, but the conditions are now public
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said manufacturing costs are trending higher while stating that the company wants to maintain retail prices as much as possible. He went on to say that if, over the medium to long term, those costs cannot be absorbed through Nintendo’s own efforts and maintaining a healthy earnings structure becomes difficult, the company will need to consider a price revision. The increase itself has not been decided.
Inventories rose from $3.53 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year to $5.32 billion at the end of September 2026, and the company expects the impact of rising component costs to be greater from the third quarter onward than in the first half. As of that same date, Switch 2 stands at 26.35 million consoles and 73.21 million pieces of software sold. For the record, console prices were already revised in Japan in May 2026 and in the U.S. and Europe in September 2026.
Floating the possibility of a price revision while sitting on a hot console is the kind of remark most executives would rather dodge. Putting it out there with the conditions spelled out strikes me as honest. Showing people in advance what would trigger a revision beats quietly raising prices, because at least buyers get something to work with. The figure I keep coming back to is the $1.80 billion inventory increase, which is the fingerprint of a company moving to secure components early. It also means management is taking the cost wall seriously. For users, though, the moment you hear “this might go up,” the only safe conclusion is to buy before the year is out. Signaling a possible increase pulls demand forward whether you meant it to or not.
The increase isn’t decided. But not one data point points downward.
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Nokko Oda
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