Last week, a Bloomberg report claimed that the upcoming Nintendo Switch OLED will earn Nintendo an extra profit margin of 40$ a piece over the base Switch Model. As per Bloomberg, the new Nintendo Switch OLED manufacturing cost was only 10$ higher than the base model, while the MSRP of the OLED model is 50$ higher than that of the base.
Since both the base and OLED models of Switch share almost identical hardware configurations and only differ in terms of Screens, the 50$ higher price tag on the OLED model angered many people. Bloomberg’s report of 40$ profit margin added fuel to this fire and people started questioning Nintendo’s intent of launching the OLED model.
Today (19th July), Nintendo released a statement denying the reports claiming that it will be earning higher profits from sales of the Switch OLED. The company via Twitter said:
“A news report on July 15, 2021(JST) claimed that the profit margin of the Nintendo Switch (OLED Model) would increase compared to the Nintendo Switch. To ensure correct understanding among our investors and customers, we want to make clear that the claim is incorrect.”
Bloomberg’s report triggered an industry-wide discussion on whether Nintendo’s pricing policy could influence other companies to follow suit. A report by the Japan Times claimed that an inside source from Sony’s PlayStation department has said that the company is “closely monitoring” the market response to Nintendo’s new policy. They also quoted Ace Research Institute analyst, Hideki Yasuda, who said that a precedent for charging more will be set across the industry should Nintendo’s policy result in a sales boost for the Switch.
While Nintendo has issued an official statement on the matter, many still don’t believe the statement and believe Nintendo is just trying to manage the bad press around the release of the OLED model and the positive press that an upcoming handheld competition, The Steam Deck, is getting.
Nintendo also clarified in the statement that the upcoming Nintendo Switch(OLED Model) will launch in October 2021, and they have no plans for launching any other model anytime soon.
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