In a recent investor meeting, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa spoke of ways to deal with the rising cost of games on the Nintendo Switch 2.
During the call, Furukawa spoke on a variety of concerns that have arisen alongside the success of the Nintendo Switch 2. One issue in particular was the “higher game development cost, which in turn could result in higher software prices and ultimately a decrease in the gaming population.” On this, the Nintendo president said, “Our development teams are devising various ways to maintain our traditional approach to creating games amidst the increasing scale and length of development.”
Furukawa added, “We also believe it is possible to develop game software with shorter development periods that still offer consumers a sense of novelty. We see this as one potential solution to the concern about rising development costs and software prices, and we will explore it from various angles within the company.” Furukawa also highlighted the importance of “making necessary investments for more efficient development,” however, did not specify what that would entail.
As integrating AI into the development process has been a controversial issue, Nintendo has sent out some conflicting messages with Furukawa stating it could be used in “creative ways,” while Shigeru Miyamoto has said Nintendo would go in, “a different direction.” Crunch is another potential concern of “efficient development,” however, Nintendo has had a fairly decent track record in avoiding crunch during its development periods.
While Nintendo looks to explore ways of reducing the cost of its games, it also seems somewhat commited to keeping prices where they are, as during the meeting the topic of the Switch 2 costing more than previous consoles came up, to which Fukuwara responded, “We believe the pricing of Nintendo Switch 2 is appropriate for the gaming experience it offers.
Nintendo has dropped the prices of its consoles in the past; however, with the Nintendo Switch 2 sales seemingly set to cross 5.4 million when official figures are released, it seems unlikely that Nintendo will find itself in a position where such a move is necessary.
