Yesterday evening, Bloomberg reported that Nintendo of Japan would be selling units of the Switch 2 hardware to various retailers at wholesale prices so that each store/chain could earn more profit from a sale. Stated to be a margin of 5%, which is higher than the Japanese industry standard of 2%, various unnamed workers corroborated this information to the outlet and believed the move was being made to help bolster the domestic market in Japan. As you could imagine, Nintendo of Japan was quick to make a statement claiming the report was false and that the company “does not disclose any information regarding business conditions with distribution and retail partners.”
As we’ve previously reported, Japanese units of the Nintendo Switch 2 will be region-locked and priced lower in an effort to curb reselling, scalping, and importing. Nintendo of Japan wants to ensure its native customer base can acquire the console, so it stands to reason that it would offer the console to retailers at a cheaper rate. With the price lower for outlets, they can inevitably stock more of the device and get it into more hands on or around launch day. As Bloomberg notes, digital sales of games are also growing over time, so this move could be a way to entice outlets to carry the console as they’ll earn more revenue than previous generations.
It’s no secret that the real earner for any console generation is not the device itself, but the games and accessories. Nintendo is historically the only console manufacturer that makes money on consoles sold during its first year on shelves, and this trend will continue for the Switch 2. If this wholesale plan is accurate, Nintendo wouldn’t be earning as much per console, but then it would claw out more market space that should pay dividends over time. Speaking to Bloomberg, retailer Yodobashi Camera Co. said it welcomes video game products as a means of attracting more shoppers, which is likely how Nintendo wants partners to view things.
Again, we have no actual way of confirming or denying that this report is true. According to Nintendo, this isn’t happening, but then Nintendo has been known to be tight lipped about these types of situations. The Switch 2 was likely always going to be a big product in Japan, but if we see the numbers swell this year in the region, it might just point to this retail strategy taking effect.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
