For those who aren’t up on the current economy in Japan, a recent stock market update has seen Nintendo inch ever closer to becoming the sixth largest company in Japan by market valuation. Having recently crossed $100 billion in value, Nintendo is just a couple of billion dollars away from surpassing Fast Retailing, a Japanese retail holding company that is the owner of Uniqlo. Users on Reddit noticed the increase in value and posted it over the weekend, when Nintendo hadn’t actually crossed $100 billion yet.
While this is a bit of fun news for fans of the company, it also brings up some other questions. If Nintendo is doing so well, why is it charging $80 for Mario Kart World? With $100 billion to its name (either through assets, stocks, or revenue), why does it need to increase the price of its consoles and accessories for the upcoming Switch 2 generation? While the impact of President Trump’s tariffs does account for some of the blame, Nintendo is still increasing in value despite needing to spend more for manufacturing and shipping.
For full disclosure, Nintendo has announced that the Switch 2 console will retail for $450, which is up from the original Switch’s MSRP of $300. Joy-Con 2 will now cost $95 versus the original Joy-Con which went for $80. The Switch 2 Pro Controller is even seeing a big increase over the original, selling for $85 while Switch 1 Pro Controllers go for $70 (and despite how Nintendo has revealed the original Pro Controller will work in Switch 2 games). A lot of that increase comes from the added cost of manufacturing brought on by general inflation, but Nintendo could very clearly eat some of that cost to ensure customers are able to afford its hardware and accessories.
There’s a lot to unpack with these numbers, but suffice it to say, Nintendo isn’t in danger of folding anytime soon. We’ll see how the market reacts to increased costs for gaming, but Nintendo is set to make even more bread in the coming years.
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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.
