Shtinamin_ said:
Hiku said:
I wouldn't know if those parts were being used by other products at the time. If they weren't, it would cost them more than otherwise.
And from what I can see at least, the DS only had one official price drop in 2005? Nintendo DS - Wikipedia
6 years before the launch of the 3DS.
It's normal for a system to keep being manufactured some years after its replacement is launched. PS4's are still being sold.
With the exception of consoles that sold poorly to begin with.
But them getting price drops is not something I'd expect when the cost to manufacture them isn't neccesarily getting lower, but potentially even higher, especially since we are still dealing with a semi-conductor shortage (even though it's not nearly as bad as it was a few years ago) and worldwide inflation.
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Nintendo made a 10-year contract with Nvidia back in October 20th 2016. We are getting closer to that 10 year contract closing.
We have also heard from Nvidia's president, Jen-Hsun Huan, that they expect a 20-year relationship with Nintendo due to the Switch being an "incredible game console".
Based on this I expect that the Switch will be in production until October 2026. And Nintendo will make another 10-year contract with Nvidia beforehand in order to ensure that the successor will have a well-stocked production and solid sale rate.
I expect the Switch to have a drop in price once the successor arrives, as Nintendo will be wanting to get Nintendo Switch units off the shelves as fast as possible to make room for "shelf space" (more accurately, warehouse space). I base this info from the Wii to WiiU. A month before the WiiU launched, the Wii received a price drop of ~13% from $149.99 (in Oct 2011) to $129.99 (Oct 2012). The Wii was originally $249.99 when it launched a received 3 price drops in America (2009, 2011, 2012). No country has seen a permanent price drop for the Nintendo Switch yet, so that makes be believe that Nintendo isn't ready to bring out their successor yet.
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I think everyone expects successful systems to remain in production for some years. That's normal.
But whether they get price reductions, permanent or temporary, and the amount, is the question.
Productuion contracts have a lot of stipulations in them. For example to account for development cost changes.
No one was able to provide the amount of chips that had been agreed upon a couple of years ago when the semi-conductor shortage was at its worst. And they're certainly not in breach of contract for failing to deliver. I'm sure there are a lot of paragraphs in there written up by their army of lawyers to account for what happened.
PS5 for example has seen an official price increase recently in several major markets due to inflation.
The parts inside costing more for Sony to buy now is probably part of that. Even when they are able to buy more than ever, since people are buying their console more than ever. And that too is no doubt covered in the contract, forcing Sony to pay more.
Price drops appears less common nowadays than they were some generations ago.
Quite a few people here expected a PS4 price drop after PS5. But that didn't happen.
I believe PS4 only recieved a $50 price cut during its entire lifecycle.
MSRP for Switch and Switch OLED are currently $300 and $350 respectively.
What kind of price drop once Switch 2 is released are you expecting in todays market?
Last edited by Hiku - on 16 January 2024
