The Switch 2 launched on June 5, and as usual, Japan got it at a lower price than other regions. Yet local demand is massive — with long lines, lottery systems, and constant stock shortages.

So I’m wondering how Nintendo handles its global logistics. Do they prioritize shipping consoles to Japan to support this high-demand market, even if the profit margins are lower? Or do they balance things out with international markets, where sales are also strong but more profitable?

If anyone knows more about Nintendo’s distribution strategies or has followed their past launches, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

yep. yen is just weak

Im not an Economist so someone with real knowledge please correct me but I don't think you can just compare the value of currency like that. Im assuming you are referring to how the price of Switch 2 is cheaper in dollars (around $350.00 in USD I think?) than what is charged here in the US ($450)? It's more about about the "purchasing power?" of your currency in your country. The price of the Switch 2 in Japan went up 50% compared to Switch like in the US. In the US, the Switch was $299.99 and went up 50% for Switch 2 of $449.99. So I'm not sure if Switch 2 is "cheaper" in Japan than other regions.

Good question. No doubt everywhere else in the world they are making a huge profit on every system sold, otherwise there's no way they could sell it in Japan for more than $100 (USD) cheaper. I would guess they are not making a profit in Japan, and are subsidizing the Japan price by selling the system at such an extra high price everywhere else.

This allows them to give consumers in their home country a cheaper system, considering the weak yen would make it harder for consumers to buy a more expensive system, allowing them to continue to completely dominate the market there, while still making a ton of profit on HW sold in general by making extra high profit outside of Japan. Nintendo execs are probably especially proud of how much the Switch dominates their home market and are willing to sacrifice a bit of profit there to maintain that, successfully guessing (at least so far) that consumers elsewhere will pay whatever price they are given to make up for Japan's price, thus part of the reason why they abandoned affordability everywhere in the world.

Nintendo during their fiscal forecast did predict pretty low profits, not much higher than their profits during the previous fiscal year with a fast declining Switch as their only hardware. That shows to me that they aren't earning much profits at all from Switch 2 sales, not only from Japanese sales but from US and EU sales as well. Keeping the same price in the US even though tariffs were increased on Vietnam probably means they earn minimal amounts of profits from Switch 2 sales in the US (Which is their biggest market).

International contracts are usually signed and paid in dollars, so yes, it is cheaper in Japan (and thus making less money) by a significant ammount due to the weaker Yen.

AFAIK their BOM was $350 for the Switch 2, and while you can put any number there with some creative accounting (usually to undervalue the product for tax reasons), that does give some rough idea that the Japan-only model is selling at a loss.

Another example is that the PS5 at launch in Japan cost around the same as Switch 2 cost now, but the yen weakening made them do a pretty steep price hike to offset the weakening yen. The fact that Nintendo didn't do that means that they are eating the cost of the weak yen which means its probably sold at a loss.

Does that mean they’re sending as many units to other markets as they are to Japan?

Nintendo has been raising the prizes of their games in Japan for a while now according to the famitsu updates. They'll make their money.

Also comparing consumer advertised prizes is tricky for Salestax/VAT reasons. In Sales Tax countries the advertised prize is usually excluding the tax and in VAT countries it's included. Japan VAT on consoles I believe is 10% where in Europe it's on average 20%.

Was there a breakdown by someone already for BOM, or is that some older estimate?