In the run-up to Nintendo’s new console, the Nintendo Switch 2, we’ll be posting a series of quotes from the late and great Satoru Iwata. Taken from Ask Iwata: Words of Wisdom, the quotes offer a fascinating insight into his mind and give you a sense of some of his lateral thinking that shaped Nintendo.
The book itself is a great read, revealing a passionate and widely respected CEO who many noted fizzed with joy. We can also use it as a marker to see how the company might, or might not, have changed since then.
This week’s quote on Nintendo game pricing:
‘After a piece of hardware is released, the price is gradually reduced for five years until demand has run its course. But since the demand cycle never fails, why bother reducing the price this way? My personal take on the situation is that if you lower the price over time, the manufacturer is conditioning the customer to wait for a better deal, something I’ve always thought to be a strange approach.
‘Of course, this doesn’t mean that I’m against lowering prices entirely, but I’ve always wanted to avoid a situation where the first people to step up and support us feel punished for paying top dollar, grumbling, “I guess this is the price I pay for being first in line.”‘
There is validity to this thinking (see Ubisoft and its pricing strategy of dropping games mere months after release). And as we saw with the Switch 2 pre-order process, Nintendo handled it in a way that rewarded the most dedicated customers first, which was widely applauded in Japanese circles (not so much elsewhere).
Stay tuned.