Nintendo losing over $100 on cheap Switch 2 for Japan – analyst

Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda reports that the more affordable version of the Nintendo Switch 2, sold exclusively in Japan, is currently incurring a loss of approximately 25,000 yen (roughly $160) for every unit sold.

In its home market, the device was released in two distinct tiers: a Japanese-language-only model priced at approximately $330, and a region-unlocked, multi-language version retailing for about $450 through the My Nintendo Store. According to the analyst, the budget-friendly model is the one driving the vast majority of consumer demand in Japan.

Yasuda reached these conclusions after examining Nintendo’s financial statement for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2026. While the gaming giant saw revenue skyrocket by 99.3% and operating profit climb 21.3% year-over-year, profit margins are trailing behind sales growth—a discrepancy the analyst attributes to the high volume of Switch 2 sales within Japan.

Since its domestic launch, 4.78 million units have been sold. Yasuda estimates that the production cost for a single Switch 2 is roughly $400. Approximately $300 of that is allocated to semiconductors—including the Nvidia GPU and memory—while the battery and chassis components account for over $80.

Given a wholesale price of roughly 41,000 yen, this indicates a shortfall of about 25,000 yen per console for the manufacturer.