Sony, Nintendo Hike Console Prices As US Tariffs Bite, Microsoft May Dodge The Hit

Japanese gaming companies Nintendo Co NTDOY NTDOF and Sony Group Corp SONY look to raise prices on their game consoles to shift the burden of the US tariffs on the consumers, reported Bloomberg, citing its research.

Under normal circumstances, American consumers are ready to shell out up to 30% more for a Switch 2 or PlayStation 5, implying up to $590 for the Nintendo flagship machine or Sony’s PS5 Astro Bot bundle.

Both devices are assembled in China and are now subject to a 125% duty for shipments to the US.

Also Read: Nvidia’s Custom GPU Enhances Nintendo Switch 2 With AI Features, Real-Time Ray Tracing, 4K Support

Nintendo also has an expanding production footprint in Vietnam, with a 90-day redemption from elevated tariffs.

Bloomberg analyst Nathan Naidu noted that Sony may struggle to sustain sales of a high-end PS5 while Xbox maker Microsoft Corp MSFT may have smooth sailing as it’s less reliant on production partners subject to higher US levies. The US accounts for 29% of Sony’s revenue and 37% of Nintendo’s sales.

Nintendo reported third-quarter revenue of $1.10 billion (432.92 billion Japanese yen), down from $1.70 billion (598.56 billion Japanese yen) a year ago. EPS was 110.40 Japanese yen, compared to 117.45 Japanese yen a year ago.

The company sold 4.82 million Nintendo Switch hardware in the third quarter, bringing the total for the current fiscal year to 9.54 million units (down by 30.6%).

It expects to sell 11.00 million units of Nintendo Switch hardware in the fiscal year 2025, down from the 12.50 million units it previously expected, and 150 million units of Nintendo Switch software in the fiscal year 2025, down from the 160 million units it previously expected.

Nintendo expects fiscal 2025 net sales of 1.19 trillion Japanese yen (prior 1.28 trillion Japanese yen) and EPS of 231.91 Japanese yen (prior 257.68 Japanese yen).

Sony reported fiscal third-quarter 2024 consolidated sales growth of 18% year-on-year to $28.97 billion (4.41 trillion Japanese yen), topping the analyst consensus estimate of $23.78 billion. EPS of $0.41 (61.82 yen) beat the analyst consensus estimate of $0.30.

Sony sold 9.5 million PS5 units in the quarter, versus 8.2 million a year ago.

Sony expects fiscal 2024 sales of $88.00 billion or ¥13.20 trillion (prior $87.05 billion or ¥12.71 trillion) versus the $81.59 billion consensus.

Price Action: SONY stock is down 2.53% at $22.34 premarket at last check Friday.

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