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It feels like we’ve been talking about Switch Pro rumors for almost as long as the Switch has been around. There’s no doubt we’ve been covering Switch Pro speculation for multiple years, and the latest documents revealed by Nintendo have once again stoked the fires.

As part of Nintendo’s annual general meeting of shareholders, the company shared some costs that they’ve incurred recently. Pretty much everything was in line with what was expected, minus one outlier. There seems to be something going on with Nintendo’s raw materials costs.

In 2022, Nintendo’s raw materials costs are more than double that of 2019. Why compare the latest expenditures to those of 2019? That happens to be the year Nintendo released both the Switch Lite, and the revamped version of Switch meant to stave off piracy issues. That was certainly a pricey time for the Big N, but what on earth could make their raw materials costs more than double that figure in 2022?

As usual, there’s a couple ways of looking at things. This bigger number could point to Nintendo working on some sort of major hardware revamp/release, and that dovetails nicely with Switch Pro rumors. On the flipside of the coin, these expenses could show just how costly raw materials are right now. Numerous companies are having trouble securing the materials they need to build hardware, as they’re in limited supply. As everyone knows, the less there is of something, the higher the price climbs.

Again, all we know for sure is that Nintendo’s raw materials costs have more than doubled in 2022. We don’t have a definitive answer as to why, and unfortunately, we don’t think Nintendo is going to explain the situation.

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Comments (5)

d_says_hi

1+ y ago

They are working on something but this is just inflation because neoliberalism.


mereel

1+ y ago

Maybe Nintendo was willing during this period to pay more for those microchips in limited supply, since they have more profit headroom on each Switch sold. I guess I’m saying this doesn’t necessarily point to new hardware like it indicated in prior years.


sligeach_eire

1+ y ago

I read this on the IGN forums yesterday, they got it from another forum. I thought it was interesting, but nobody really commented on it. It does seem to point to another mass production, which hasn't yet happened. What it is, it could be anything, though most likely Switch related. I hope it's not an OLED Lite and is in fact a Switch Pro for real this time. I thought an OLED Lite was a realistic next bet after the OLED released, but Switch Lite sales are dwindling. So an OLED version that would be more expensive than the original model,but still being limited in its versatility doesn't seem viable.


joeshabadoo

1+ y ago

@d_says_hi

Haha, dude out here trying to get on the editorial staff…. resident economist


cheesus 2

1+ y ago

Mama Mia, here we go again