Video Game Consoles Are Somehow Spared From Inflation in Japan
- FX move is afflicting a market already distorted by scalpers
- Console makers lose profit, customers to resale market
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The weaker yen has triggered price hikes on electronics from iPhones to refrigerators across Japan this year, with one glaring exception: the video game console.
Sony Group Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. have held fast to a 100-yen-to-the-dollar conversion rate that today sees their consoles as much as $100 cheaper in Japan than elsewhere in the world. No company wants to be first to break the unwritten rule against raising prices after a console’s release, for fear of losing players and game developers to rivals, and all three believe they can recoup any losses through international software sales. But that may be changing.