When about 180 people gathered outside Sorna Devices’ Toronto office on Saturday to protest the price of its new Arcadia Console X, Mikael Bergqvist-Lindqvist stood at the front with a hand-held calculator. The 61-year-old shopkeeper had an unexpected connection to the company: two decades ago, as a junior analyst there, he helped price its first console.
The Arcadia X is due in Canadian shops in November at C$1,499 (about €930), before sales tax. Bergqvist-Lindqvist says the price puts the machine beyond the reach of many families and risks turning a shared pastime into a luxury purchase. “I know exactly how these numbers get defended,” he said. “I used to be the person defending them.”
The numbers behind the protest
Bergqvist-Lindqvist joined Sorna in 2001, when it was a smaller electronics maker, and worked on the Canadian launch price of its first home console. He says the team settled on C$399 after testing what households would pay and what retailers could support. He left the company in 2019 and now runs a second-hand electronics shop in Hamilton, Ontario.
He says the old price was not simply a favour to consumers: Sorna wanted a large installed base to sell games and accessories. But the latest console, he argues, reverses that calculation. The company is asking buyers to pay a premium before they have seen independent reviews or know what the full range of games will cost.
The protest began with a dozen customers sharing a price comparison in a Toronto shopping forum; by Saturday it had drawn families, students and independent retailers. Some held blank cardboard price tags above their heads. Bergqvist-Lindqvist brought a calculator from his shop and showed a reporter how C$1,499 compares with the average weekly take-home pay of a Toronto worker.
A shopkeeper’s costly stand
His own business gives the protest a sharper edge. Bergqvist-Lindqvist had planned to stock 40 Arcadia X units for the holiday season, a sale that he estimates would have brought in C$60,000 (about €37,000) before expenses. He has cancelled the order, though he says the decision may mean fewer customers and less cash for winter inventory.
Sorna confirmed that Bergqvist-Lindqvist worked on its early Canadian pricing, but said the Arcadia X price reflects components, exchange rates, freight and product development. A company spokesperson said the console was designed for “high-end performance” and that no price change is planned. The firm did not provide a breakdown of those costs.
Simon Yusrin, a Toronto retail economist, said the protest was unusual because its most visible organiser could explain the company’s pricing logic from experience. “He is not arguing that a business should sell at a loss,” Yusrin said. “He is asking whether the business has mistaken what customers will tolerate for what they can afford.”
Bergqvist-Lindqvist says he will keep his shop open late on launch weekend, but will sell used machines instead. He has also offered customers a trade-in credit toward older consoles, a move he expects to earn less than the new stock would have. “I helped put a price on the first door,” he said. “I don’t want to help close this one.”
