I watched the Nintendo Switch 2 event waiting for the three most important details from Nintendo: the release date, price, and preorder date for the new handheld. The company didn’t quite deliver them during the Direct launch event. Nintendo only told the world the new console will hit stores in early June, without offering the price or the preorder date during the one-hour video.
I thought we might get an additional announcement at a later point in time, but it turns out Nintendo was going to reveal the Switch 2 price and preorder date on Wednesday, just not during the event. We learned from the Switch 2 press release that the console will be available for preorder on April 9th. You’ll have to pay $449.99 for the Switch 2 or $499.99 if you want the Mario Kart World bundle.
The latter seems like the better option seeing that some Nintendo Switch 2 games will cost $80 or $90, depending on whether you like digital downloads or physical releases. Speaking of digital things, Switch 2 microSD cards are also more expensive because they’re fast, like SSDs. No, the old memory cards you already own won’t work.
Gamers hated everything about the Switch 2 price reveal, and that’s understandable. Leaks and estimates said the console would cost $399, while games would only go up by $10 to $70.
All of this information dropped hours before President Trump made his own announcement. The US imposed tariffs of at least 10% on almost every country on Earth, with some of them getting hit much harder than others. As you might have guessed, the countries that are part of the Switch 2 supply chain were hit with tariffs, too. Nobody was safe.
A day later, people are wondering how those tariffs will impact the prices of some of the products they plan to buy this year, whether it’s the iPhone 17 or the Nintendo Switch 2.
It’s too early to tell exactly how the tariffs will impact the Switch 2, but there are two scenarios. Neither of them involves Nintendo setting up assembly lines and massive production lines in the US to manufacture the console locally and avoid taxes.
Also, in either case, you’re going to pay more for the Switch 2 than the Switch 1, though there are some silver linings.
The Switch 2 is already tariff-proof
The simplest answer is that Nintendo has already factored in the Liberation Day tariffs. The entire world knew they were coming, and this gave Nintendo time to prepare.
Maybe Nintendo wanted to price the Switch 2 at $399 and then charge $70 for games. The price hike did make sense in light of what has happened since the first-gen console. Considering the inflation these past few years, there was no way for Nintendo to keep the prices down and still upgrade the console. A price hike was expected compared to the $299 original Switch.
But then, fearing the extra tariffs, Nintendo might have hiked the prices to $449.99 for the console and $80/$90 for the game. We’re looking at price hikes compared to rumors and estimates of 13-14%, or enough to cover that extra 10% in tariffs that most countries face after yesterday or a part of the larger tariff that might impact one of the countries where Nintendo makes the Switch 2.
If that’s Nintendo’s thinking, then the Switch 2 price won’t change after yesterday. The same goes for games. It’s still more expensive than gamers would have wanted. But, again, the inflation in the past few years has been brutal. Even at $449.99, you can’t really blame Nintendo for hiking up the price.
There are also reports that Nintendo has been stockpiling Switch 2 consoles in the US for a while, perhaps in preparation for the wave of tariffs.
The bad scenario
What if Nintendo didn’t factor in the new Trump tariffs? The Verge has done some quick back-of-the-napkin math to account for the tariffs imposed on China (extra 34%), Vietnam (extra 46%), and Cambodia (extra 49%). The last two are important because Nintendo moved some of the Switch production for the US to Vietnam and Cambodia following Trump’s China tariffs from his first term.
Applying an average of 40% tariff on the already announced $449.99 Switch 2 price, the blog got a $630 price for the console. Yikes. That’s before tax, of course.
The same logic would apply to Switch 2 games like Mario Kart World. Instead of $80, the digital version would cost $110.
These figures go to $670 and $120 if you use the highest tariff, Cambodia’s 49%.
There’s some good news in this math. The tariffs will not apply to the retail price but to the declared value of import. The Verge used an estimate from the Financial Times that the declared value of the Switch console is $338. Adding 40% and the missing $112 between that $338 figure and the retail price gets you a $585 price. It’s annoying, but better than the prices above.
This is all a guess, however. We can’t really be certain what will happen with the tariffs. Maybe Trump will make changes to them, and Nintendo and gamers won’t have to worry about them for a while.
The 10% tariffs should go into effect on April 5th, followed by the larger rate hikes on April 9th — which happens to be the same day Nintendo’s Switch 2 preorders start.
The post How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost after Trump’s tariffs? appeared first on BGR.
