Hoping to snag a Nintendo Switch 2? The process just got a little more complicated. In a press release, Nintendo announced that preorders for the new video game console—originally planned for April 9—will be delayed indefinitely to “assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.” Nintendo still plans to release the console on June 5.
The Trump tariff fiasco is just the latest headache for those who have been eagerly awaiting the release of Nintendo’s first new video game console since 2017. For years, development of the Nintendo Switch 2 has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the gaming industry, but it wasn’t until a Nintendo Direct video earlier this week that gamers actually got a good look at the company’s latest console and games.
But excitement over the next generation of Nintendo games was somewhat tempered by a price point that struck some as too high—a question that grew more fraught just a few hours later, when the Trump administration announced tariffs that analysts agree will have a seismic impact on the video game industry.
So what, exactly, is going on with the Switch 2? Let’s review what we’ve learned so far:
When it launched in 2017, the Nintendo Switch promised something unique: a video game system that would effortlessly straddle the line between a home console, which hooks up to your TV, and a portable one, which has a self-contained screen so you can game on the go.
As its name indicates, the Switch 2 isn’t offering anything so radical. It’s essentially a souped-up (and badly needed) refresh of the wildly popular Switch console, with a series of considered and worthwhile quality-of-life upgrades. We’ll spare you a detailed technical breakdown, but there’s no question that games will look better—and run better—than they ever did on the original Switch. The built-in screen is bigger; the controllers have some nifty new features (including mouse controls); and the company has, at long last, joined the 21st century by including a functional voice chat for multiplayer games.
The Switch 2 will be backwards compatible with Switch games, but Nintendo also announced a bunch of new games exclusive to the console. The system will launch with Mario Kart World, the first open-world game in the popular franchise; Donkey Kong Bananza, a 3D platformer; Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, an action-focused spinoff of the Zelda franchise; and The Duskbloods, a From Software title that looks like the spiritual successor to their beloved gothic action game Bloodborne.
Even before the tariff announcement, the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 raised some eyebrows. The console itself will retail for $449.99—a full $150 more than the retail price of the original Nintendo Switch. You can buy a bundle that contains a Nintendo Switch 2 console and Mario Kart World for $499.99. But if you buy Mario Kart World on its own, it’ll cost you $79.99. Another major new title, Donkey Kong Bananza, will retail for $69.99.
That’s not entirely unprecedented—2023’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom retailed for $69.99 at launch—but that was treated as an outlier, and Nintendo’s subsequent releases returned to the $59.99 price point that’s been the industry standard for a few generations. Now, it’s looking like $69.99 might be the floor for a new Nintendo Switch 2 game, with the chance to go even higher for…reasons?
That new price range also, controversially, includes some games originally released for the Nintendo Switch, which are getting upgraded versions for the Switch 2. If Walmart can be believed, Switch 2 editions of games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Kirby: The Forgotten Lands, and Super Mario Party Jamboree will also cost $79.99 apiece — a significant increase from the price Nintendo charged for the original versions of those games on the day they were released. The company softened the blow by revealing that those who already own those games can upgrade to the Switch 2 versions for a smaller fee, but it’s not clear what that will cost. (Sony, which offers a similar option for upgrading PlayStation 4 games to their PlayStation 5 versions, typically charges $10.)
They’re not thrilled. During a second Nintendo livestream on Thursday, gamers spammed the chat with pleas to drop the console’s price. At the time of this publication, the various Nintendo Reddit pages are dominated by posts and memes about how much all of this is going to cost.
And remember: All of this was announced before the Trump administration revealed their tariff plan.
It’s hard to gauge the true impact of something that’s being implemented so haphazardly in real time, but no one in the game industry thinks it’s going to bring prices down. The Trump administration has imposed massive tariffs on electronics manufacturing hubs, including China (34 percent), Vietnam (46 percent), and Cambodia (49 percent). The goal, nominally, is to incentivize more manufacturing in the United States, but absolutely no one seriously believes Nintendo will respond by moving Switch 2 production to the United States.
So how will they deal with the higher costs? There’s a chance the company will offset the cost of the tariff by raising the price of the Switch 2 in the United States to something even higher $449.99. But that would risk a consumer backlash, and it’s not uncommon for a video-game company to sell a console at a loss, trusting that the cost of games will make up for the difference in the long run. One expert told IGN they suspect Nintendo had a variety of price points in play for the Switch 2, delaying the announcement until the latest possible moment as they tried to game out the impact of the Trump tariffs. Another expert told 404 Media that the tariffs “will definitely increase prices further over what is baked into price levels currently,” and that demand for the Switch 2 will be so high across the globe that Nintendo has no incentive to give the United States preferential treatment by absorbing the full weight of the tariff’s cost.
There’s no question that Trump’s tariffs are supercharging the conversation, but in recent years, the increasing cost of AAA game development has led to plenty of chatter about whether a $59.99 price point for new games is too low. According to industry analyst Matthew Ball, some developers are hoping that Rockstar launches its highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI at a price point between $80 and $100, which could help to normalize a higher price point for major releases, if not all games, across the entire industry. The bottom line is that the cost of gaming—like the cost of pretty much everything—is likely to increase in the near future. The question is how much, and we probably won’t know the answer until the full consequences of the Trump tariffs have played out.
One thing is for sure: Nintendo would definitely prefer we were all talking about how excited we are for a new Mario Kart right now.
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