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Summary: Nintendo is defending the price of the Switch 2, saying that previous tariffs did not directly impact the price. The increase in cost is due to “multiple factors.” Tariffs were not factored into the final cost of the console in the US.
Nintendo is reportedly defending the higher price of the Switch 2, as President of Nintendo America Doug Bowser says multiple factors had a part to play in the increased cost. Prior to the Switch 2’s full reveal on April 2, the price of the upcoming console was a topic of hot debate. Several rumors and predictions had suggested it would most likely launch at a price of $399.
Much to the surprise of consumers, Nintendo’s next console will actually be more than that. At $449.99 for the Switch 2 with no game bundle, some had wondered whether or not the recently imposed tariffs from President Trump had anything to do with Nintendo’s decision. According to Boswer, the tariffs are not the reason for the price increase. It’s easy to speculate that the tariffs might be the culprit. After all, the tariffs are being cited as the reason for the cost going up on several other products.
For instance, Newegg has claimed earlier this year that tariffs are to blame for the higher price of various RTX 50-series GPUs. But it seems there are other reasons, and they make a lot more sense.
Nintendo is defending the Switch 2 price, citing technological advances as the reason for the increase
According to Boswer, the big reasons Nintendo decided to price the new system higher is because of its technological advancements. The Switch 2 will have better performance than the original system. It also comes with improvements to other parts of the hardware, not just with the chipset. Speaking of the chipset, NVIDIA has said that its custom chip for the Switch 2 will provide 10x the performance power of Switch.
This, plus the larger screen and Joy-Con, and several new features, are the driving force of that $449.99 price. That being said, there are concerns that the tariffs will result in Nintendo increasing the price further.
New tariffs could impact the price
While previous tariffs didn’t directly impact the Switch 2’s final price, these recently announced tariffs could. Nintendo has not really said as much. However, there is concern that Nintendo may have to increase the price from $449.99. Speaking to The Verge, Boswer said that “Any previous tariffs were not factored into the price itself.”
Now, this isn’t some form of admission by Bowser that the tariffs imposed after the Switch 2’s reveal could cause the price to go up. But the use of the word “previous” does raise the question of whether or not the new tariffs will have any impact. Especially after Nintendo has now delayed pre-orders for the console. The Nintendo Switch 2 was set to go up for pre-order on April 9. Nintendo hasn’t announced a new pre-order date for consumers in the US yet. And as of now, the price and launch date remain the same.