Despite the tariffs, Nintendo has announced the price of the Switch 2 will stay the same in the US, although that could change in the future.
Nintendo’s handling of the price around the Switch 2 has been a mess ever since the Direct earlier this month, but it seems like the company is aiming to claw back some goodwill.
After US President Donald Trump announced a slew of higher tariffs against countries like China and Vietnam, Nintendo delayed pre-orders of the Switch 2 indefinitely in the US and Canada to ‘assess the potential impact’ amid ‘evolving market conditions’.
Two weeks later, and after Trump paused tariff hikes everywhere except for China, Nintendo has announced the price of the Switch 2 will remain the same in the US – albeit with some caveats.
In a post on its website, Nintendo confirmed pre-orders will begin in the US on April 24, 2025. The price for the base console and the Mario Kart World bundle will stay the same, at $449.99 and $499.99 respectively. The physical and digital versions of Mario Kart World ($79.99) and Donkey Kong Bananza ($69.99) will also stay the same.
The announcement isn’t without some bad news though. Nintendo states Switch 2 accessories ‘will experience price adjustments from those announced on April 2, due to changes in market conditions’.
Accessories like the Switch 2 Pro Controller ($84.99), Joy-Con 2 controllers ($94.99), and the Switch 2 camera ($54.99) are now all $5 more expensive. The Nintendo Switch 2 dock set, meanwhile, is $10 more at $119.99, while the Joy-Con 2 strap is $1 more at $13.99.
Nintendo has also warned ‘other adjustments to the price of any Nintendo product are also possible in the future depending on market conditions’ – so it’s possible the Switch 2’s price, like the PlayStation 5 in certain markets recently, could go up at a later date.
While this is probably the best case scenario in light of the tariffs, any price increase to any product surrounding the Switch 2 might be a tough pill to swallow – with many still up in arms about the price of Mario Kart World.
Following the announcement, pre-order pages for the Switch 2 have popped up at US retailers like Best Buy, GameStop, Target, and Walmart. However, at the time of writing, none of these pages are currently active.
As for Canada, Nintendo has maintained the price of the Switch 2 in that region too, at $629.99 Canadian for the base console and $699.99 for the Mario Kart World bundle. Pre-orders are set to begin there on the same day on April 24, 2025.
The Canadian announcement also comes with pricing for Switch 2 games for the first time. Mario Kart World is set to cost $109.99 Canadian, while Donkey Kong Bananza will set you back $99.99.
Pre-orders in the UK and Europe kicked off earlier this month, with many retailers having already sold out. The Switch 2 is set to launch worldwide on June 5, 2025.
In theory, none of this should affect UK prices but the worry with any business affected by Trump’s tariffs is that companies will be looking to mitigate the price rises in the US, given it’s such a large market.
One way to do this is to increase the prices everywhere by a smaller amount, even though it’s only the US with the tariffs. So far, there’s no sign of that with Nintendo but it’s going to be a constant danger in the future.
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