Nintendo is delaying U.S. preorders for its
highly anticipated Switch 2 console because of the new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump, the company said Friday.
“Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date,” the statement said. It added that the handheld console is still launching June 5 as planned.
Nintendo appears to be one of the first major companies to publicly adjust plans for a consumer release since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on much of the world two days ago,
plunging the global economy into uncertainty and sending stock markets diving.
The trade policy included a 46 percent tariff on goods from Vietnam and a 49 percent tariff on Cambodia — countries where Nintendo has shifted large portions of its hardware production, according to
the Financial Times. It also imposed a 24 percent tariff on Japan, where Nintendo is headquartered, and sharply raised tariffs on imports from China, which announced retaliatory duties on Friday.
Nintendo
detailed features of the Switch 2 on Wednesday, the same day Trump announced his tariffs. The device is the long-awaited successor to the Switch, the third best-selling game console in history after the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS. With a base price of $449.99, the Switch 2 offers a few twists on the handheld platform’s design, including mouse capability with its detachable controllers and upgraded visuals supporting HDR and 4K resolution and 120 frames-per-second gameplay.
The gaming world reacted to Wednesday’s reveal with excitement, mixed with some online chatter about the system’s high price. The original Switch launched in 2017 at $300, a base price that helped it garner a reputation as an accessible gaming platform for casual gamers and families. This week, the company announced that its
same-day launch title “Mario Kart World” would release at $79.99, $10 higher than the current standard for major video games, or as a bundle with the system for $499.99.
If U.S. tariff policy doesn’t change, economists and industry analysts expect that
smartphones, laptops, video game consoles and e-bikes could cost Americans hundreds of dollars more.
A January analysis from the Consumer Technology Association, a trade group opposed to the tariffs whose members include Apple, Lenovo and Samsung, estimated that U.S. prices for video game consoles could increase by about 40 percent as console sales drop.
