While Nintendo held out as long as it could, the global economy, tariffs and component shortages have finally forced its hand. Nintendo just announced it would raise the price of the Switch 2 in many regions, just under a year after its June 2025 release. Here are the increases:
- United States: $449.99 > $499.99
- Canada: $629.99 > $679.99
- Europe: €469.99 > €499.99
- Japan (May 25): ¥49,980 -> ¥59,980
A $50 increase was likely the absolute minimum, and rivals like PlayStation and Xbox have sometimes gone higher than that. Here’s how Sony has increased their prices after two separate hikes:
- PS5 Digital: $400 (2020 launch) > $500 (2025) > $600 (2026)
- PS5 Disc: $500 > $550 > $650
- PS5 Pro: $700 > $750 > $900
- PS Portal: $200 > $250
On the Xbox side, its lowest-tier console, the 512 GB Series S, is now $400. It’s 2 TB Series X, its highest-end SKU, is now $800. Both Xbox and PlayStation hardware sales have dropped significantly, as you might expect.
Nintendo started this new generation by selling Switch 2 units at a blistering pace, breaking all previous hardware records initially. While sales are still solid, Nintendo previously lowered its Switch 2 sales forecast for the next fiscal year. Many cite a lack of “must-have” games as contributing to that, but now Nintendo will also have to contend with the fact that it just raised prices as well. It’s not unexpected, and it’s still lower than its competition, but competition that is four years older than the Switch 2 and planning a new generation in a couple of years.
It is frankly impressive that it took this long for Nintendo to make this move due to component costs in particular. The problem is that there seems to be no relief in sight due to AI gobbling up all the tech it can, drastically raising prices to the point where these console manufacturers have little choice but to do this. Of course, consumers have the choice not to buy these systems now that they are doing it, and that has already started happening in droves.
It’s a rough situation for the video game industry right now in particular, given how hardware-dependent it is. Sony has reportedly pushed the PS6 a year or two back from when they would have otherwise released it. Under its new leadership, Xbox is currently trying to figure out how to revive its hardware business period, which had tanked well before all this. A planned Xbox/PC hybrid, Xbox Helix, will no doubt be a pricey offering. As for Nintendo, it will just be the Switch 2 for a while, but don’t bank on the fact that this is definitely the last price increase.
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