You may see prices go up on gaming items across the board.
Previously, the plan was for Switch 2 pre-orders to go up on April 9th. That’s not happening anymore. According to Nintendo, the tariffs going into effect on April 5th have caused them to halt pre-orders for the Switch 2.
Nintendo made a statement to GameSpot on the matter:
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 launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.
On the day of the Direct, Nintendo announced the price of their new system as being $450. And while the new prices aren’t across the board, New Switch 2 games can cost up to $80 each, like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. But with the tariffs in effect, that might change, and not in a way that will cause your wallet to make happy sounds. That said, Nintendo is still dedicated to the previously announced launch date on June 5th, as noted by an announcement made by GameStop.
All said, though, it’s not exactly like the announced price for the Switch 2 lit many potential buyer’s souls on fire. In the days after the Direct, the Treehouse game streams were plagued with chants to drop the price.
If these tariffs do go into effect, prices could go up, not just for the Switch 2 and its related games and peripherals, but across gaming as a whole. That PS5, devoid of games as it is, becomes a much worse proposition when it costs $800-$900 instead. The less said about PC parts, mostly made in China, the better; you are already getting screwed there. While analysts had predicted that Nintendo had already taken the effects of these tariffs into account with the $450 price tag, it seems that they were not exactly on the money there.
And according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the trade group that represents most of the major gaming companies, the tariffs are almost certainly going to have an effect on the industry. From an interview with ESA senior vice president Aubrey Quinn by GameFile:
The Entertainment Software Association, the U.S. trade group that reps all major gaming companies, including Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, says President Donald Trump’s recently announced tariffs “are going to have a real and detrimental impact on the video game industry.”
Asked whether the Trump administration had a point that more goods simply should be made in the U.S. and whether the ESA’s members should consider that option, Quinn said, “I think every company, every industry, the video game industry included, needs to think about what’s best for consumers, best for business, and best for employees. Supply chains are complicated and, certainly, supply chains don’t change overnight. Everything that is considered or decided can’t be a quick turnaround and can’t be a knee-jerk reaction to any particular announcement”
Source: Kotaku
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