Forum - View topicNEWS: Nintendo Switch Prices Rise in U.S.; Switch 2 Console Prices Remain Unchanged
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Greed1914
 Posts: 5360 |
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While I don't disagree that the volatility of global markets is a factor, it probably doesn't hurt that Nintendo can make the Switch 2 look better in comparison. Those same market conditions probably don't affect just the Switch 1. The new Switch 2, which plays those Switch 1 games, is going to look better at $450 compared to a Switch 1 that just went up, even though it is old. Throw in the warning that Switch 2 prices could also change, and I think it's pretty likely that Nintendo is trying to push the "wait for a sale" crowd to just buy one now.
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 5148 Location: New York |
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Tariffs remain moronic. But all of you knew that already.
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TheRealMaria
 Posts: 123 |
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Nintendo saw people were buying the cheaper Switch version of games and then upgrading them to the Switch 2 versions and said "Not on my watch"
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ZiharkXVI
Posts: 450 |
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Look, i love Nintendo, but it ain't tariffs that's causing this. Convenient excuse for them. Switch 2 isnt doing what they need it to and they are competing directly with themselves (ie the Switch market). They were toying with raising prices long before now. Definitely with games (even digital). Accessories, check. The market has changed for consoles in ways they are trying to adapt to. If it was tariffs, then you would see across the board rate hikes. |
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AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2954 |
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Nah, this absolutely on the tariffs, they're just trying to avoid raising prices on the Switch 2 and games hence why they're raising some prices, but not all of them. We all know who's to blame, don't try to obfuscate.
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1513 Location: Nova Scotia, Canada |
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Cut them some slack, folks; they need to make up for only selling 6 million Switch 2s.
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Nekbone
Posts: 214 |
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It's been pointed out the Switch’s cost to produce the console has been reduced over it's 8 year lifespan since the components to produce the Switch series of consoles are much cheaper now than back then. Even in 2017 they were using much older and inexpensive components. Even with the tariffs Nintendo is not taking a big hit with these consoles to justify these price changes. I would guess Nintendo decided to turn the tariffs into an opportunity to further increase profits. While most companies are losing money from tariffs Nintendo will be making a profit at the cost of the consumer. A very shrewd business strategy.
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FishLion
 Crazy Fangirl Posts: 861 |
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Tariffs suck, also this weird conspiracy around Nintendo stopping the Switch from killing their new console is strange.
The Switch is not competing with SW2 in my opinion. Switch is one of the best selling consoles of all time hitting 153M this past report and has achieved a really high market saturation, so it has a limit on how long it will sell and with games becoming more resource heavy the number of games it can handle will decrease. Meanwhile, the SW2 can do basically everything it can do and more as well as keep up with the demands on modern games much better, I don't really see them as competing to the vast majority of consumers because buying an 8 year old game console and a brand new game console are very different propositions. Sure some families might go for it, but I really don't think I know a single gamer interested in buying one that doesn't already have one. Also, believe it or not, this is the second worst 4th quarter the Switch has ever had worldwide. Last year for this quarter they sold 1.96M which was it's worst year yet and this year's 2.24M was the second worst on record. The Switch obviously has a very long tail for sales to go up at all, but those 300,000 extra sales the Switch made do not nearly compete with the Switch 2 selling twice as many in the first month as the last one. The total year sales are also the lowest they have been since the first full year after launch. We will have to see if those sales last long term, but according to Famitsu charts the SW2 sold 1,185,113 SW2 by June 29th and 1,846,889 by July 27th. That is 661,776 SW 2 sold after the first quarter sales in Japan versus 57K SW1 sold in Japan (using the same Famitsu sales charts) during the same period, that's less than 9% of Switch 2 purchases. They are getting what they can from the first one but it is not an obstacle to sales of the new console in any meaningful sense. Besides that though, yeah of course they would rather raise the price of old hardware instead of raising the price of the SW2 again and making it unattractive to buy. They want a big install base to sell games to, raising the price of the one that already has 153M buyers to make the new system more attractive obviously makes sense strategically if you have to raise prices somewhere and want to sell the most games as time goes on with more games become SW2 exclusive... I just don't see how that is suspicious or conspiracy on their part? It's not like they made up tariffs, they are 100% happening, so how is putting the stress on your older system that is already an all time great success instead of throwing a wet blanket on sales for you new console sinister in any way? |
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ZiharkXVI
Posts: 450 |
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Sure. Here's a question for you since you clearly know so much. Why just Switch 1 hardware? That's the only thing being raised (i read somewhere that alarmo price increase went up, but who cares). Its not "some prices", it's exclusive to Switch 1. Back when the original tariffs launched, there was a lot of folks who said it was the tariffs that made the Switch 2's price. But the President of the company said that wasn't the case - as he had to because as anyone who watches the video game industry knows the desire to raise costs has been a thing for years. Its why game costs went up. The entire AAA industry wants 80 dollar games or more. Xbox and Playstation find ways to increase console costs all the time, long before tariffs were even imagined. Let me put it this way, if the tariffs disappeared tomorrow, Nintendo would not lower their prices. People who arent familiar with the industry don't know why it took Nintendo so long to release the Switch 2. Its because they knew they would find themselves in this situation where their previous console is eating into their new console sales. That's not what investors want to hear. If the tariffs are the justification - the plan would be to increase costs of the product that is being shipped and sold NOW (because yes, that is where the tariffs are going to apply). Not yesterday's product. Nah, we all know Nintendo is to blame. They want more Switch 2s to sell, not Switch 1. Stop trying to obfuscate. |
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ZiharkXVI
Posts: 450 |
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@FishLion
Its not a conspiracy, it's just logical. Tariffs are convenient, but they make no sense. Think about it. You believe Switch 1 sales are really bad. Yet if they were, then how are they going to recoup tariff costs? Won't they just kill the already dying console entirely? Then you arent making any money. And there are still tariffs. Sales numbers for launch are also deceptive (not intentionally, they just are). The sales for this console are frontloaded. That's natural. But you watch - and if im wrong let know in December. There are huge drops in sales and stock issues are disappearing. That's not a good sign. It means the early adopters are out and the console just isnt interesting to the rest of the market. Im not going to call it a flop or anything, but I can tell you Nintendos only real competition for it's console is itself. They are working ahead of time to increase S2 sales. Its really fairly simple. Again, if tariffs were the motive, this won't increase profits. It will make the Switch 1 sell even less. People seem to assume consumers are going to buy the same rate of more expensive S1 consoles, thus compensating Nintendo for the tariffs. How does that make sense? |
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2954 |
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You are REALLY bad at this. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/02/nintendo-establishing-ways-to-respond-to-u-s-tariffs-says-furukawa Also, Nintendo listening to investors. HA. Nintendo are infamous at earnings reports for treating investors with absolute, giggling contempt. They often publish the dumbest comments as if to go "Look at this idiot right here. Let's point and laugh so they know how stupid they are!" Fact is, the Switch 2 actually had a massive launch that shattered records so they're not sweating it, but they also have to deal with the reality of these illegal, nonsense tariffs running on fairy dust logic. To keep the new stuff from going up, they're having to charge more for older stuff and accessories. It's not complicated, we all know the current government is to blame. You might not care about politics, but politics ABSOLUTELY care about you.
Basically. Nintendo is also the last of the three platform holders to do this because the government doesn't really get what tariffs are and are going to get a harsh lesson in touching the stove. |
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ZiharkXVI
Posts: 450 |
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@AiddonValentine
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/video-games/2025/04/07/mario-kart-world-price-nintendo-doug-bowser/ https://www.theverge.com/nintendo/643277/nintendo-switch-2-price-tariffs-doug-bowser-interview https://www.gamesindustry.biz/nintendo-says-44999-price-tag-for-switch-2-was-not-affected-by-us-tariffs You just have a political ax to grind. I find it sort of funny that people are now willing to suggest these large corporations don't use this as an excuse to either 1) make more money and 2) manipulate markets. |
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Nekbone
Posts: 214 |
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What's interesting to me is even if a price hike is due to tariffs fans never suggest Nintendo should eat the cost themselves to benefit consumers. Nintendo is obviously successful enough and in a position to do so. It's especially odd because I've seen that suggestion come in the the argument about game key cards where they suggest third party companies should eat the cost of Nintendo's fee on them for the sake of the consumer.
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FishLion
Crazy Fangirl Posts: 861 |
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Well you see, if it kills the old console's sales then they still have 153M customers to sell games to. If they kill the Switch 2's sales they will miss out on part of a rapidly expanding player base and blunt the momentum of what is the fastest selling console of all time. That's not good business. Also, they still said the price could change further, that is the "and there are still tariffs" bit. They acknowledged it could change later but right now they are putting all the strain on the existing success, which makes perfect sense no matter how much I think about it.
If Japan's rate of sale hold up that will be completely untrue. The Switch launched in March at the start of the last month of a quarter. In Japan they sold 600k units in that first month/quarter and over the next three months they sold 520K more. By contrast, the SW2 sold 1.18M in the first month/quarter and 661K during the first month in Japan. In other words, Switch sales in Japan for three entire months from March 31- June 30 were less than Switch 2 sales in Japan from June 29th- July 27th. There is no way to spin this as front loading at that rate. In fact, SW sales in Japan from April 2017 say that they only sold 177K their first month after launch. That means Switch sold 29.5% the number of the launch month numbers in Japan while the SW2 sold 56% the number of launch month units the next month. So even when you compare them to their own launches, SW2 did almost twice as well at keeping momentum. I guess this could be a Japan only phenomenon or sales could completely fall off a cliff, but according to all available evidence there isn't a huge drop in sales and stock issues don't necessarily equal success, in fact evidences point at it surpassing the SW1 in the past and present.
I have literally never expected a company to do that and the fact so many people expect them to tells me they have no idea how these things work. Eating the cost of Wii Sports is not the same as eating the cost of 46% increase in hardware costs. The fact they are only raising the price of the old system that sells poorly in comparison is a testament to the fact that they aren't trying to squeeze money out of this. As far as eating the cost of game cards, companies have always had to pay for the games they print. In fact, in the old days it they would force companies to print massive amounts on their terms and not pay them back for unsold games. I prefer how they do things now personally, asking publishers to pay for printed game cards isn't new and Game Key Cards are a very reasonable solution to the issue of expensive carts if you aren't frothing at the mouth to be mad about something. For people that don't like them just don't buy them, they aren't killing physical because they are replacing code in a box games, the alternative was digital only or a slot for Switch games with Switch 2 games all digital. |
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Zased
 Posts: 145 |
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I remember people posted these before in past threads but Nintendo fans simply accused Doug Bowser of lying. It's probably too much to hope for nuance in a discussion like this. |
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