As August tips into September, the Nintendo Switch 2 will slide from $450 to $500. Knowing Nintendo, this means we will likely never see its prized handheld console cost any less. Considering other factors like new potential tariffs, we may experience even more price hikes in the future.
Monday, Aug. 31 is your last chance to buy the Switch 2 for its launch price. Nintendo said its Sept. 1 price hikes were “in response to various changes in market conditions, which are expected to extend over the medium to long term.” The legacy Japanese console maker is talking about the RAMpocalypse, rising memory prices driven by the demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used to construct AI data centers.
While the U.S. will have to deal with $500 Switch 2 consoles, Canadians will have to pay $680. Customers in the EU will now have to spend €499.99, or roughly $580 in U.S. dollars. The impending handheld price hike marks a turning point for consoles, with no modern system available that costs less than half a grand. Even an Xbox Series S—Xbox’s lowest-end console—with 512GB of SSD storage now demands $500 after recent price hikes.
Amazon, being Amazon, has already picked up the new $500 Switch 2 pricing scheme while adding in a promised 10% discount. In addition, Nintendo is trying to sell you on two new console bundles, a $550 version that comes bundled with Mario Kart World and another $530 version that comes packed with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort. Both bundles also arrive with three months of a Switch Online subscription.
Nintendo does not normally do sales or price cuts unless its hardware sales are truly in the mud. The company cut the Wii U Deluxe Set from $350 to $300 in 2013. It progressively cut Nintendo 2DS prices from $130 to $80 in the following years. Any console that is selling well won’t experience a discount.
Nintendo’s original Switch remained at $300 for its near-8-year lifespan until late last year, when Nintendo hiked its price to $340 in response to Trump tariffs. A Switch OLED model now costs $400. Nintendo is certainly planning to put its original Switch out to pasture. The company is already planning to end Switch Lite, Switch, and Switch OLED sales in the EU early next year.
Even if RAM prices finally slow down, Nintendo won’t suddenly find it in its heart to cut costs, especially if the Switch 2 continues to sell at its current rate. Nintendo’s lawyers recently said that it does not plan to offer tariff refunds back to customers who bought inflated consoles or peripherals.
Nintendo may have shown more restraint in price gouging compared to Xbox or PlayStation, though it is still reacting to current events. A recent report from Politico claims the Trump regime has ruminated on even more tariffs, this time centered on semiconductors and devices that make use of these chips. One of those proposed tariff plans would directly hit gadget imports, like laptops and consoles. Would you pay for a $550 or $600 Switch 2? Depending on the whims of Trump and co., you may not have a choice.
Source: Gizmodo