After putting Switch 2 preorders on hiatus in the US while it assessed the "potential impact" of the Trump administration's sweeping tariff rollout, Nintendo has confirmed that it will be maintaining the Switch 2's originally announced $450 price. US preorders will begin on April 24.
"We apologize for the retail pre-order delay, and hope this reduces some of the uncertainty our customers may be experiencing," Nintendo said in its announcement. "We thank our customers for their patience, and we share their excitement to experience Nintendo Switch 2 starting June 5, 2025."
Nintendo's Switch 2 preorder pause followed the reveal of the Trump administration's April 3 tariff deluge, leading to speculation that the tariffs targeting countries with major electronics manufacturing industries like China, Vietnam, and Taiwan could drive Nintendo to increase the Switch 2 MSRP shortly after its reveal.
As with concerns over potential pricing increases on PC gaming and general computer hardware, that uncertainty only increased as the Trump administration announced that most countries would instead only be subject to a general 10% tariff, before repeatedly reversing its messaging on whether semiconductors and electronics are or are not exempt from its tariff program.
Reporting from Bloomberg indicated that Nintendo had apparently anticipated an amount of tariff-related chaos. In February, Nintendo had been building "a stockpile of millions of consoles" from Vietnam, where two-thirds of assembled consoles are now being earmarked for shipments to the US. Any Nintendo consoles assembled in China, meanwhile, would face an import tariff that—at time of writing—has risen to 245%.
While that stockpile might have helped dodge a price hike on the console itself, Nintendo said Switch 2 accessories "will experience price adjustments from those announced on April 2 due to changes in market conditions." A pair of Joy-Con 2s, for example, will now cost $95. Switch 2 game prices will remain unchanged.
At PC Gamer, we haven't exactly been overenthused about the Switch 2's prerelease showing, which—in a post-Steam Deck world—kinda just feels like looking at a worse PC with some colorful exclusives. Still, even if a new handheld gaming PC seems like a better proposition, some of us have to get our Pokémon fix somewhere.
