Nintendo Announces Switch 2 US Pre-Order Date, ‘Maintains' High Prices
Switch 2
Nintendo
If you thought a backlash was going to cause Nintendo to change the price of the Switch 2 or the controversial Mario Kart World, think again. This is Nintendo, and Nintendo does what it wants. But the good new is that because of recent tariffs, at least it hasn't gone up.
In an article published its website, Nintendo says it will 'Maintain' pricing for both Switch and Mario Kart, along with announcing the US pre-order date, April 24, which was delayed due to fluctuating US tariff policy.
Nintendo says clearly these prices will remain the same, $450 for the Switch 2, $500 for the Mario Kart bundle and $80 for Mario Kart World itself (which is more in some regions). But some accessory prices has changed:
Here's the full list of all Switch 2 products and accessories and their (high) prices:
Mario Kart World
Nintendo
It never seemed likely that Nintendo would backtrack on any of this, especially the console price. But the more controversial move was the $80 price for Mario Kart World, which Nintendo simply defended by saying they thought the game was worth that much. If it flattens sales, that may change in the future, but that also seems somewhat unlikely as that will be the game to play on Switch 2 at launch. And raising the price would have been a PR disaster, 'economic conditions" or not.
The $450 price makes Nintendo no longer the 'accessible' option in the current generation of gaming with $400 PS5s and $300 Xbox Series S consoles. But again, the Switch was such a generational hit that Nintendo thinks they can push all these prices upward.
Donald Trump did in fact relent on most of his tariffs, making them a flat 10% on most countries outside of his escalating trade war with China. And recent policies have said that while some electronics (may) be exempt, that did not include video game consoles. While China has certainly been a key producer of consoles and components, there are also the complications of moves to Vietnam and Cambodia (which will no longer have their 40%+ tariffs) and Japan itself, which had 24% tariffs, now also down to 10%
All of this adds up to…Nintendo not changing US prices. No amount of complaining or spawning 'DROP THE PRICE' in stream chat has done anything. So here we are, make your choice.
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