Nintendo Switch 2 Price Hiked Since Current Market Conditions Don’t Seem Temporary

In a recent earnings call, Nintendo explained why the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 has gone up. According to Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, the company would not have increased the price if the costs of making the console were only going to be temporarily higher.

Furukawa stated the price increase wasn’t caused by a single issue, but by a combination of recent market changes. He assured that this decision won’t affect the company’s overall strategy for its video game business.

Nintendo’s strategy for the next Switch remains the same: grow the number of consoles in homes, and then sell more games. They could have considered keeping prices down while boosting production if rising costs were expected to be short-lived, but that wasn’t the case.

Furukawa explained that rising prices are due to several things, including the cost of memory chips, changes in exchange rates, and oil prices influenced by global events. He added that market conditions impact Nintendo’s business differently in each region.

We’ve seen prices for components like memory rise recently, and global market conditions – including exchange rates and oil prices – are also changing. We expect these trends to continue for the foreseeable future. Maintaining our current prices would significantly hurt the profitability of our hardware, potentially affecting our business. To ensure the continued growth of our video game platform and maintain a healthy business overall, we had to make the tough decision to increase prices to cover some of our rising costs.

Price changes vary by region because each area is affected differently by market conditions.

Nintendo recently increased the price of the Switch 2. In the US, it now costs $499.99, up from $449.99. Canadian prices rose from $629.99 to $679.99 CAD, and in Europe, the new price is €499.99, an increase from €469.99. The price also went up in Japan, from ¥49,980 to ¥59,980.

Furukawa had already said sorry for the price increase and assured Nintendo fans that they’re developing a strong selection of games to keep the Switch 2 successful.

Furukawa explained that the company is sorry for the disruption and frustration the price increase will cause customers. They had hoped to keep prices low to encourage widespread use, but rising costs made that unsustainable. Even with the price change, the company won’t be able to cover all of its increased expenses.

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2026-05-15 16:43