Nintendo has announced a delay to pre-orders of the Switch 2 due to “evolving market conditions” following new tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump earlier this week.
Back in February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose tariffs on imports from a number of countries, but, following backlash, delayed a majority of them.
On Wednesday, he shared his new, revised plan. Imports from most countries (including the United Kingdom) will now be subject to a 10 per cent tax while others will be taxed at a much higher rate, with China (54 per cent), Vietnam (46 per cent) and Japan (24 per cent) all affected.
Now, Nintendo have announced that pre-orders for the new console – which were originally set to begin on April 9 – have been postponed as the company “assesses the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.”
The company have not specified a new date for pre-orders but has confirmed that the delay only applies to the US, as pre-orders in other regions will proceed as scheduled on April 9.
In December, it was reported that the Switch 2 is on track to be the biggest-selling console of all time.
However, the company will seemingly be hit hard by the tariffs, as, per The Verge, Nintendo manufactures many of the Switch 2’s components in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, which have been hit with substantial tariffs ranging from 34 per cent to 49 per cent.
Nintendo Switch 2. CREDIT: Nintendo
If Nintendo decides to pass on these price increases to consumers, it could potentially result in a price hike of up to $180, raising the cost from $499.99 to $630 in the US.
Nintendo say they still plan to release the console on June 5 2025, but have yet to offer any updates on pricing. The company reportedly stockpiled several hundred thousand units in the US ahead of the tariffs, so the pricing impact may not be immediate.
It comes after US video game trade group Entertainment Software Association (ESA) warned the financial plan will have “a real and detrimental impact” on the games industry, earlier this week.
Speaking to Stephen Totilo (via his Game File newsletter) ESA Senior Vice President Aubrey Quinn warned that Trump’s tariffs and the response from other countries would make everything more expensive. “Any one product that a consumer would buy is likely to be subject to many of the tariffs announced, all compounded on top of one another,” she explained. “I think what we heard yesterday is not the end of the story, not for the United States, not for other countries.”
However, the ESA is reportedly “optimistic that there will be a solution that doesn’t damage U.S. industries, ours included, and doesn’t hurt U.S. consumers.”
When the tariffs were first announced in February, the ESA released a statement that said additional taxes on video game devices and related products “would negatively impact hundreds of millions of Americans and would harm the industry’s significant contributions to the U.S. economy.”
Trump said the measures were payback for unfair trade policies, adding that he had been “very kind” in his decisions. He believes the move will “make America wealthy again” but the news triggered a slump in the global stock market, with US markets having their worst day since COVID (via the BBC). China has also retaliated by announcing plans to add an additional 34 per cent tax on all imports from the USA.
U.S. President Donald Trump in April 2025. CREDIT: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The successor to the original Switch was confirmed earlier this year, and on Wednesday (April 2) Nintendo hosted a special hour-long Direct presentation to reveal more details about the Switch 2.
The redesigned console is bigger and more powerful than the original Switch, and also boasts 8 times as much internal storage. The magnetic Joy-Con 2 controllers have also been upgraded.
English (US) · 