Nintendo hit the pause button on its plans for Switch 2 pre-orders today, citing the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign imports.
New US tariffs affect China, Japan, and Vietnam, countries that played major roles in the production of the first Nintendo Switch.
Pre-orders of the highly anticipated Switch 2 were set to start on April 9 before the tariffs upended global markets.
The company released a statement to multiple media outlets, including CNBC, that reads: “Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.”
It’s hard to imagine how Nintendo could have had worse timing for its Switch 2 unveiling than Wednesday, which turned out to be the same day that the White House unveiled its tariffs. Now, just two days after Nintendo gave customers a trove of details about the new hardware, it is pulling the plug on a pre-order program that could have seen a massive number of sales. Customers have been waiting years for a follow-up to the Nintendo Switch, which won over players with its playstyle flexibility and deep bench of games.
Although it’s heartening to see that Nintendo still plans to make the Switch 2 available in June, the turmoil surrounding the US tariffs puts a big question mark on the device’s price. At $450, the Switch 2 is already much more expensive than its predecessor. That’s not surprising, considering that the Switch 2 will have a slick new 1080p display, support for 4K (docked), DLSS and ray tracing, and a host of new features. It’s possible that Nintendo will need to contend with significant tariffs for the Switch 2. If the company doesn’t pass the tariff-related expenses on to US customers, they’ll eat into its margins.
The White House is implementing tariffs with the expectation that manufacturing jobs will return to the US, but building factories and developing the needed workforce here will take time. Nintendo, with its supply chains already developed for the Switch 2, doesn’t have any obvious path to avoiding the newly announced tariffs.
It’s worth noting that in the UK, which hasn’t announced new tariffs, Nintendo plans to proceed with pre-orders as planned, according to the BBC. If you’re not in the US, you’re in the clear.
BBC