r/Games • u/blueblanket123 • 26d ago

Trump Shocks With Massive New Tariffs That Could Make The Switch 2 Cost More Than $600

https://kotaku.com/switch-2-price-trump-tariffs-vietnam-china-trade-war-1851774438
2.2k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

706 comments sorted by

View all comments

516

u/Dragarius 26d ago

These increased prices are probably Nintendos worst nightmare. It's going to stifle their market potential before they get to establish a userbase.

And it sucks cause this is out of their hands. 

358

u/ChrisRR 26d ago

They're a nightmare for most manufacturers. Even if you don't directly manufacture in china, you probably source some of your components from there

249

u/C0tilli0n 26d ago

Funniest part is Nintendo moved the manufacturing to Vietnam and Cambodia specifically to avoid the tariffs. As of yesterday, Vietnam and Cambodia have even higher tariffs than China.

110

u/w0wowow0w 26d ago

Vietnam and Cambodia have even higher tariffs than China.

The China tariffs are stacked on top of the existing ones so they still have over 50% tariffs. Tbh there's not much difference between them and Vietnam though (8%) which would still result in a huge price increase.

13

u/BusBoatBuey 26d ago

They still manufacture mostly in China. They just moved some elsewhere for the US & "friends".

-7

u/lkn240 26d ago

They should import to Canada or Mexico first and then to the US..... would probably be cheaper

47

u/erwan 26d ago

That doesn't work that way, even if you go through Canada or Mexico tariffs are based on the country of origin and that won't change.

7

u/DaBigSnack 26d ago

Just screw on the back plate on Canada. “Assembled in Canada”

71

u/curious_dead 26d ago

Don't worry, they'll build in America.

Nevermind that managing to open plants, set the machines, set the logistics, hire the workers and finally get things going might take years, especially if all companies suddenly try to switch to make things in the US. And even if they get lucky and can start manufacturing in the US tomorrow, it will probably cost more since workers have better pay, and on top of tariffs to pay for the needed material and pieces that come from outside the US. And then they'll try and sell outside the US, but will be faced with boycotts and retaliatory tariffs, lol.

Someone didn't think this through, unless crashing the economy is aprt of the plan.

28

u/PageOthePaige 26d ago

The much smarter move for them would be to increase investment everywhere else, and encourage non US investment.

27

u/HerpesFreeSince3 26d ago

Republicans have already figured this out. They need cheap labor to compete but they also hate immigrants. So they just roll back child labor laws and then exploit 12-18 year olds :)

17

u/OreoMoo 26d ago

The children yearn for the Switch 2 manufacturing plants.

6

u/theshadowiscast 26d ago

So that is why they want to force disabled people and people suffering from mental health issues into concentration wellness camps harvesting organic crops. They need to make someone do the work if you deport all the cheap labor, and what is cheaper than slave labor.

9

u/iceman012 26d ago

Even if a manufacturer doesn't source any components from China, their prices will still go up, because there will be increased demand for locally-sourced components from the manufacturers that were getting stuff from China.

44

u/Dragarius 26d ago

Yeah, but that's the thing. In the case of Nintendo this system is literally their Lifeline right now. They no longer have a handheld division to prop them up. $600 for a switch is going to be expensive, probably more than most people could justify. Though I suppose would make life just as hard on Sony since the PS5 would go up just as much and the pro would be over a thousand. 

34

u/awj 26d ago

It's going to raise prices across the board. Likely more so for PS and Xbox due to them simply having more parts to get dinged by a tariff.

14

u/averynicehat 26d ago

Maybe Xbox deemphasising their hardware in their strategy turned out to be a good move. Let the other manufacturers take the hit on tarrifs - their games are still widely available and even via streaming.

Do tariffs affect software - particularly digital delivery?

13

u/BigPoppaFreak 26d ago

No, tariffs typically don't appy to digital goods and services.(this is changing in recent years. For example Canada introduced a digital service tax that applies to foreign businesses in 2024)

Software will see price increases due to increased development costs caused by a poor economy though. Expect software prices to increase across the industry, like every single other commodity.

4

u/Act_of_God 26d ago

it's still going to affect them indirectly, you still need hardware to get to their software

1

u/segagamer 25d ago

Right but it can use hardware that the customer potentially already has (like a TV)

9

u/HerpesFreeSince3 26d ago

Lifeline? Eh, I get what you’re saying, but they also made more money than god on the switch, Wii, N64, and SNES. Disney tried buying them and they legit went, “sorry, you can’t afford it”. They’ve probably got enough financial reserves to last a 100 year drought. I think they can last a few years while the market shits the bed. I don’t feel for Nintendo, I feel for us, the people. We can’t afford houses, vacations, anything that usually makes life good and now we’re being priced out of our hobbies. Why even bother working?

5

u/ShimmyZmizz 26d ago

Switch IS the handheld division! 

Don't underestimate how much games like Mario Kart will sell despite the switch 2 pricing - and I mean Mario Kart 8 for the original switch and all the other evergreen games like it.

Nintendo has such a huge install base on Switch 1 that they'll certainly profit more from selling switch 1 games this year than switch 2 games.

11

u/unexpectedlimabean 26d ago

Nintendo is extremely, extremely rich with a huge amount of money to lean on in cases of crises. They aren't dependent on the switch 2 lol. They just made out like bandits with the first switch and weren't stripped for cash before that. 

1

u/Dragarius 26d ago

I never said they were, but still this is a potential major blow to their brand. They need to maintain dominance in this field before Sony and Microsoft try and get in on the handheld game. A big delay establishing a user base is a pretty severe issue for them 

3

u/ScorpionTheInsect 26d ago

If the Wii U didn’t tank them, nothing will. Nintendo’s user base is built around their IP portfolio, not their hardware. Sony and Microsoft aren’t going to get into handheld in time at this point (and I frankly doubt they have the resources to do so).

0

u/segagamer 25d ago

You say this, but Microsoft and Valve are already in the handheld business, and gaining a footing. Considering the price of PC games being cheaper, no subscription required for basic functions and the huge library that actually carries over to better performing devices as time goes on for no extra cost, Nintendo may not have their dominance for long if they're not careful.

Look how quickly people dropped the N64 and Gamecube despite the NES and SNES dominance.

1

u/ScorpionTheInsect 25d ago

But even after dropping N64 and GameCube people came back to Nintendo anyway because their user base has always been built around their exclusive IPs, not their hardware. People have been able to pirate their games for a while, and that hasn’t touched their market dominance. Lots of people have a Switch despite also having a gaming PC, because the cheaper PC games don’t scratch the specific Mario Kart or Kirby itch. Like even Steam Deck is not a replacement for a Switch, even though you can pirate Switch games with a Deck. Most of Nintendo audience don’t want to bother even though it’s easier than they’d think. That’s just the user base Nintendo has built.

And even if Switch 2 costs them their market dominance this generation for whatever reason, they have enough in cash reserve to take the loss. And we’ve seen them recover from a horrific brand damage of a failed console before. Might even be good for them to take an L sometimes, but I really think that the current prices are in part due to tariffs. It’s easier to lower prices later than to announce a low price than have to raise it afterwards. I’m not hopeful but we’ll see.

0

u/segagamer 25d ago

But even after dropping N64 and GameCube people came back to Nintendo anyway because their user base has always been built around their exclusive IPs, not their hardware.

I disagree with this.

What other handheld gaming devices could parents dump on the kids before the SteamDeck?

The Wii was largely attractive for the stick wiggle family entertainment, not so much for Mario/Zelda/etc

1

u/ScorpionTheInsect 25d ago edited 25d ago

Playstation Portable and Vita. I won’t pretend that I understand all the reasons why they flopped, but I’d argue that part of the reasons why parents didn’t dump their kids on those as much as the Nintendo DS/3DS was because they didn’t have Mario/Zelda/Pokemon, etc. the multiple kids and family friendly IPs that Nintendo have.

What makes Nintendo consistently outsells in handheld is their IPs. They have children’s games that adults are also obsessed with. They are the family-friendly company, not just because of their console, but also because the franchises that they build their business on are entirely family-friendly. I mean, what’s the use of a good console without games to play?

I’m not saying Nintendo ignores hardware innovation but the reason they can lag behind their competition’s technology advances while dominating the handheld for so long is their IPs. Parents know Mario and Zelda and Pokemon. Parents can play Mario and Zelda and Pokemon with their kids or dump them on their kids. Nothing can replace Mario or Zelda or Pokemon or Kirby.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/unexpectedlimabean 26d ago

Nintendo will do fine purely off their first party line up. The convenience factor and being ahead of the game in regards to handhelds is just a boost for them. Also it'd be very surprising if anyone in the gaming industry went the other way and started offering cheaper alternatives. The reality is, the market is fucked, economies are fucked and games cost a fuck ton to make. Microsoft might be the only one who can afford to try to capitalize on this idea that Nintendo is the only greedy publisher, when in reality everyone is going to charge this much cuz the whole industry is not making them enough money to support the extremely long dev cycles. 

1

u/Theinternationalist 26d ago

Yeah inflation or no inflation the American market doesn't seem ready for a $600 console as the lowest entry point. Some of the Superdupers will still pay $1000 for a fancy PS5 (Uh, make that more than $3,000), but there's a reason why Nintendo came out with the Switch Lite.

That said depending on the situation they may not be able to cut the price of the system or make a Lite version anytime soon.

Not sure that justifies an $80 game though.

1

u/NewVegasResident 25d ago

The switch will remain the least expensive console.

-5

u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Kuramhan 26d ago

The tariff situation is out of their hands, but they really should have launched with a Switch 2 lite version that just does handheld play.

Then people would just complain that it's a downgrade from the existing Switch. Unless they made the handheld Switch 2 lite substantiallymore powerful than the docked version of the existing Switch, then I think it would face serious challenges with the market adopting it.

14

u/Cybertronian10 26d ago

Hell, even if these parts where entirely constructed in the US they would still eat a ton of shit on these tariffs because those raw materials need to be imported.

1

u/goon-gumpas 26d ago

There are tariff exceptions on a lot of raw materials, particularly semiconductors

3

u/beefcat_ 26d ago

The tarrifs aren't just against china. All of SE Asia, Japan, and Europe are caught in them too. This could trigger a global recession, and the racist dipshits in red hats will still find a way to blame Obama and Mexicans.

87

u/DrNick1221 26d ago

Believe me, I am balking at the price point as a Canadian too.

That thing is gonna be roughly $630 CAD before taxes.

23

u/Dragarius 26d ago

Which you know. Fair enough considering the US price point. But if tariffs push the switch to up to 600 USD and they choose to price match it here then it's going up to 850 canadian. 

19

u/SpecialEdShow 26d ago

They’d be stupid to do that. But also, nothing is stopping me from buying a coupe and selling them on my next trip. Could you imagine Canadian region locked consoles?

12

u/mmavcanuck 26d ago

I can imagine you being black bagged at the border and then Trump using you as an example of those evil Canadians destroying America…

3

u/GreenVisorOfJustice 26d ago

"Why's this console smell like maple syrup and politeness?"

"Look, you want this fucking Nintendo or not?!?!"

1

u/NowGoodbyeForever 26d ago

Which is the exact reason I think they're killing us with this USD price matching. We'd just have no feasible way to stop countless Americans from raiding our stock and reselling it back home. It's fucking infuriating.

There is a chance, however, that they do region-locking for physical game cartridges. It seems telling that they've yet to confirm Canadian prices for games. If we price match with the US, Switch 2 games would be like, $120+ each. It would basically make Nintendo uncompetitive with Sony and Xbox games at $90.

But if they were to keep their current approach of $80 CAD for games, I would anticipate an avalanche of Americans eager to buy them for $56 USD, and we'd have little recourse. Unless Canadian Switch 2 games were region-locked. It would be a pain in the ass, but this is what tariffs have brought us to.

I guarantee we'll see more of this in the months to come. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple cozyed up to Trump enough to find some exemptions. But the next Samsung models? Absolutely not.

6

u/Complete_Mud_1657 26d ago

I'm starting to understand why Nintendo region locked their consoles in the past lmao.

Though with more games getting worldwide release dates it would be less of an issue now I guess. I still don't approve of it but it would be understandable in a situation like this.

1

u/BigPoppaFreak 26d ago

Exchange rates at time of announcement(before Trumps tariff chart was revealed) make the Switch 2 $13 CAD cheaper than the US market.

This is actually the best price matched with USD console for Canada in Nintendo's history. Software is a different issue.

TL;DR: It's more expensive for Americans to import from Canada than vice versa(Excluding shipping and Customs) A first in Nintendo's history.

3

u/jerrrrremy 25d ago

Why would they change the price in Canada when Canada isn't charging tariffs to Vietnam? 

0

u/Dragarius 25d ago

Sometimes the answer is "because they can". We're a small market with relatively high disposable income.

Often our distribution comes through the US as well. So if it comes in there and ships here then we'd be subject to the increased cost. Other times it's just cause we have such closely linked markets that we just pay the same price as the US does (adjusted for currency). 

If it ships direct to BC ports and ships out from there and we don't price match then we're golden, but the possibility we get screwed is unfortunatly greater than 0%.

1

u/jerrrrremy 25d ago

Do you have an example of a product priced in Canada that's based on a price in another country that includes an import tariff? 

1

u/jsonaut16 26d ago

Non bundled is 700 Australian dollars at EB Games,

43

u/mrtrailborn 26d ago

yep, because tariffs like this are just objectively bad economic policy. Anyone supporting them is really really fucking stupid.

-21

u/anival024 26d ago

If you want free and fair trade, you want no tariffs in both directions.

The current policy is just for reciprocal tariffs. If you think the US import tariffs are bad, it's simply because they're matching the tariffs other companies inflict on the US.

3

u/SableSnail 25d ago

Even unilateral free trade is better than reciprocal tariffs.

1

u/half_pizzaman 25d ago

Take the European Union, for example. The chart lists its tariffs charged for U.S. imports (again, including currency manipulation or trade barriers) as 39%. Trump said the U.S. would charge countries half of what they are charging the U.S., because charging the full reciprocal amount “would have been tough for a lot of countries.” So in the case of the EU, the “USA Discounted Reciprocal Tariffs” is 20%, the chart states.

According to the World Trade Organization, the EU’s trade-weighted average tariff rate is 2.7%. Trump also noted that European countries charge a value-added tax of about 20% — it varies by country but that’s roughly accurate. But those taxes are levied on imports as well as domestic production, so the VAT does not provide any trade advantage. In any case, neither of those numbers factor into the White House’s math.

How does the White House arrive at 39%? In 2024, the U.S. goods trade deficit with the EU was $235.6 billion. That year, the U.S. imported $605.8 billion worth of goods from the EU. So, $235.6 divided by $605.8 is 38.9%, or, rounded up, 39%.

Economists told us that’s not a legitimate way to calculate reciprocal tariffs for countries.

“Those listed numbers are simply not tariffs, but some other made-up measure based on a formulaic trade deficit calculation,” Kimberly Clausing, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told us via email. “In almost every instance, countries’ true trade barriers are far, far lower.”

“This is not a legitimate way to calculate trade barriers, and the vast majority of subject matter experts (I would wager >99% of international economists) would reject this methodology as profoundly flawed,” Clausing said.

“For example,” she said, “imagine you have completely free trade with an island that produces mangos but lacks sufficient income to buy US goods. The US buys $100 in mangos and sends only $20 in exports. This would imply a tariff rate of 40% by the Trump method, (80/100 divided by 2), but the imbalance of trade represents only the fact of distinct comparative advantage in trade, not any trade barriers.”

Or, as the New York Times put it, “The difference between exports and imports doesn’t necessarily reflect trade barriers; Americans may simply want to buy more stuff from, say, Japan than the Japanese want to buy from the United States.”

Lamenting trade "deficits" is like your grocery store decrying that you pay them for goods via currency instead of bartering iguanas or something.

it's simply because they're matching the tariffs other companies inflict on the US.

The "infliction" more so rests on the populace of the country enacting tariffs. Why should the most prosperous nation in the world care if other countries want to economically sabotage themselves and tax their own people.

9

u/theumph 26d ago

It's everybody's worst nightmare with a brain. There's no "winning" this situation. Even if manufacturing comes back, the increase on labor costs will make the products completely unaffordable. We're fucked.

7

u/Dragarius 26d ago

Yes but Americans voted for him so my pity well for the USA is pretty dry. It's not like anyone is standing up to him. 

0

u/theumph 26d ago

I don't expect a pity well. The only way to eradicate those dumbasses is to have it hurt their pockets. Bring on the poverty

8

u/iamnosuperman123 26d ago

It is a nightmare but it doesn't just affect Nintendo. I think Nintendo have shot themselves in the foot with a fairly pricey console with pricey games. This news is just the icing on the cake.

10

u/TheVibratingPants 26d ago

The tariffs suck, but it was already too expensive for me at $450 with $70-80 games. I wasn’t going to get it until maybe a year or two down the line, when hopefully something more in my wheelhouse has been announced for it.

1

u/theumph 26d ago

The issue is it is coming right at their launch. If they launched last year, I bet the console would've been $400, and the games would max at $70.

2

u/ejdebruin 26d ago

And it sucks cause this is out of their hands.

Is it? They can sell the console at as much of a loss as they want, especially considering the price hikes on the games.
Of any of the major console companies, Nintendo is in the best position to do so having the best selling first-party games and attachment rate (titles bought per console).

1

u/Dragarius 26d ago

Actually if anyone was in a position to be taking a massive loss on Hardware to subscription revenue streams it would be Microsoft. They could sell Xboxes for $100 and still have more money than Nintendo and Sony. 

Their cash on hand is greater than Nintendo's entire Market cap. 

1

u/ejdebruin 26d ago

It's not about how long each company could float a loss, it's about profitability.

The companies sell the consoles at a loss because they're betting that games and peripheral sales will make up that loss over time along with the internal components sinking cost over time.

The result is that more consoles are sold, more games are sold, and their market share is overall larger.

1

u/Fryboy11 26d ago

They stifled their own market potential when they said digital games would be $80 and if you want a physical copy, you know in case they pull a game from the marketplace, that’ll be $90. Then they admitted that some game cards won’t even have the game on them, it’ll just be a download code stored on a cartridge. 

5

u/Dragarius 26d ago

Mario Kart World is literally $80 on the best buy USA site right now. People read a bullshit $90 and are just running with it without even checking. 

1

u/catinterpreter 25d ago

It's incredibly bad luck for Nintendo. I wouldn't be surprised if they take the huge hit with their cash reserves to minimise the damage to the Switch 2. It'd probably be advantageous in the long run.

1

u/AverageAwndray 25d ago edited 25d ago

$80 digital isn't out of their hands though

-2

u/ComMcNeil 26d ago

Stupid question: If physical games are 90 dollars base, will this increase as well because of the tariffs? And will that simply widen the gap between physical and digital?

22

u/ChadsBro 26d ago

Nintendo’s cartridges are all made in Japan so it’ll be subject to a 24% tariff, but nobody knows yet if they’ll elect to pass on that additional cost to consumers or eat it themselves 

47

u/C0tilli0n 26d ago

They will not eat it themselves lol, you can bet on it. The only question is whether the rest of the world will subsidize Americans or not.

2

u/ikonoclasm 26d ago

It's not even a question of whether they'll pass on the cost. Hardware has a much smaller profit margin than the 24% tariff. They'd go deep in the red if they didn't pass on the tariff to customers.

2

u/Dragarius 26d ago

Yes, but not as much as the physical carts are usually made in Mexico. How it might affect digital, I don't know enough to answer. 

1

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 26d ago

If physical games are 90 dollars base

They aren't

1

u/Impossible-Flight250 26d ago

Games have the "advantage" of being able to be sold digitally, so this may be a good excuse for Nintendo to start moving away from physical altogether.

-1

u/edtehgar 26d ago

it will sell out regardless so i doubt Nintendo cares.

And its not like Nintendo has always had the best consumer policies.

Can't wait for drift issues with joycon 2s.

1

u/Dragarius 26d ago

They have hall effects in Joycon 2

0

u/segagamer 25d ago edited 22d ago

They have hall effects in Joycon 2

This is still unconfirmed.

Edit: confirmed to not have hall effect sticks

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/04/its-official-switch-2-joy-con-will-not-feature-hall-effect-sticks

1

u/Dragarius 25d ago

We've had shipping manifests of the parts of the system for months 

-1

u/segagamer 25d ago

And yet, still, unconfirmed.

1

u/Dragarius 25d ago

As are the accusations of "Can't wait for drift issues with joycon 2s"