Nintendo Delays U.S. Preorders For The Switch 2 Due to Incoming Tariffs

(A Nintendo Switch 2 console playing Mario Kart World at a hands-on event in New York City | NPR.)

It has certainly been an interesting last couple of days for Nintendo. On Wednesday, via a Nintendo Direct, Nintendo officially unveiled the Nintendo Switch 2, the launch games, and even some of the technological achievements of this new system. Although the reveal went off largely without a hitch (the video and audio were out of sync at least on the Nintendo of America feed, as well as freezing completely during the presentation of Survival Kids), the issues only started after the Direct finished, though some of them, ultimately, were not entirely Nintendo's fault.

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Tariffs = Delays

(Copies of the full tariff chart were handed out during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington | ABC News)

In an official statement released by Nintendo, it reads:

Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. 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.

This is a step that Nintendo has never had to take before, but it's a situation where their hand was forced, and it's all because of one man: United States President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, several hours after the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct presentation, President Trump announced “a minimum baseline tariff of 10% on all trading partners and further, more targeted levies on certain countries like China, the European Union and Taiwan.” The reason for the tariffs being relevant to the Nintendo Switch 2 is because three of the countries hit with the hardest tariffs (China, Vietnam, and Cambodia) are where the Nintendo Switch 2 is produced, and it's where they are shipped from enroute to the United States. As much as the delaying the U.S. preorders is something that has never happened before in the history of Nintendo, this isn't the first time that they have taken action in response to something the Trump administration has done, as in 2019, they "started moving some of its Switch production from China to Vietnam as the US imposed tariffs on Chinese imports." In regards to why all of these tariffs were put into place, President Trump justified them by saying that “our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by other nations."

Though there is a scenario where the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 remains unchanged, even with all of the tariffs, with each passing day it becomes increasingly likely that the prices will go up, though by how much is currently unknown. It's an unfortunate circumstance, as games like Mario Kart World look amazing and a ton of fun, but Nintendo has to take into consideration how these tariffs will ultimately affect their pricing and the way that they do business in the United States.

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Ultimate Impacts

(Dimitar Dilkoff | Getty Images)

Ultimately, the $450 price point for the base Nintendo Switch 2 (and the $500 price point if you want it bundled with Mario Kart World) is considered worth the value, even though some of the game prices, including $70 to $80 for Switch 2 editions of Switch 1 games, would be considered excessive to many. 

The games that they showed off on Wednesday (and then further at Nintendo Treehouse on Thursday and Friday), including Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and even the Nintendo Switch 2 editions of Switch 1 titles, like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, as well as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, look amazing and like a ton of fun, so it's rather unfortunate that all of these incredible games are potentially being impacted by the tariffs being put into place by the U.S. on allies and other countries alike. Time will tell as to what the short-term and long-term impacts will be, though it may ultimately come at the cost of the average American consumer.